Cisco UCS Inter-Connect vs HP Virtual Connect Flex Fabric vs IBM Flex System Fabric
Today I am going to talk about the Unified Computing systems from different vendors.This article is based on the comparison model of Cisco, HP and IBM. I am taking 2 models of Cisco and 1 from HP and 1 from IBM. These models are Cisco UCS 6248UP; Cisco UCS 6296UP; HP Virtual Connect Flex Fabric and IBM Flex System Fabric CN4093.
Datacenter Network Engineers already know about the Unified Computing systems hardware and the capability of the different vendors and they are using the same in their environment. As i am not explaining the functions of the Unified Computing Systems and its uses. Here I am going to explain the hardware and the feature difference between them.
If you dont know what Fabric interconnect is, then before this article you should know about the Fabric Inter-Connect. In Short I can say that Fabric Interconnects provide uniform access to both networks and storage. Now i can explain a little bit on all of these model one by one.
Starting from the Cisco UCS Fabric-Interconnect models and then we can have some description on IBM Flex Systems and then we can have a short description on HP Virtual Connect Flex Fabric.
Cisco UCS6248UP and Cisco UCS6296UP
Datacenter Network Engineers already know about the Unified Computing systems hardware and the capability of the different vendors and they are using the same in their environment. As i am not explaining the functions of the Unified Computing Systems and its uses. Here I am going to explain the hardware and the feature difference between them.
If you dont know what Fabric interconnect is, then before this article you should know about the Fabric Inter-Connect. In Short I can say that Fabric Interconnects provide uniform access to both networks and storage. Now i can explain a little bit on all of these model one by one.
Starting from the Cisco UCS Fabric-Interconnect models and then we can have some description on IBM Flex Systems and then we can have a short description on HP Virtual Connect Flex Fabric.
Cisco UCS6248UP and Cisco UCS6296UP
The Cisco UCS 6200 Series Fabric Interconnects is a core part of the Cisco Unified Computing System which will provide both network connectivity and management capabilities for the system. The Cisco UCS 6200 Series offers line-rate, low-latency, lossless 10 Gigabit Ethernet, Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE), and Fibre Channel functions.
The Cisco UCS 6200 Series Fabric Interconnects provide the management and communication backbone for the Cisco UCS B-Series and C-Series servers. So it will actually connects you with Rack and Blade servers in the architecture. All servers attached to the Cisco UCS 6200 Series Fabric Interconnects become part of a single, highly available management domain. In addition, by supporting unified fabric, the Cisco UCS 6200 Series provides both the LAN and SAN connectivity for all blades within its domain.
IBM Flex System Fabric CN4093
Let's talk about the IBM Flex System Fabric, IBM Flex System is Converged Scalable Switch that provides unmatched scalability with port flexibility, good performance, highly convergence, and best network virtualization, it can also have the capability of delivering innovations to help address a number of networking concerns today and providing capabilities that will help you prepare for the future. The switch offers full Layer 2/3 switching as well as FCoE Full Fabric and Fibre Channel NPV Gateway operations to deliver a truly converged integrated solution, and it is designed to install within the I/O module bays of the Flex System Enterprise Chassis.
If we are talking about the Cisco UCS 6200 Series, It uses a cut-through architecture with supporting deterministic at low-latency with line-rate of 10 Gigabit Ethernet on all ports, switching capacity of 2 terabits (Tb) and 320-Gbps bandwidth per chassis, independent of packet size and enabled services.
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| Fig 1.1- Cisco UCS Fabric Inter-Connect |
IBM Flex System Fabric CN4093
Let's talk about the IBM Flex System Fabric, IBM Flex System is Converged Scalable Switch that provides unmatched scalability with port flexibility, good performance, highly convergence, and best network virtualization, it can also have the capability of delivering innovations to help address a number of networking concerns today and providing capabilities that will help you prepare for the future. The switch offers full Layer 2/3 switching as well as FCoE Full Fabric and Fibre Channel NPV Gateway operations to deliver a truly converged integrated solution, and it is designed to install within the I/O module bays of the Flex System Enterprise Chassis.
The CN4093 offers up to 12 external Omni Ports, which provide extreme flexibility with the choice of SFP+ based 10 Gb Ethernet connectivity or 4/8 Gb Fibre Channel connectivity, depending on the SFP+ module used.
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| Fig 1.2- IBM Flex System Fabric |
The base switch configuration of IBM Flex System Fabric comes with standard 22x 10 GbE port licenses that can be assigned to internal connections or external SFP+, Omni or QSFP+ ports with flexible port mapping. This this feature allows you to trade off four 10 GbE ports for one 40 GbE port (or vice versa) or trade off one external 10 GbE SFP+ or Omni port for one internal 10 GbE port.
You then have the flexibility of turning on more ports when you need them using Lenovo Features on Demand upgrade licensing capabilities that provide “pay as you grow” scalability without the need to buy additional hardware
HPE Virtual Connect FlexFabric
HPE Virtual Connect FlexFabric, it can provide you the 10Gb/24-port Modules are the simplest, most flexible way to connect virtualized server blades to data or storage networks. VC FlexFabric modules eliminate up to 95% of network sprawl at the server edge with one device that converges traffic inside enclosures and directly connects to external LANs and SANs.
Using Flex-10 technology with Fibre Channel over Ethernet and accelerated iSCSI, these modules converge traffic over high speed 10Gb connections to servers with HPE FlexFabric Adapters (HPE NC551i or HPE NC551m Dual Port FlexFabric 10Gb Converged Network Adapters or HPE NC553i 10Gb 2-port FlexFabric Converged Network Adapter).
Each redundant pair of Virtual Connect FlexFabric modules provide 8 adjustable downlink connections ( six Ethernet and two Fibre Channel, or six Ethernet and 2 iSCSI or eight Ethernet) to dual port10Gb FlexFabric Adapters on servers. Up to eight uplinks are available for connection to upstream Ethernet and Fibre Channel switches.
VC FlexFabric modules avoid the confusion of traditional and other converged network solutions by eliminating the need for multiple Ethernet and Fibre Channel switches, extension modules, cables and software licenses.
Now Let's have a comparison between these models in table format
HPE Virtual Connect FlexFabric, it can provide you the 10Gb/24-port Modules are the simplest, most flexible way to connect virtualized server blades to data or storage networks. VC FlexFabric modules eliminate up to 95% of network sprawl at the server edge with one device that converges traffic inside enclosures and directly connects to external LANs and SANs.
Using Flex-10 technology with Fibre Channel over Ethernet and accelerated iSCSI, these modules converge traffic over high speed 10Gb connections to servers with HPE FlexFabric Adapters (HPE NC551i or HPE NC551m Dual Port FlexFabric 10Gb Converged Network Adapters or HPE NC553i 10Gb 2-port FlexFabric Converged Network Adapter).
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| Fig 1.3- HP c7000 Platinum Chassis |
Each redundant pair of Virtual Connect FlexFabric modules provide 8 adjustable downlink connections ( six Ethernet and two Fibre Channel, or six Ethernet and 2 iSCSI or eight Ethernet) to dual port10Gb FlexFabric Adapters on servers. Up to eight uplinks are available for connection to upstream Ethernet and Fibre Channel switches.
VC FlexFabric modules avoid the confusion of traditional and other converged network solutions by eliminating the need for multiple Ethernet and Fibre Channel switches, extension modules, cables and software licenses.
Now Let's have a comparison between these models in table format
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| Fig 1.4- Comparison Cisco, HP and IBM |
