System overview
Network topology
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LAN and SAN connectivity is segregated into separate Cisco Nexus switches and Cisco MDS switches for network connectivity. The compute layer connects to Ethernet and FC components in the network layer. The FIs connect to the Cisco Nexus switches in the Ethernet network through 40 GbE or 10 GbE port channels.
LAN supports 10 Gbps, 40 Gbps, and 100 Gbps uplinks to the network. LAN supports 10 Gbps, 25 Gbps, or 40 Gbps access for attached devices. SAN supports 16 Gbps or 32 Gbps FC access from both the compute and storage arrays.
The following Cisco UCS third-generation switches support LAN:
The Cisco Nexus 9336C-FX2 Switch can be configured with Cisco UCS fourth-generation components.
The following Cisco UCS switches support SAN:
- Cisco MDS 9148S 16 Gbps Multilayer Fabric Switch
- Cisco MDS 9396S 16 Gbps Multilayer Fabric Switch
- Cisco MDS 9148T 32 Gbps Multilayer Fabric Switch
- Cisco MDS 9396T 32 Gbps Multilayer Fabric Switch
- Cisco MDS 9706 or 9710 Multilayer Director with 48 port 16 Gbps line cards or 48 port 32 Gbps line cards
Cisco UCS third-generation FIs connect to the Cisco MDS switches through port channels with multiple 16 Gbps links.
Cisco UCS fourth-generation FIs connect to the Cisco MDS switches through port channels that are made up of multiple 16 Gbps or 32 Gbps links.
The Cisco MDS switches autonegotiate the port speed based on the SFPs in the FIs. Front-end IOMs in the storage array connect to the Cisco MDS switches in the network layer over 16 Gbps FC links.
The following figure shows a network block storage configuration for the VxBlock System 1000:
The following figure shows a network block storage configuration for the VxBlock 1000 with 32 Gbps SAN switches:
By default, VMware vSphere ESXi boots from SD cards. VMware vSphere ESXi hosts can optionally boot over the FC SAN.
