HP Cisco MDS 8Gb Fabric Switch for HP BladeSystem c-Class - Manual (Page 7)

Cisco MDS 8Gb Fabric Switch for HP BladeSystem c-Class User Guide 7
1 Overview
The Cisco MDS 8Gb Fabric Switch for HP BladeSystem c-Class (referred to hereafter as the Cisco MDS
8Gb Fabric Switch) is a FC switch that supports link speeds of up to 8 Gb. The Cisco MDS 8Gb Fabric
Switch can operate in a fabric containing multiple switches or as the only switch in a fabric.
Switch features
The Cisco MDS 8Gb Fabric Switch provides the following features:
• Fully integrated, embedded FC SAN design that connects directly to the HP BladeSystem c-Class
enclosure midplane
• On-Demand Port Activation Licensing enables you to activate an additional 12 ports
• Easy to manage HP Storage Essentials and HP Systems Insight Manager support
• Fully compatible with the HP C-series family of multilayer directors and fabric switches
• Sixteen internal 8/4/2 Gbps auto-sensing FC interconnect technology with the following
characteristics:
• Independent automatic negotiation to the highest common speed for each server FC port
connected to the Cisco MDS 8Gb Fabric Switch
• Universal self-configuring ports, which can become F_Ports (fabric enabled)
• Eight external 8/4/2 Gbps FC SFP ports, with the following characteristics:
• Automatic negotiation to the highest common speed of all devices and switches connected to the
port
• Port interface-compatible SFP transceivers
• Universal self-configuring ports, which can become F_Ports (fabric enabled), FL_Ports, E_Ports,
TE_Ports, FX_Ports, or SD_Ports
• Heterogeneous support for mixed storage fabrics
• Power supplied and controlled by the BladeSystem enclosure
• Identification to HP chassis management via HP specified SEEPROMs
• Hot-swap capability
• Compatible with redundant and dual redundant Cisco MDS 8Gb Fabric Switch configurations in
BladeSystem c-Class
• Hot code activation
• Real-time clock
• SFP port monitoring