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FXT 5000 Series Installation Guide
5.4.4 Guidelines for 10GbE Copper Cables
When using 10GbE copper twinaxial cables with FXT 5000 Series 10GbE ports (either the 10GbE ports in the FXT
5200/5400/5600 models or the dual rate 25GbE/10GbE ports in the FXT 5850), make sure that the cables meet these
requirements:
• Use SFP+ direct-attach cables.
• Only passive type cables are supported. Active twinax and active optical cables (AOCs) are not supported.
• The maximum length for passive cables is 7 meters (23 feet).
• Cables must comply with SFF-8431 v4.1 and SFF-8472 v10.4 specifications.
• The cable’s SFF-8472 physical device identifier value must be 03h (SFP or SFP+). The value can be verified
with the cable manufacturer.
Note:
25GbE SFP28 direct-attach copper twinaxial cables are backwards compatible with 10GbE SFP+ direct-
attach copper twinaxial cables. 25GbE SFP28 direct-attach cables can run at both 25GbE and 10GbE port speeds.
5.4.5 Guidelines for 1GbE Copper Cables
This table shows requirements for copper twisted pair cabling used with the FXT 5000 Series 1GbE ports.
1GbE Ethernet Cable Guidelines
Port Mode
Cable Specification
10BASE-T
Cat3 or higher, 100 m maximum length
100BASE-TX
Cat5 or higher, 100 m maximum length
1000BASE-T
Cat5 or higher, 100 m maximum length
5.5 Network Connections to the IPMI Port
Each model in the FXT 5000 Series has a 1Gb Intelligent Platform Management Interface (IPMI) port for emergency
node management.
Because IMPI is able to bypass the operating system and interact directly with platform hardware, Avere Systems
recommends using the following security strategies when connecting and configuring the IPMI port:
• Connect IPMI ports to a network that is physically separated from the data network used to access the cluster.
• Change the default IPMI administrator password on each node at installation time. Use a web browser to
navigate to the node’s IPMI port IP address and use the provided interface to modify the user configuration.
• The default IPMI port configuration uses DHCP for IP address assignment. Ensure that the DHCP environ-
ment is well protected and that connectivity is restricted between DHCP clients and the DHCP server. (You
can change the nodes’ IPMI address configuration method from the Avere Control Panel after creating the
cluster.)
The IPMI port does not require a high-speed network; a 100 Mbps or 1GbE connection is sufficient for troubleshoot-
ing and emergency node administration.
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Chapter 5. Making Network Connections to the FXT 5000 Series Node