Dell ExaScale E600i, Installation Manual

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The E600i System | 9
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The E600i System
System Overview
The E600i system requires at least one RPM and line card, and at least four switch fabric modules
(SFMs) for packet processing. The RPM is the core for routing and control operations. Routing table
entries are built on the RPM and directed to the forwarding information tables on the line cards. All
traffic destined to the E600i terminates at the RPM.
RPM software processes, such as management, Layer 2, and Layer 3 functions, are divided among three
CPUs. Independent software images run on each CPU. Each CPU has its own memory, which isolates
processes from each other, increasing reliability. Operating the E600i system with two RPMs enables
automatic failover redundancy.
Line cards perform all data forwarding operations. Each line card has Dell Force10 proprietary ASICs;
the flexible packet classification (FPC) ASIC and the Buffer and Traffic Manager (BTM) ASIC. The FPC
accepts packets, feeds packets to input/output ports, handles packet classification (access lists, Layer 2
and Layer 3 lookups) and packet marking (DSCP or 802.1p). The BTM is responsible for all queuing
operations.
The internal flash memory device shipped with the RPM contains the boot ROM and runtime images.
Each RPM accommodates an external flash memory card that can be used to copy and store system boot,
software images, and configuration files.