Brocade Communications Systems X6-4, Hardware Installation Manual, Page: 15 / 249

Device Overview
• Product features................................................................................................................................................................................................. 15
• Hardware components.................................................................................................................................................................................... 15
• Port-side view of device................................................................................................................................................................................. 16
• Port-side slot numbering............................................................................................................................................................................... 18
• Nonport-side view of the device ................................................................................................................................................................18
Product features
Key product features for this device include the following:
• Redundant and hot-swappable SFP, SFP+, SFP28, and QSFP+ transceivers; port, extension, control processor (CP) and core
routing (CR) blades; power supply assemblies, fan assemblies, and WWN cards that enable a high availability platform and allow
nondisruptive software upgrades for mission-critical SAN applications.
• Up to 192 32-Gbps external ports and 16 4x32-Gbps QSFP (ICL) ports in a single chassis, enabling high density SAN
configurations with reduced footprint.
• Support for 48 4-, 8-, 16-, and 32-Gbps autosensing Fibre Channel ports on FC32-48 port blades. Trunking technology
groups up to eight ports to create high performance 256-Gbps ISL trunks between switches using 32-Gbps ports.
• 10-Gbps FC-type SFPs on FC32-48 port blades and 10-GbE SFPs on the SX6 application blades. The two types of SFPs
are not interchangeable. The 10-Gbps transceivers can be used for any port on the FC32-48 port blades.
• Support for 16 Fibre Channel ports supporting 4-, 8-, 16-, and 32-Gbps; 16 GbE ports supporting 1 or 10 Gbps; and two
GbE ports supporting 40 Gbps on SX6 extension blades. Trunking technology groups up to eight ports to create high
performance 256-Gbps ISL trunks between switches using 32-Gbps ports.
• Support for FC quad SFP (QSFP) ports supporting 4x16 Gbps and 4x32 Gbps on core CR blades. Up to nine chassis in a full-
mesh topology and 12 chassis in a core-to-edge topology can be connected using these Fibre Channel ports for inter-chassis
links (ICLs).
• Universal ports that self-configure as E_Ports, F_Ports, EX_Ports, M_Ports (mirror ports), and FICON ports. The 10-Gbps
ports on the port blade can function as E_Ports only.
• ClearLink Diagnostic port (D_Port) functionality on Fibre Channel ports.
• Data compression capabilities through the port blades when ports are configured as ISLs.
• The SX6 blades perform as extension platforms to support Fibre Channel (FC) and FICON data flows and IP-based storage
data flows over an IP WAN.
Hardware components
The device has a modular and scalable mechanical construction that allows a wide range of flexibility in installation, fabric design, and
maintenance. The device can be mounted with the cables facing either the front or the rear of the equipment rack, and consists of the
following:
• Up to four slots for hot-swappable port blade assemblies, providing up to 192 32-Gbps Fibre Channel ports.
• Two half-size slots for control processor (CP) blades:
–
A single active CP blade can control all the ports in the device.
– The standby CP blade assumes control of the device if the active CP blade fails.
Brocade X6-4 Director Hardware Installation Guide
53-1004106-07 15