UCS 2408 I/O Module (8 External 25Gb Ports, 32 Internal 10Gb

The Cisco Unified Computing System™ (Cisco UCS®) is a next-generation data center platform that unites computing, network, storage access, and virtualization resources into a cohesive system designed to reduce Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) and increase business agility. The system integrates a low-latency, lossless 25-Gigabit Ethernet unified network fabric with enterprise-class, x86-architecture servers. The system is an integrated, scalable, multichassis platform in which all resources participate in a unified management domain.

The Cisco UCS 2408 Fabric Extender brings the unified fabric into the blade server enclosure, providing connectivity between the blade servers and the fabric interconnect, simplifying diagnostics, cabling, and management. It is a fourth-generation I/O Module (IOM) that shares the same form factor as the third-generation Cisco UCS 2304 Fabric Extender, which is compatible with the Cisco UCS 5108 Blade Server Chassis.

The Cisco UCS 2408 connects the I/O fabric between the Cisco UCS 6454 Fabric Interconnect, Cisco UCS 64108 Fabric Interconnect, Cisco UCS 6536 Fabric Interconnect and the Cisco UCS 5100 Series Blade Server Chassis, enabling a lossless and deterministic converged fabric to connect all blades and chassis together. Because the fabric extender is similar to a distributed line card, it does not perform 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 Cisco UCS 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 UCS 2408 also manages the chassis environment (power supply, fans, and blades) in conjunction with the fabric interconnect. Therefore, separate chassis-management modules are not required.

The Cisco UCS 2408 Fabric Extender fits into the back of the Cisco UCS 5100 Series chassis. Each Cisco UCS 5100 Series chassis can support up to two fabric extenders, allowing increased capacity and redundancy.

Cisco UCS 2408 Fabric Extender

The Cisco UCS 2408 Fabric Extender has eight 25-Gigabit Ethernet, FCoE-capable, Small Form-Factor Pluggable (SFP28) ports that connect the blade chassis to the fabric interconnect. Each Cisco UCS 2408 provide 10-Gigabit Ethernet ports connected through the midplane to each half-width slot in the chassis, giving it a total 32 10G interfaces to UCS blades. Typically configured in pairs for redundancy, two fabric extenders provide up to 400 Gbps of I/O from FI 6400 series or FI 6536 to 5108 chassis.

Cisco SingleConnect Technology

Cisco® SingleConnect Technology provides an easy, intelligent, and efficient way to connect and manage computing in the data center. SingleConnect unifies LAN, SAN, and systems management into one simplified link for rack servers, blade servers, and virtual machines.

SingleConnect is an end-to-end I/O architecture. It incorporates Cisco UCS Virtual Interface Cards (VICs), Cisco UCS fabric interconnects, and Cisco Fabric Extender Technology (FEX Technology) to connect every server on a single network fabric and on a single network layer. SingleConnect innovations dramatically simplify IT operations and reduce data center costs and are exclusive to Cisco UCS.