Software features
Note: The features and specifications that are listed in this section are based on Networking OS version 8.4.
The Flex System Fabric SI4091 System Interconnect Module includes the following software features:
Modes of operations:
Transparent (or VLAN-agnostic) mode
In VLAN-agnostic mode (default configuration), the SI4091 transparently forwards VLAN tagged
frames without filtering on the customer VLAN tag, which provides an end host view to the
upstream network. The interconnect module provides traffic consolidation in the chassis to
minimize TOR port utilization. It also enables compute node-to-compute node communication for
optimum performance (for example, vMotion). It can be connected to the FCoE transit switch or
FCoE gateway (FC Forwarder) device.
Local Domain (or VLAN-aware) mode
In VLAN-aware mode (optional configuration), the SI4091 provides more security for multi-tenant
environments by extending client VLAN traffic isolation to the interconnect module and its
external ports. VLAN-based access control lists (ACLs) can be configured on the SI4091. When
FCoE is used, the SI4091 operates as an FCoE transit switch, and it should be connected to the
FCF device.
Scalability and performance:
Media access control (MAC) address learning with automatic updates
Static and LACP (IEEE 802.3ad) link aggregation
Availability and redundancy:
Layer 2 Trunk Failover to support active/standby configurations of NIC teaming on compute
nodes.
Hot Links provide basic link redundancy and fast recovery for network topologies without a need
for Spanning Tree protocol.
VLAN support
Up to 4,095 VLANs supported, with VLAN numbers 1 - 4095 (4095 is used for management
network.)
802.1Q VLAN tagging support on all ports
Full private VLANs
Security:
VLAN-based access control lists (ACLs) (VLAN-aware mode).
Multiple user IDs and passwords.
User access control.
Radius, , and LDAP authentication and authorization.
NIST 800-131A Encryption.
Selectable encryption protocol.
Quality of service (QoS): Support for IEEE 802.1p traffic classification and processing.
Converged Enhanced Ethernet:
Priority-Based Flow Control (PFC) (IEEE 802.1Qbb) extends 802.3x standard flow control to allow
the module to pause traffic that is based on the 802.1p priority value in each packet’s VLAN tag.
Enhanced Transmission Selection (ETS) (IEEE 802.1Qaz) provides a method for allocating link
bandwidth that is based on the 802.1p priority value in each packet’s VLAN tag.
Data Center Bridging Capability Exchange Protocol (DCBX) (IEEE 802.1AB) allows neighboring
network devices to exchange information about their capabilities.
Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE):
FC-BB5 FCoE specification compliant
FCoE transit switch operations
FCoE Initialization Protocol (FIP) snooping support
Lenovo Flex System SI4091 10Gb System Interconnect Module
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