Cisco MDS 9134

Advanced Traffic Management for High-Performance, Resilient SANs

Advanced traffic management capabilities integrated into the Cisco MDS 9134 simplify deployment and optimization of core-edge fabrics.

• Virtual output queuing helps ensure line-rate performance on each port, independent of traffic pattern, by eliminating head-of-line blocking.

• For 4-Gbps ports, each port group consisting of 4 ports has a pool of 64 buffer credits, with a default of 16 buffer credits per port. When extended distances are required, up to 64 buffer credits can be allocated to a single port within the port group. This extensibility is available without additional licensing. Each of the 10-Gbps ports has 64 buffer credits.

• PortChannels allow users to aggregate up to 16 physical ISLs into a single logical bundle, providing optimized bandwidth use across all links. The bundle can consist of any port from the switch, helping ensure that the bundle remains active even in the event of a port failure.

• Fabric Shortest Path First (FSPF)-based multipathing provides the intelligence to load balance across up to 16 equal-cost paths and, in the event of a switch failure, dynamically reroute traffic.

• QoS can be used to manage bandwidth and control latency, to prioritize critical traffic.

• Comprehensive port and flow statistics facilitate sophisticated performance analysis and service-level agreement (SLA) accounting.

Advanced Diagnostics and Troubleshooting Tools

Management of storage networks requires proactive diagnostics, tools to verify connectivity and route latency, and mechanisms for capturing and analyzing traffic. The Cisco MDS 9134 integrates the industry's most advanced analysis and debugging tools. Power-on self-test (POST) and online diagnostics provide proactive health monitoring. The Cisco MDS 9134 provides the integrated hardware functions required to implement diagnostic capabilities such as Fibre Channel Traceroute to detail the exact path and timing of flows, and SPAN to intelligently capture network traffic. After traffic has been captured, it can be analyzed with the Cisco Fabric Analyzer, an embedded Fibre Channel analyzer. With the Cisco MDS 9134, Cisco delivers a comprehensive toolset for troubleshooting and analysis of an organization's storage network.

Comprehensive Security

In recognition of the need for unassailable security in storage networks, the Cisco MDS 9134 offers an extensive security framework to protect highly sensitive data crossing today's enterprise networks.

• VSANs are used to achieve higher security and greater stability by providing complete isolation among devices that are connected to the same physical SAN.

• Intelligent packet inspection at the port level, including the use of access control lists (ACLs) for hardware enforcement of zones, VSANs, and advanced port security features are provided.

• Extended zoning capabilities help ensure that broadcasts are restricted to the selected zones (the broadcast zones).

• FC-SP provides switch-to-switch and host-to-switch Diffie-Hellman Challenge Handshake Authentication Protocol (DH-CHAP) authentication supporting RADIUS or TACACS+, to help ensure that only authorized devices access protected storage networks.

• These features, in conjunction with management access and control plane security, makes the Cisco MDS 9000 family among the most secure platforms in its class.

High-Availability Platform for Mission-Critical Environments

The Cisco MDS 9134 is designed for mission-critical availability. Nondisruptive software upgrades; hot-swappable, redundant fans and power supplies; and the unique capability to automatically restart failed processes combine to define a new standard for fabric switch availability.

High availability is implemented at the fabric level through the industry's most robust and highest-performance ISLs. PortChannel capability allows users to aggregate up to 16 physical ports into one logical bundle. The bundle can sustain the failure of any physical link without causing a reset. Additionally, FSPF multipathing provides the intelligence to load balance across up to 16 equal-cost paths and, if a switch fails, to dynamically reroute traffic. The Cisco MDS 9134 offers outstanding fabric switch availability, minimizing TCO.

Simplified Management

The Cisco MDS 9134 provides four principal modes of management: the Cisco MDS 9000 family CLI, the Quick Configuration Wizard, the Cisco Fabric Manager, and integration with third-party storage management tools.

• Consistent, logical CLI: Adhering to the syntax of the widely known Cisco IOS® Software CLI, the Cisco MDS 9000 family CLI is easy to learn and delivers broad management capabilities. The Cisco MDS 9000 family CLI is an extremely efficient and direct interface designed to provide optimal capabilities to administrators in enterprise environments.

• Quick Configuration Wizard: The Quick Configuration Wizard helps eliminate management complexity and creates a readily available SAN environment for small- and midsized-business applications. The wizard allows server access to storage to be set up quickly and easily in a single step, using an intuitive GUI.

• Cisco Fabric Manager: Cisco Fabric Manager is included with the Cisco MDS 9134 for integrated, comprehensive management of larger SAN environments. Cisco Fabric Manager is a responsive, easy-to-use Java application that allows administrators to perform vital tasks such as topology discovery, fabric configuration and verification, provisioning, monitoring, and fault resolution.

• The Cisco MDS 9134 provides an extensive API for integration with third-party and user-developed management tools. The APIs are based on industry-standard protocols, including SNMP and the Storage Networking Industry Association (SNIA) Storage Management Initiative Specification (SMI-S).