Cisco Unified Computing System Components
Fabric Interconnect
The Cisco UCS 6100 Series Fabric Interconnects are a core part of the Cisco Unified Computing System, providing both network connectivity and management capabilities for the system. The Cisco UCS 6100 Series offers line-rate, low-latency, lossless 10 Gigabit Ethernet and FCoE functions.
The Cisco UCS 6100 Series provides the management and communication backbone for the Cisco UCS B-Series Blade Servers and Cisco UCS 5100 Series Blade Server Chassis. All chassis, and therefore all blades, attached to the Cisco UCS 6100 Series Fabric Interconnects become part of a single, highly available management domain. In addition, by supporting unified fabric, the Cisco UCS 6100 Series provides both the LAN and SAN connectivity for all blades within its domain.
From a networking perspective, the Cisco UCS 6100 Series uses a cut-through architecture, supporting deterministic, low-latency, line-rate 10 Gigabit Ethernet on all ports, independent of packet size and enabled services. The product family supports Cisco low-latency, lossless 10 Gigabit Ethernet unified network fabric capabilities, which increase the reliability, efficiency, and scalability of Ethernet networks. The fabric interconnect supports multiple traffic classes over a lossless Ethernet fabric from the blade through the interconnect. Significant TCO savings come from an FCoE-optimized server design in which network interface cards (NICs), host bus adapters (HBAs), cables, and switches can be consolidated.
The Cisco UCS 6100 Series is also built to consolidate LAN and SAN traffic onto a single unified fabric, saving the capital and operating expenses associated with multiple parallel networks, different types of adapter cards, switching infrastructure, and cabling within racks. Fibre Channel expansion modules in the interconnect support direct connections from the Cisco Unified Computing System to existing native Fibre Channel SANs. The capability to connect FCoE to native Fibre Channel protects existing storage system investments while dramatically simplifying in-rack cabling.
Cisco UCS 6120XP 20-Port Fabric Interconnect (Top) and Cisco UCS 6140XP 40-Port Fabric Interconnect
The Cisco UCS 6100 Series is equipped to support the following module options:
- ● Ethernet module that provides 6 ports of 10 Gigabit Ethernet using the SFP+ interface
- ● Fibre Channel plus Ethernet module that provides 4 ports of 10 Gigabit Ethernet using the SFP+ interface; and 4 ports of 1/2/4-Gbps native Fibre Channel connectivity using the SFP interface
- ● Fibre Channel module that provides 8 ports of 1/2/4-Gbps native Fibre Channel using the SFP interface for transparent connectivity with existing Fibre Channel networks
- ● Fibre Channel module that provides 6 ports of 1/2/4/8-Gbps native Fibre Channel using the SFP or SFP+ interface for transparent connectivity with existing Fibre Channel networks
From left to right: 8-Port 1/2/4-Gbps Native Fibre Channel Expansion Module; 4-Port Fibre Channel plus 4-Port 10
Cisco UCS 2100 Series Fabric Extenders
The Cisco UCS 2100 Series Fabric Extenders bring the unified fabric into the blade server enclosure, providing 10 Gigabit Ethernet connections between blade servers and the fabric interconnect, simplifying diagnostics, cabling, and management.
The Cisco UCS 2100 Series extends the I/O fabric between the Cisco UCS 6100 Series Fabric Interconnects and the Cisco UCS 5100 Series Blade Server Chassis, enabling a lossless and deterministic FCoE fabric to connect all blades and chassis together. Since the fabric extender is similar to a distributed line card, it does not do any switching and is managed as an extension of the fabric interconnects. This approach removes switching from the chassis, reducing overall infrastructure complexity and enabling the Cisco Unified Computing System to scale to many chassis without multiplying the number of switches needed, reducing TCO and allowing all chassis to be managed as a single, highly available management domain.
The Cisco 2100 Series also manages the chassis environment (the power supply and fans as well as the blades) in conjunction with the fabric interconnect. Therefore, separate chassis management modules are not required.
The Cisco UCS 2100 Series Fabric Extenders fit into the back of the Cisco UCS 5100 Series chassis. Each Cisco UCS 5100 Series chassis can support up to two fabric extenders, enabling increased capacity as well as redundancy.
Rear view of Cisco UCS 5108 Blade Server Chassis with two Cisco UCS 2104XP Fabric Extenders
The Cisco UCS 2104XP Fabric Extender has four 10 Gigabit Ethernet, FCoE-capable, Small Form-Factor Pluggable Plus (SFP+) ports that connect the blade chassis to the fabric interconnect. Each Cisco UCS 2104XP has eight 10 Gigabit Ethernet ports connected through the midplane to each half-width slot in the chassis. Typically configured in pairs for redundancy, two fabric extenders provide up to 80 Gbps of I/O to the chassis.
Cisco UCS 2104XP Fabric Extender
Cisco UCS Chassis
The Cisco UCS 5100 Series Blade Server Chassis is a crucial building block of the Cisco Unified Computing System, delivering a scalable and flexible blade server chassis for today's and tomorrow's data center while helping reduce TCO.
Cisco's first blade server chassis offering, the Cisco UCS 5108 Blade Server Chassis, is six rack units (6RU) high and can mount in an industry-standard 19-inch rack. A chassis can house up to eight half-width Cisco UCS B-Series Blade Servers and can accommodate both half- and full-width blade form factors.
Four single-phase, hot-swappable power supplies are accessible from the front of the chassis. These power supplies are 92 percent efficient and can be configured to support non-redundant, N+ 1 redundant and grid-redundant configuration. The rear of the chassis contains eight hot-swappable fans, four power connectors (one per power supply), and two I/O bays for Cisco UCS 2104XP Fabric Extenders.
A passive mid-plane provides up to 20 Gbps of I/O bandwidth per server slot and up to 40 Gbps of I/O bandwidth for two slots. The chassis is capable of supporting future 40 Gigabit Ethernet standards.
Cisco Blade Server Chassis (front and back view)
Cisco UCS B200 M1 Blade Server
The Cisco UCS B200 M1 Blade Server is a half-width, two-socket blade server. The system uses two Intel Xeon 5500 Series Processors, up to 96 GB of DDR3 memory, two optional hot-swappable small form factor (SFF) serial attached SCSI (SAS) disk drives, and a single mezzanine connector for up to 20 Gbps of I/O throughput. The server balances simplicity, performance, and density for production-level virtualization and other mainstream data center workloads.
Cisco UCS B200 M1 Blade Server
Intel Xeon 5500 Series Processor
With innovative technologies that boost performance, energy efficiency, and virtualization flexibility, two-processor platforms based on the Intel Xeon processor 5500 series make it easier to deliver more business services within existing data center facilities. Data center efficiency starts at the core–with energy-efficient processors and features that help you get the most out of each rack. With a unique combination of performance and energy-efficiency features plus flexible virtualization, the Intel Xeon processor 5500 series offers an effective antidote to data center sprawl and improves business competitiveness. The combination of Intel Turbo Boost Technology and Intel Hyper-Threading Technology delivers optimal performance for each enterprise application, and Intel QuickPath Technology dramatically increases application performance and throughput for bandwidth-intensive applications.
Greater per-server performance means that you can do more with fewer servers and potentially save significantly on operating costs. Intel Intelligent Power Technology works alongside these new performance features to deliver better performance with lower power consumption at all operating points, achieving the best available performance/watt. High-performance 95-watt, standard 80-watt and low-power 60-watt versions enable high-density deployments in both rack and blade form factors.
Intel VT with Intel FlexMigration and Intel FlexPriority also gives IT more choice in managing and allocating virtualized workloads across new and existing platforms. Intel Turbo Boost Technology plus hardware assist from Intel VT improves performance for applications running in virtual machines (VIRTUAL MACHINEs). Intel VT FlexMigration, in combination with virtualization management software, can help IT to conserve power, rebalance workloads and reduce energy consumption.
Intel Xeon 5500 Series Processor
Intel Xeon 5600 Series Processor
As data centers reach the upper limits of their power and cooling capacity, efficiency has become the focus of extending the life of existing data centers and designing new ones. As part of these efforts, IT needs to refresh existing infrastructure with standard enterprise servers that deliver more performance and scalability, more efficiently. The Intel® Xeon® processor 5600 series automatically regulates power consumption and intelligently adjusts server performance according to your application needs, maximizing both energy efficiency and performance. The secret to this compelling combination is Intel’s new 32nm Nehalem micro-architecture. Featuring Intel® Intelligent Power Technology that automatically shifts the CPU and memory into the lowest available power state, while delivering the performance you need, the Intel Xeon processor 5600 series with Intel Micro-architecture Nehalem delivers the same performance as previous-generation servers but uses up to 30 percent less power. You can achieve up to a 93 percent reduction in energy costs when consolidating your single-core infrastructure with a new infrastructure built on Intel Xeon processor 5600.
This groundbreaking intelligent server technology features:
● Intel’s new 32nm Microarchitecture Nehalem built with second-generation high-k and metal gate transistor technology.
● Intelligent Performance that automatically optimizes performance to fit business and application requirements and delivers up to 60 percent more performance per watt than Intel® Xeon® processor 5500 series.
● Automated Energy Efficiency that scales energy usage to the workload to achieve optimal performance/watt and with new 40 Watt options and lower power DDR3 memory, you can lower your energy costs even further.
● Flexible virtualization that offers best-in-class performance and manageability in virtualized environments to improve IT infrastructure and enable up to 15:1 consolidation over two socket, single-core servers. New standard enterprise servers and workstations built with this new generation of Intel® process technology
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offer an unprecedented opportunity to dramatically advance the efficiency of IT infrastructure and provide unmatched business capabilities.
Intel Xeon 5600 Series Processor
Cisco UCS M71KR-Q Converged Network Adapter
The Cisco UCS M71KR-Q QLogic Converged Network Adapter (CNA) is a QLogic-based Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE) mezzanine card that provides connectivity for Cisco UCS B-Series Blade Servers in the Cisco Unified Computing System.
Designed specifically for the Cisco UCS blades, the adapter provides a dual-port connection to the midplane of the blade server chassis. The Cisco UCS M71KR-Q uses an Intel 82598 10 Gigabit Ethernet controller for network traffic and a QLogic 4-Gbps Fibre Channel controller for Fibre Channel traffic, all on the same mezzanine card. The Cisco UCS M71KR-Q presents two discrete Fibre Channel host bus adapter (HBA) ports and two Ethernet network ports to the operating system.
Cisco USC M71KR-Q Network Adapter
The Cisco UCS M71KR-Q provides both 10 Gigabit Ethernet and 4-Gbps Fibre Channel functions using drivers from QLogic, providing:
● Risk mitigation through compatibility with current QLogic adapter-based SAN environments and drivers
● Reduced TCO through consolidation of LAN and SAN traffic over the same mezzanine card and fabric, reducing the overall number of network interface cards (NICs), HBAs, cables, and switches
● Integrated management with Cisco UCS Manager
Cisco UCS M71KR-Q Architecture
