IBM Flex System FC5022 16Gb SAN Scalable Switches
5
Benefits
The switches offer the following key benefits:
Exceptional price/performance for growing SAN workloads
The FC5022 16 Gb Switch delivers exceptional price/performance for growing SAN workloads
through a combination of market-leading 1600 MB/sec throughput per port and an affordable
high-density, 12-port to 48-port form factor.
Enhanced server performance while using 16 Gb Gen 5 FC technology
IBM testing demonstrates that using 16 Gb FC adapters on the server and the FC5022 modules can
help achieve the following server enhancements, even if 8 Gb FC storage is used:
o
Up to 30-50% better virtual machine density and higher number of concurrent users due to
increased storage bandwidth
o
Up to 20-40% fewer servers required to support the workload specified
o
Twice lower number and higher speed of inter-switch links required in scalable SANs
o
Higher reliability and availability of services due to fewer number of components used to build the
solution
o
Twice faster access to the business critical data
o
Lower acquisition costs due to fewer number of systems and components
o
Shorten ROI time frame and decrease overall TCO with the efficient utilization of server resources
and lower power, cooling, and management costs
o
See IBM Redpaper “Positioning IBM Flex System 16 Gb Fibre Channel Fabric for
Storage-Intensive Enterprise Workloads” for details:
http://www.redbooks.ibm.com/abstracts/redp4921.html?Open
Superior scalability both for internal and external ports that reduces costs and increases availability
The FC5022 16 Gb switch is the only switch that provides up to 28 internal server facing FC ports,
which allows the Flex Chassis to scale to 28 server ITEs in a single chassis (when using double
density half-width ITEs) that lowers the overall per-server cost of the solution. These 28 internal ports
also enable greater path redundancy for ITEs using the 4-port FC mezzanine adapters. Additionally,
the FC5022 offers an industry leading 20 external SFP+ ports that allows for multi-chassis scalability
up to 18 chassis without the use of external FC switches, thereby greatly reducing the overall cost of
the Flex Solution.
Accelerating fabric deployment and serviceability with Brocade ClearLink and Fabric Vision
Brocade ClearLink is a feature supported by the FC5022 16 Gb Switch that enables administrators to
quickly identify and isolate 16 Gbps optic, port, and cable problems, reducing fabric deployment and
diagnostic times. Brocade Fabric Vision Technology offers innovative diagnostic, monitoring, and
management capabilities to help administrators avoid problems, maximize application performance,
and reduce operational costs.
A building block for virtualized, private cloud storage
The FC5022 16 Gb Switch supports multi-tenancy in cloud environments through VM-aware
end-to-end visibility and monitoring, Quality of Service (QoS), and fabric-based advanced zoning
features. The FC5022 enables secure long distance extensions to virtual private or hybrid clouds with
dark fiber support, as well as in-flight encryption and data compression.
Simplified interconnect to existing SAN environments with Brocade Access gateway (NPIV)
operational mode
All models of the FC5022 16 Gb Switch can be deployed as a full-fabric switch or as an Access
Gateway, which simplifies fabric topologies and heterogeneous fabric connectivity. Access Gateway
