IBM System Networking RackSwitch G8264CS

A large number of clients today successfully use Ethernet and Fibre Channel (FC) connectivity from their servers to their LAN and SAN. These clients are also seeking ways to reduce the cost and complexity of these environments by using the capabilities of Ethernet and Fibre Channel convergence.

The IBM® System Networking RackSwitch™ G8264CS top-of-rack switch offers the benefits of a converged infrastructure. As part of its forward thinking design, this switch has flexibility for future growth and expansion. This switch is ideal for clients who are looking to connect to existing SANs and clients who want native Fibre Channel connectivity, in addition to support for such protocols as Ethernet, Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE), and iSCSI.

The RackSwitch G8264CS includes the following highlights:

• Lossless Ethernet, Fibre Channel, and FCoE in one switch
• 36 SFP+ ports supporting 1-Gb or 10-Gb Ethernet
• Flexibility with 12 IBM Omni Ports that support 10-Gb Ethernet or 4/8 Gb Fibre Channel connections
• Ideal for clients who are looking to aggregate FC or FCoE converged traffic with the ability to connect to existing SANs
• Future-proofed with four 40-Gb QSFP+ ports
• Low cost, low complexity, and simpler deployment and management

Figure 1 shows the IBM System Networking RackSwitch G8264CS top-of-rack switch.


Figure 1. IBM System Networking RackSwitch G8264CS


Did you know?

The IBM RackSwitch G8264CS simplifies deployment with its innovative and flexible IBM Omni Port technology. The 12 Omni Ports on the G8264CS give clients the flexibility to choose a 10-Gb Ethernet, 4/8 Gb Fibre Channel, or both for upstream connections. In FC mode, Omni Ports provide convenient access to FC storage. The Omni Port technology provided on the G8264CS helps consolidate enterprise storage, networking, data, and management onto a simple-to-manage, efficient, and cost-effective single fabric.


Part number information

Table 1 shows the part numbers for ordering the switch.

Table 1. Part numbers and feature codes for ordering

Description	IBM System x® part number
IBM System Networking RackSwitch G8264CS (Rear-to-Front)	7309DRX
IBM System Networking RackSwitch G8264CS (Front-to-Rear)	7309DFX

Two models are available, either rear-to-front air flow or front-to-rear air flow:

• Rear-to-front model: Ports are in the rear of the rack and are suitable for use with System x, Power Systems, IBM Flex System™ or IBM PureSystems™, and IBM BladeCenter® designs.
• Front-to-rear model: Ports are in the front of the rack and are suitable for use with IBM iDataPlex® systems.

The base module part numbers include the following items:

• One IBM System Networking RackSwitch G8264CS
• Generic Rail Mount Kit (2-post)
• IBM serial cable

The 2-post Rack Installation Kit allows the switch to be mounted vertically or horizontally. An optional 4-post rail kit is also available (see Table 2).

Transceivers are not included in the purchase of the switch and all transceivers require using the appropriate cables (see Table 2). Line cords are also not included and must be ordered separately (see Table 3).


Features and benefits

The traditional approach of segmenting storage and data traffic has certain advantages, such as traffic isolation and independent administration. Nevertheless, it also poses several disadvantages, including higher infrastructure costs, complexity of management, and under-utilization of resources. Clients must invest in separate infrastructures for LAN, SAN, and inter-process communications (IPC) fabrics, including host adapters, cables, switching, routers, and other device-specific equipment.

From an administrative and manageability standpoint, each network fabric is treated as a separate entity, with dedicated personnel assigned to care and nurture each fabric. At any one time, the individual fabrics tend not to be fully used because only a percentage of peak bandwidth is used in the respective networks, which can result in poor overall utilization of these resources and can consequently lower return on investment.

The IBM RackSwitch G8264CS offers the following features and benefits:

• Lowers the total cost of ownership with consolidation

  By consolidating LAN and SAN networks and converging to a single fabric, clients can reduce the equipment that is needed in their data centers. This benefit significantly reduces costs that are associated with energy and cooling, management and maintenance, and capital costs.

• Improves performance and increases availability

  The G8264CS is an enterprise-class and full-featured data center switch that offers high bandwidth performance with thirty-six 1/10 Gb SFP+ connections, twelve Omni Ports that can be used for 10-Gb SFP+ connections, 4/8 Gb Fibre Channel connections, or both, plus four 40 Gb QSFP+ connections. The G8264CS switch delivers full line rate performance on Ethernet ports, making it an ideal choice for managing dynamic workloads across the network. This switch also provides a rich Layer 2 and Layer 3 feature set that is ideal for many of today’s data centers. Combined with redundant hot-swappable power and fans, along with numerous high availability features, this switch comes fully equipped to handle the demands of business-sensitive traffic.

• Optimizes network virtualization with innovative software

  With the majority of IT organizations implementing virtualization, a need has increased to reduce the cost and complexity of their environments. IBM Virtual Fabric reduces cost and complexity while increasing performance. It also provides higher availability and security with isolation between virtual network interface cards (vNIC) by using the innovative IBM Networking OS design. In addition, delivering advanced virtualization awareness helps simplify management and automates virtual machine (VM) mobility by making the network VM aware with IBM VMready®, which works with all the major hypervisors.

• High performance

  The 10-Gb/40-Gb switch provides the best combination of low latency, non-blocking line-rate switching, and ease of management. It has a throughput of up to 1.28 Tbps.

• Lower power and better cooling

  The G8264CS uses as little as 330 W of power, which is a fraction of the power consumption of most competitive offerings. Unlike side-cooled switches, which can cause heat recirculation and reliability concerns, the front-to-rear or rear-to-front cooling design of the G8264CS switch reduces the costs of data center air conditioning by having airflow match the servers in the rack. In addition, variable speed fans help to automatically reduce power consumption.

• Support for Virtual Fabric

  The G8264CS can help customers address I/O requirements for multiple NICs while reducing cost and complexity. By using Virtual Fabric for IBM, you can carve a physical dual-port NIC into multiple vNICs (between 2 - 8 vNICs) and to create a virtual pipe between the adapter and the switch for improved performance, availability, and security.

• VM-aware networking

  VMready software on the switch simplifies configuration and improves security in virtualized environments. VMready automatically detects virtual machine movement between physical servers and instantly reconfigures the network policies of each VM across VLANs to keep the network up and running without interrupting traffic or impacting performance. VMready works with all leading VM providers, such as VMware, Citrix, Xen, IBM PowerVM®, and Microsoft.

• Layer 3 functionality

  The G8264CS includes Layer 3 functionality, which provides security and performance benefits, because inter-VLAN traffic stays within the switch. This switch also provides the full range of Layer 3 protocols from static routes for technologies, such as Open Shortest Path First (OSPF) and Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) for enterprise customers.

• Seamless interoperability

  IBM switches perform seamlessly with other vendors' upstream switches.

• Fault tolerance

  These IBM switches learn alternate routes automatically and perform faster convergence in the unlikely case of a link, switch, or power failure. The switch uses proven technologies, such as L2 trunk failover, advanced VLAN-based failover, VRRP, and HotLink.

• Multicast support

  These switches support IGMP Snooping v1, v2, and v3 with 2 K IGMP groups. They also support Protocol Independent Multicast (PIM) such as PIM Sparse Mode or PIM Dense Mode.
  

• Transparent networking capability
  
  With a simple configuration change to Easy Connect Mode, the RackSwitch G8264CS becomes a transparent network device, invisible to the core, eliminating network administration concerns of Spanning Tree Protocol configuration/interoperability, VLAN assignments and avoids any possible loops.
  
  By emulating a host NIC to the data center core, it accelerates the provisioning of VMs by eliminating the need to configure the typical access switch parameters.

Connections and LEDs

Figure 2 shows the front of the IBM RackSwitch G8264CS.


Figure 2. IBM RackSwitch G8264CS

The switch has the following interfaces:

• 36 SFP+ ports (1-Gb or 10-Gb Ethernet)
• 12 Omni Ports (10-Gb Ethernet or 4/8 Gb Fibre Channel)
• Four QSFP+ ports (40-Gb Ethernet)
• One 10/100/1000 Ethernet RJ45 port for out-of-band management
• One USB port for mass storage device connection
• One mini-USB Console port for serial access
• Server-like port orientations, enabling short and simple cabling

The IBM RackSwitch G8264CS has the following status LEDs:

• System LEDs to indicate link status, fan, power, and stacking.
• Two LEDs per Omni Port for link status, activity, and mode (ETH/FC mode).
• One LED per SFP+ port that corresponds to the Link and Activity LED described previously.
• Four LEDs per QSFP+ port for link status and activity; separate LED activity for each 10G subinterface.
• Blue Service Required LED, which is labeled as “!” on the front panel.
• Green Stack Master LED, which is labeled as “M” on the front panel.
• Fan module LED: Solid green indicates functional, and flashing green indicates a problem.
• Power Supply module LED: Solid green indicates functional, and flashing green indicates a problem.

Software features and specifications

The software features, as of 6.8 plus Fibre Channel, are as follows:

• Security

• RADIUS
• TACACS+
• SCP
• Wire Speed Filtering: Allow and Deny
• SSH v1, v2
• HTTPS Secure BBI
• Secure interface login and password
• MAC address move notification
• Shift B Boot menu (Password Recovery/ Factory Default)

• VLANs

• Port-based VLANs
• 4096 VLAN ids supported
• 2048 Active VLANs (802.1Q)
• 802.1x with Guest VLAN
• Private VLAN Edge

• Lossless Ethernet

• 802.1 Data Center Bridging
• Priority Based Flow Control (PFC)
• Enhanced Transmission Selection (ETS)
• Data Center Bridge Exchange protocol (DCBX)
• FIP Snooping
• Converged Enhanced Ethernet

• Fibre Channel/FCoE

• NPV Gateway
• FC Port Speeds: 4/8 Gb
• Bridging to Fibre Channel SANs
• Login load distribution
• End-to-end FCoE (initiator to target)

  FCoE initiator /target can be attached to any port that is configured as Ethernet

• Direct attachment of FCoE targets.
• Manageable by using ISCLI or BBI

• Full Fabric FC/FCoE
• FC Port Speeds: 4/8 Gb
• FC-BB-5 Compliant Full Fabric FC/FCoE
  • Fabric Services: Name Server, Registered State Change Notification (RSCN), Login services, Zoning
  • WWN, FCID or Alias based Zoning
  • Login load distribution
• FC classes of service: Class 2 and Class 3
• Manageable via ISCLI / BBI

• Trunking

• LACP
• Static Trunks (EtherChannel)
• Configurable Trunk Hash algorithm

• Spanning Tree

• Multiple Spanning Tree (802.1 s)
• Rapid Spanning Tree (802.1 w)
• PVRST+
• Fast Uplink Convergence
• BPDU guard

• Quality of Service

• QoS 802.1p (priority queues)
• DSCP remarking
• Metering

• Routing protocols

• RIP v1/v2
• OSPF
• BGP

• High availability

• Layer 2 failover
• HotLinks
• Virtual Router Redundancy support (VRRP)

• Multicast

• IGMP Snooping v1, v2, and v3 with 2 K IGMP groups
• Protocol Independent Multicast (PIM Sparse Mode/Dense Mode)

• Monitoring

• Port mirroring
• ACL-based mirroring
• sFlow Version 5

• Virtualization

• VMready with VI API support
• vNIC MIB support for SNMP

• User interfaces

• IBM System Networking Switch Center (SNSC)
• ISCLI (Cisco or similar)
• Scriptable CLI
• Browser-based client (BBCLI) or Telnet

• Standard protocols

• IPv4, IPv6
• SNMP v1, v2c, and v3
• RMON
• Secondary NTP Support
• DHCP Client
• DHCP Relay
• LLDP
• 128 K MAC Table
• 9 K Jumbo Frames
• 802.3X Flow Control

• Upgrades

• Upgrade firmware by using serial or TFTP
• Dual software images

Supported transceivers and cables

Table 2 lists the supported transceivers and cables.

Table 2. Transceivers

Description	System x part number
1 Gb options (SFP+ ports only)
IBM SFP RJ45 Transceiver	81Y1618
IBM SFP SX Transceiver	81Y1622
IBM SFP LX Transceiver	90Y9424
0.6 m Blue Cat5e Cable	40K5679
1.5 m Blue Cat5e Cable	40K8785
3 m Blue Cat5e Cable	40K5581
10 m Blue Cat5e Cable	40K8927
25 m Blue Cat5e Cable	40K8930
10 Gb options (SFP+ or Omni Ports)
IBM SFP+ SR Transceiver	46C3447
IBM SFP+ LR Transceiver	00D6180
IBM SFP+ ER Transceiver	90Y9415
1m LC-LC Fiber Cable (networking) - Optical	88Y6851
5m LC-LC Fiber Cable (networking) - Optical	88Y6854
25m LC-LC Fiber Cable (networking) - Optical	88Y6857
0.5 m IBM Passive DAC SFP+ Cable	00D6288
1 m IBM Passive DAC SFP+ Cable	90Y9427
3 m IBM Passive DAC SFP+ Cable	90Y9430
5 m IBM Passive DAC SFP+ Cable	90Y9433
7 m IBM Passive DAC SFP+ Cable	00D6151*
1 m IBM Active DAC SFP+ Cable	95Y0323
3 m IBM Active DAC SFP+ Cable	95Y0326
5 m IBM Active DAC SFP+ Cable	95Y0329

40 Gb options (QSFP+ ports only)
IBM QSFP+ SR Transceiver	49Y7884
10 m IBM QSFP+ MTP Optical Cable	90Y3519
30 m IBM QSPF+ MTP Optical Cable	90Y3521
1 m IBM QSFP+ DAC Break Out Cable	49Y7886
3 m IBM QSFP+ DAC Break Out Cable	49Y7887
5 m IBM QSFP+ DAC Break Out Cable	49Y7888
1 m IBM QSFP+-to-QSFP+ Cable	49Y7890
3 m IBM QSFP+-to-QSFP+ Cable	49Y7891
5 m IBM QSFP+-to-QSFP+ Cable	00D5810
7 m IBM QSFP+-to-QSFP+ Cable	00D5813
Fibre Channel options (Omni Ports only)
IBM 8Gb SFP+ SW Optical Transceiver	00D6183
4Gb SFP Transceiver Option	39R6475
Miscellaneous options
IBM System Networking Adjustable 19" 4 Post Rail Kit	00D6185

* Use of the 7m Passive DAC cable is restricted to 10 Gb SFP+ ports only.

Figure 3 show the transceiver and cable options and their supported distances.


Figure 3. Transceiver and cable options and supported distances

Figure 4 shows the rear view of the IBM RackSwitch G8264CS.


Figure 4. Rear view of IBM RackSwitch G8264CS


Line cord options

Line cords are not included with the switch. Table 3 lists the supported cords.

Table 3. Part numbers and feature codes for line cords

Description	Part number
System x options
Power Cord Europe AC plug 10A/250V	39Y7917
Power Cord Europe (Denmark) AC plug 10A/250V	39Y7918
Power Cord Europe (Switzerland) AC plug 10A/250V	39Y7919
Power Cord Europe AC (Israel) plug 10A/250V	39Y7920
Power Cord Europe (South Africa) AC plug 10A/250V	39Y7922
Power Cord UK AC plug 13A/250V	39Y7923
Power Cord Australia AC plug 10A/250V	39Y7924
Power Cord Korea AC plug 10A/250V	39Y7925
Power Cord India AC plug 10A/250V	39Y7927
Power Cord China AC plug 16A/250V	39Y7928
Power Cord Brazil AC plug 16A/250V	39Y7929
Power Cord Uruguay/Argentina AC plug 16A/250V	39Y7930
Power Cord US 2.8M AC Plug 10A/250V	46M2592
Power Cord Japan 2.8M AC plug 12A/125V	46M2593

Intelligent Cluster or iDataPlex
Rck Pwr Cord, 10A 1.5m C13-C14	39Y7937
Rck Pwr Cord, 10A 4.3m C13-C14	39Y7932
Rck Pwr Cord, 10A 2.8m C13-C20	39Y7938
IBM Power Systems™
LINECORD, TO WALL, 6', 100-127V/12A, IEC320/C13, PT#4	Feature 6470
LINECORD, TO WALL/OEM PDU, 9' 100-127V/10A, IEC320/C13, PT#70	Feature 6471
LINECORD, TO WALL/OEM PDU, 9', 200-240V/10A, IEC320/C13, PT#18	Feature 6472
LINECORD, TO WALL/OEM PDU, 9', 200-240V/10A, IEC320/C13, PT#19	Feature 6473
LINECORD, TO WALL/OEM PDU, 9', 200-240V/10A, IEC320/C13, PT#2	Feature 6488
LINECORD, TO WALL/OEM PDU, 9', 200-240V/10A, IEC320/C13, PT#23	Feature 6474
LINECORD, TO WALL/OEM PDU, 9', 200-240V/10A, IEC320/C13, PT#24	Feature 6476
LINECORD, TO WALL/OEM PDU, 9', 200-240V/10A, IEC320/C13, PT#32	Feature 6475
LINECORD, TO WALL/OEM PDU, 9', 200-240V/10A, IEC320/C13, PT#62	Feature 6493
LINECORD, TO WALL/OEM PDU, 9', 200-240V/10A, IEC320/C13, PT#69	Feature 6494
LINECORD, TO WALL/OEM PDU, 9', 200-240V/16A, IEC320/C13, PT#22	Feature 6477
LINECORD, TO WALL/OEM PDU, 9', 250/10A, IEC320/C13, PT#6, INSULATED	Feature 6680

Warranty information

The IBM RackSwitch includes an IBM standard 3-year hardware and software warranty. IBM reserves the right to provide new features as part of future software releases. Software Upgrade Entitlement is based on the switch warranty or post warranty extension and service contracts.


Physical and environmental specifications

The switch has the following approximate dimensions and weight:

• Width: 439 mm (17.3 inches)
• Depth: 482 mm (19 inches)
• Height: 1U or 45 mm (1.75 inches)
• Weight: 10.35 kg (22.1 lb)

The switch requires the following power supplies:

• Dual hot swap power modules, 50 - 60Hz, 100 - 240 VAC auto-switching per module
  • Front-to-rear models use the 550W CFF Power Supply modules.
  • Rear-to-front models use the 750W CFF Power Supply modules.
• Typical power consumption of 330 Watts

The switch has the following environmental specifications:

• Temperature: Ambient operating: 0 °C to + 40 °C
• Relative humidity: Non-condensing, operating 10 - 90%
• Altitude: Operating 1,800 m (6,000 feet)
• Typical heat dissipation: 1127 BTU/hour

Popular configurations

The following configurations are expected to be among the popular configurations that clients are likely to implement. Not all of these configurations are available at the time of writing. For more information, speak to your IBM representative or IBM Business Partner. For examples of official tested configurations, see the IBM System Storage® Interoperation Center (SSIC) at:
http://ibm.com/systems/support/storage/ssic/interoperability.wss

IBM provides extensive FCoE testing to deliver network interoperability. For a full listing of IBM supported FCoE and iSCSI configurations, visit the System Storage Interoperation Center (SSIC) at:
http://ibm.com/systems/support/storage/ssic
Leveraging an existing LAN

Figure 5 shows how a client with existing SAN switches can use the G8264CS to simplify its rack environments by introducing Ethernet in the rack between the IBM System x, or IBM Power Systems servers, and the G8264CS. The client can introduce Ethernet while breaking out the FC connections, at the top of the rack, to connect to the existing SAN switches, and then on to the client's storage devices.


Figure 5. Leveraging an existing LAN

Table 4 lists the supported components.

Table 4. Components

Adapter	NIC configuration	FCoE switch	SAN switch	Storage target (FC)	OS levels
Emulex VFA II/III (Adapter + FOD Key): 49Y7950 + 49Y4274 49Y7940 + 49Y4274 95Y3751 (Included) 90Y6456 + 90Y5178 95Y3762 + 95Y3760 88Y6454 + 95Y3760	pNIC vNIC2	G8264CS	Cisco SAN Brocade SAN	IBM Storwize® V3700 Storwize V7000 SVC DS3K/5K DS8K Tape IBM XIV®	Win2008 WS2012 ESX 4/5 RHEL 5/6 SLES 10/11
QLogic 8200 PCIe (Adapter + FOD Key): 90Y4600 + 00Y5624	pNIC vNIC2	G8264CS	Cisco SAN Brocade SAN	Storwize V3700 Storwize N7000 SVC DS3K/5K/8K Tape, XIV	Win2008 WS2012 ESX 4/5 RHEL 5/6 SLES 10/11

Leveraging Ethernet further into an existing data center

Figure 6 shows an example of how a client might further simplify its data center by using Ethernet more in its data center before connecting to its existing SAN switches. This example shows how clients can use the IBM RackSwitch G8124E to simplify its rack environments with Ethernet only. Ethernet can go down to the end of the row, or closer, to the client's storage where the client can install the G8264CS. Next Ethernet can break out the FC connections at the top of the rack to connect to the existing SAN switches, and finally it can go on to the client's storage devices.


Figure 6. Leveraging Ethernet further into an existing data center

Table 5 summarizes the supported components.

Table 5. Components

Adapter	NIC configuration	Transit	FCoE switch	SAN switch	Storage target	OS levels
Emulex VFA II/III (Adapter + FOD key) 49Y7950 + 49Y4274 49Y7940 + 49Y4274 95Y3751 (Included) 90Y6456 + 90Y5178 95Y3762 + 95Y3760 88Y7429 + 95Y3760	pNIC vNIC2	G8124E	G8264CS	Cisco SAN Brocade SAN	Storwize V3700 Storwize 7V000 SVC DS3K/5K DS8K Tape XIV	Win2008 WS2012 ESX 4/5 RHEL 5/6 SLES 10/11
QLogic 8200 PCIe (Adapter + FOD Key) 90Y4600 + 00Y5624	pNIC vNIC2	G8124E	G8264CS	Cisco SAN Brocade SAN	Storwize V3700 Storwize 7V000 SVC DS3K/5K DS8K Tape XIV	Win2008 WS2012 ESX 4/5 RHEL 5/6 SLES 10/11

Leveraging an IBM BladeCenter environment

Figure 7 shows an example of how a client can use an IBM BladeCenter environment. The client reduces costs inside the chassis with a single adapter in the blade, with a 10-Gb Ethernet only in the chassis. The client can use the G8264CS at the top of the rack or somewhere else in the data center, breaking out the FC connections and connecting to the existing SAN switches, and then to the storage devices.


Figure 7. Leveraging a BladeCenter environment

Table 6 summarizes the supported components.

Table 6. Components

Adapter	NIC configuration	FCoE switch	SAN switch	Storage target	OS levels
Emulex VFA 2 (Adapter + FOD Key)	pNIC vNIC2	G8264CS	Cisco SAN Brocade SAN	Storwize V3700 Storwize 7V000 SVC DS3K/5K DS8K Tape XIV	Win2008 WS2012 ESX 4/5 RHEL 5/6 SLES 10/11

Related publications

For more information, see the following IBM RackSwitch G8264CS product publications, which are available at:
http://ibm.com/support/entry/portal/Documentation

• Application Guide
• Industry-Standard CLI Reference
• Browser-Based Interface (BBI) Quick Guide
• Menu-based CLI Command Reference

For announcement letters, sale manuals, or both, see the IBM Offering Information page at:
http://www.ibm.com/common/ssi/index.wss?request_locale=en

On this page, enter RackSwitch G8264CS, select the information type, and then click Search. On the next page, narrow your search results by geography and language.