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

The FC Flex IO module has the following characteristics:

• You can install one or two FC Flex IO modules on the FN IOM. Each module supports four FC ports.

• Each port can operate in 2Gbps, 4Gbps, or 8Gbps of Fibre Channel speed.

• All ports on an FC Flex IO module can function in the NPIV mode that enables connectivity to FC switches or directors, and also to multiple SAN topologies.

• It automatically senses the current speed when the port link is up. Valid link speeds are 2 Gbps, 4 Gbps, and 8 Gbps.

• By default, the FC ports are configured to operate in N-port mode to connect to an F port on an FC switch in a fabric. You can apply only one FCoE map on an FC port. An N-Port is a port on the node of an FC device and is called a node port.

• There should a maximum of 64 server fabric login (FLOGI) requests or fabric discovery (FDISC) requests per server MAC address before being forwarded by the FC Flex IO module to the FC core switch. Without user configuration, only 32 server login sessions are permitted for each server MAC address. To increase the total number of sessions to 64, use the max sessions command.

• A distance of up to 300 meters is supported at 8 Gbps for Fibre Channel traffic.

• Multiple domains are supported in an NPIV proxy gateway (NPG).

• You cannot configure the FN IOM switches in Stacking mode if the switches contain the FC Flex IO module. Similarly, FC Flex IO modules do not function when you insert them in to a stack of FN IOM switches.

• If the switch contains FC Flex modules, you cannot create a stack, and a log message states that stacking is not supported unless the switches contain only FC Flex modules.