Dell PowerEdge FN I/O Module Configuration Guide 9.10(0.0)

The FC Flex IO module offers a rich, comprehensive set of FCoE functionalities on the FX2 chassis by splitting the Ethernet and Fibre Channel (FC) traffic at the edge of the chassis. The FC switches that are connected directly to the FC Flex IO module provide Fibre Channel capabilities because the FC Flex IO module does not support full fabric functionalities. With the separation of Ethernet and FC packets performed at the edge of the chassis itself, you can use the FN IOM that contains an FC Flex IO module to connect to a SAN environment without the need for a separate ToR switch to operate as NPIV proxy gateways. The FN IOM can function in NPIV proxy gateway mode when an FC Flex IO module is present or in the FIP snooping bridge (FSB) mode when all the ports are Ethernet ports.

The FC Flex IO module uses the same baseboard hardware of the FN IOM and the FX2 chassis. You can insert the FC Flex IO module into any of the optional module slots of the FN IOM and it provides four FC ports per module. If you insert only one FC Flex IO module, four ports are supported; if you insert two FC Flex IO modules, eight ports are supported.

By installing an FC Flex IO module, you can enable the FN IOM to directly connect to an existing FC SAN network. The FC Flex IO module uses the existing slots on the FN IOM and provides four or eight FC ports up to speed of 8 GbE per second. You can connect all of the FC ports to the same FC SAN fabric to yield FC bandwidth of up to 64GB. It is possible to connect some of the ports to a different FC SAN fabric to provide access to multiple fabric devices.

In a typical Fibre Channel storage network topology, separate network interface cards (NICs) and host bus adapters (HBAs) on each server (two each for redundancy purposes) are connected to LAN and SAN networks respectively. These deployments typically include a ToR SAN switch in addition to a ToR LAN switch. By employing converged network adapters (CNAs) that the FC Flex IO module supports, CNAs are used to transmit FCoE traffic from the server instead of separate NIC and HBA devices. In such a scenario, you can determine whether the FC or SAN packets and the Ethernet or LAN packets must be split within the chassis or by using a ToR switch to perform this splitting.

If you want to segregate the LAN and SAN traffic within the chassis, you can employ switches such as the Dell M8428-k Converged 10GbE Switch or FC-only switches such as the Dell M5424 switch module. You can also use the S5000 Switch as a ToR switch to separate the LAN and SAN traffic at the ToR. By using the FC Flex IO module, you can optimally and effectively split the LAN and SAN traffic at the edge of the blade chassis itself. You can deploy the FC Flex IO module can be deployed in the enterprise and data center switching networks to leverage and derive the advantages of a converged Ethernet network.

The FC Flex IO module is not an FCF switch, but it offers FCoE capabilities from the server to the FN IOM, and native FC capability in the uplink direction to the SAN switches. Although the FC Flex IO module does not support all of the FCF characteristics, such as full-blown name services or zone parameters, it presents the most flexible solution in interoperating with third-party switches that enable the splitting of LAN and SAN traffic. With the FN IOM being well-established systems in the switch domain, you can install the FC Flex IO module to enhance and increase the converged Ethernet network performance and behavior. With the FC Flex IO module, the FN IOM provide 8 1GbE or 10 GbE server-facing ports and the option to add two FC Flex IO modules that offer up to 8 8Gb Fibre Channel ports for uplink traffic in addition to the fixed two 40GbE ports on the FN IOM.

You can configure one of the following upstream (fabric-facing) FC ports:

• Two 40GbE and eight 8GB FC ports

• Four 40GbE and four 8GB FC ports

• Two 40GbE, four 10GbE, and four 8GB FC ports

• Two 40GbE, four 10GBASE-T, and four 8GB FC ports