Cisco Mds 9124 Multilayer Fabric Switch Datasheet
Cisco Mds 9124 Multilayer Fabric Switch Datasheet
Highlights
● Exceptional flexibility and scalability: The Cisco MDS 9124 offers up to 24 autosensing Fibre Channel
ports capable of speeds of 4, 2, and 1 Gbps in a compact 1RU form-factor chassis with 4 Gbps of dedicated
bandwidth for each port and an aggregate platform bandwidth of 192 Gbps. The base configuration has 8
active ports with flexibility to upgrade onsite to 16 and 24 ports, in 8-port increments, with the Cisco MDS
9124 On-Demand Port Activation licenses. The Cisco MDS 9124 is an ideal platform as a standalone
departmental SAN switch and as an edge switch in enterprise core-edge SANs. The 1RU compact design is
ideal for space-constrained environments where high port density per rack is imperative.
● Intelligent storage networking services at an affordable price: The Cisco MDS 9124, powered by Cisco
MDS 9000 NX-OS Software, offers intelligent storage networking capabilities such as virtual SANs
(VSANs), PortChannels, quality of service (QoS), and security for cost-effective design, deployment,
provisioning, and management of departmental and enterprise SANs.
● Highly available platform for mission-critical deployments: The Cisco MDS 9124 is designed for
environments in which downtime is not an option. It offers nondisruptive software upgrades, optional
dual-redundant, hot-swappable AC or DC power supplies (with integrated fans), VSANs for fault isolation,
and optional dual-redundant VSANs for fault isolation, and PortChannels for Inter-Switch Link (ISL)
resiliency.
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● Comprehensive security framework: The Cisco MDS 9124 supports RADIUS and TACACS+, port
security, fabric binding, Fibre Channel Security Protocol (FC-SP) host-to-switch and switch-to-switch
authentication, Secure FTP (SFTP), Secure Shell Version 2 (SSHv2) and Simple Network Management
Protocol Version 3 (SNMPv3) implementing Advanced Encryption Standard (AES), VSANs, hardware-
enforced zoning, broadcast zones, and per-VSAN role-based access control (RBAC).
● Simplified storage management: The Cisco MDS 9124 includes built-in storage network management,
with all features available through a command-line interface (CLI) or the Cisco Data Center Network
Manager (DCNM) for SAN Essentials Edition (formerly Cisco Fabric Manager), a centralized management
tool with task-based wizards that simplify management of a standalone switch or multiple switches and
fabrics.
● Sophisticated diagnostics: Industry-leading intelligent diagnostics such as Fibre Channel ping, Fibre
Channel traceroute, Switched Port Analyzer (SPAN), Cisco Fabric Analyzer, and integrated call-home
capability enhance reliability, facilitate faster problem resolution, and reduce service costs.
● Reduced total cost of ownership (TCO): Common platform architecture and the use of Cisco MDS 9000
NX-OS Software intelligent storage-networking services across all Cisco MDS 9000 Family switches reduce
ongoing operating expenses by providing a consistent set of provisioning, management, and diagnostic
capabilities.
The flexibility of the Cisco MDS 9124 is provided by the Cisco MDS 9124 On-Demand Port Activation licenses,
which allow expansion in 8-port increments. Customers can start with a base configuration of 8 ports and can
upgrade onsite to 16 and 24 ports using these licenses. With advanced storage networking capabilities built into
the platform, it is an ideal choice both as a standalone departmental SAN switch and as an edge switch in
enterprise core-edge SANs.
The Cisco MDS 9124 includes hot-swappable, Small Form-Factor Pluggable (SFP), LC interfaces. All SFP
interfaces are 4, 2, and 1 Gbps, with autosensing capabilities. Individual ports can be configured with either short-
or long-wavelength SFP optics for connectivity up to 500 meters (m) and 10 kilometers (km), respectively.
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Advanced Traffic Management for High-Performance, Resilient SANs
Advanced traffic management capabilities integrated into the Cisco MDS 9124 simplify deployment and
optimization of core-edge fabrics.
● Virtual output queuing helps ensure line-rate performance on each port, independent of traffic pattern, by
eliminating head-of-line blocking.
● Each port group consisting of 4 ports has a pool of 64 buffer credits, with a default of 16 buffer credits per
port. When extended distances are required, up to 61 buffer credits can be allocated to a single port within
the port group. This extensibility is available without additional licensing.
● PortChannels allow users to aggregate up to 16 physical ISLs into a single logical bundle, providing
optimized bandwidth use across all links. The bundle can consist of any port from the switch, helping ensure
that the bundle remains active even in the event of a port group failure.
● Fabric Shortest Path First (FSPF)-based multipathing provides the intelligence to load-balance across up to
16 equal-cost paths and, in the event of a switch failure, dynamically reroute traffic.
● QoS can be used to manage bandwidth and control latency, to prioritize critical traffic.
● Comprehensive port and flow statistics facilitate sophisticated performance analysis and service-level
agreement (SLA) accounting.
Comprehensive Security
Recognizing the need for unassailable security in storage networks, the Cisco MDS 9124 offers an extensive
security framework to protect highly sensitive data crossing today’s enterprise networks.
● VSANs are used to achieve higher security and greater stability by providing complete isolation among
devices that are connected to the same physical SAN.
● Intelligent packet inspection at the port level, including the application of access control lists (ACLs) for
hardware enforcement of zones, VSANs, and advanced port security features.
● Extended zoning capabilities help ensure that broadcasts are restricted to the selected zones (the
broadcast zones).
● FC-SP provides switch-to-switch and host-to-switch Diffie-Hellman Challenge Handshake Authentication
Protocol (DH-CHAP) authentication supporting RADIUS or TACACS+ to help ensure that only authorized
devices access protected storage networks.
This framework, in conjunction with management access and control plane security, makes the Cisco MDS 9000
Family among the most secure platforms of its kind.
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Smart Zoning: When the Smart Zoning feature is enabled, Cisco MDS 9000 Family fabrics provision the hardware
access control entries specified by the zone set more efficiently, avoiding the superfluous entries that would allow
servers (initiators) to talk to other servers, or allow storage devices (targets) to talk to other storage devices. This
feature makes larger zones with multiple initiators and multiple targets feasible without excessive consumption of
hardware resources. Thus, smart zones can correspond to applications, application clusters, hypervisor clusters, or
other data center entities, saving the time that administrators previously spent creating many small zones, and
enabling the automation of zoning tasks.
High availability is implemented at the fabric level through the industry’s most robust and highest-performance
ISLs. The Cisco PortChannels feature allows users to aggregate up to 16 physical ports into one logical bundle.
The bundle can sustain the failure of any physical link without causing a reset. Additionally, FSPF multipathing
provides the intelligence to load-balance across up to 16 equal-cost paths and, if a switch fails, to dynamically
reroute traffic. The Cisco MDS 9124 dramatically increases fabric-switch availability, reducing TCO.
When the Cisco MDS 9124 is deployed as an edge switch, the Cisco N-Port Virtualization (NPV) mode support
provides resiliency on uplinks to the core. The NPV fabric-port (F-port) trunking and channeling features also
enable SANs to be scaled without reaching Fibre Channel domain ID limits.
Simplified Management
The Cisco MDS 9124 provides three principal modes of management: the Cisco MDS 9000 Family CLI, the Cisco
DCNM for SAN Essentials Edition, and integration with third-party storage management tools.
● Consistent, logical CLI: Adhering to the syntax of the widely known Cisco IOS® Software CLI, the Cisco
MDS 9000 Family CLI is easy to learn and delivers broad management capabilities. The Cisco MDS 9000
Family CLI is an extremely efficient and direct interface designed to provide optimal capabilities to
administrators in enterprise environments.
● Quick Configuration Wizard: The Quick Configuration Wizard helps eliminate management complexity
and creates a readily available SAN environment for small- and mid-sized business applications. The wizard
allows server access to storage to be set up quickly and easily in a single step, using an intuitive GUI.
● Cisco DCNM: Cisco DCNM can be licensed for management of a combination of SAN and LAN
environments. Cisco DCNM streamlines the provisioning of the unified fabric and proactively monitors the
LAN and SAN components. Cisco DCNM for SAN Essentials Edition (formerly Cisco Fabric Manager),
which comes standard with the Cisco MDS 9124, is an easy-to-use application that simplifies management
across multiple switches and converged SAN fabrics. Focused on supporting efficient operations and
management of virtual machine-aware fabrics, Cisco DCNM for SAN Essentials Edition provides a robust
framework and comprehensive feature set that meets the routing, switching, and storage administration
needs of present and future virtualized data centers. The optional Cisco DCNM for SAN Advanced Edition
(formerly Cisco Fabric Manager Server) extends the standard Cisco DCNM for SAN Essentials Edition
software by providing server federation, historical performance monitoring for network traffic hotspot
analysis, centralized management services, and advanced application integration. All standard Cisco
DCNM for SAN Essentials Edition features and functions are fully integrated with the optional Cisco DCNM
for SAN Advanced Edition capabilities.
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● APIs: The Cisco MDS 9124 provides an extensive set of APIs for integration with third-party and user-
developed management tools. The APIs are based on industry-standard protocols, including SNMP and
the Storage Networking Industry Association (SNIA) Storage Management Initiative Specification (SMI-S).
Product Specifications
Minimum Software Requirements
● Cisco MDS 9000 SAN-OS Software Release 3.1(1) supporting Cisco MDS 9124 and Cisco Fabric Manager
(Note: SAN-OS 3.x releases are still supported but are End-of-Life)
● Cisco MDS 9000 NX-OS Release 4.1(1) supporting Cisco MDS 9124 and Cisco Fabric Manager
● Cisco MDS 9000 NX-OS Release 5.0(1) supporting Cisco MDS 9124 and Cisco Fabric Manager
● Cisco MDS 9000 NX-OS 5.2(2) supporting Cisco MDS 9124 and DCNM for SAN
Table 1. Optics, Media, and Transmission Distances Supported by the Cisco MDS 9124
SFP Optics Wavelength Fiber Type Core Size (microns) Giga Baud Rate (GBd) Cable Distance
(nanometers)
4G FC-SW 850 MMF 62.5 1.0625 984 ft (300m)
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Product Specifications
Table 2 lists the product specifications for the Cisco MDS 9124.
Item Specification
Security ● VSANs
● Zoning
◦ Hardware-enforced zoning
◦ Logical-unit-number (LUN) zoning and read-only zones
● FC-SP for host-to-switch and switch-to-switch authentication
● Port security
● Management access
◦ SSHv2
◦ SNMPv3
◦ IP ACLs
Compatibility Fibre Channel protocols
● FC-PH, Revision 4.3 (ANSI INCITS 230-1994)
● FC-PH, Amendment 1 (ANSI INCITS 230-1994/AM1-1996)
● FC-PH, Amendment 2 (ANSI INCITS 230-1994/AM2-1999)
● FC-PH-2, Revision 7.4 (ANSI INCITS 297-1997)
● FC-PH-3, Revision 9.4 (ANSI INCITS 303-1998)
● FC-PI, Revision 13 (ANSI INCITS 352-2002)
● FC-PI-2, Revision 10 (ANSI INCITS 404-2006)
● FC-PI-3, Revision 4 (ANSI INCITS 460-2011)
● FC-PI-4, Revision 8 (ANSI INCITS 450-2008)
● FC-PI-5, Revision 6 (ANSI INCITS 479-2011)
● FC-FS, Revision 1.9 (ANSI INCITS 373-2003)
● FC-FS-2, Revision 1.01 (ANSI INCITS 424-2007)
● FC-FS-2, Amendment 1 (ANSI INCITS 424-2007/AM1-2007)
● FC-FS-3, Revision 1.11 (ANSI INCITS 470-2011)
● FC-LS, Revision 1.62 (ANSI INCITS 433-2007)
● FC-LS-2, Revision 2.21 (ANSI INCITS 477-2011)
● FC-SW-2, Revision 5.3 (ANSI INCITS 355-2001)
● FC-SW-3, Revision 6.6 (ANSI INCITS 384-2004)
● FC-SW-4, Revision 7.5 (ANSI INCITS 418-2006)
● FC-SW-5, Revision 8.5 (ANSI INCITS 461-2010)
● FC-GS-3, Revision 7.01 (ANSI INCITS 348-2001)
● FC-GS-4, Revision 7.91 (ANSI INCITS 387-2004)
● FCP, Revision 12 (ANSI INCITS 269-1996)
● FCP-2, Revision 8 (ANSI INCITS 350-2003)
● FCP-3, Revision 4 (ANSI INCITS 416-2006)
● FCP-4, Revision 2
● FC-SB-2, Revision 2.1 (ANSI INCITS 349-2001)
● FC-SB-3, Revision 1.6 (ANSI INCITS 374-2003)
● FC-SB-3, Amendment 1 (ANSI INCITS 374-2003/AM1-2007)
● FC-SB-4, Revision 3.0 (ANSI INCITS 466-2011)
● FC-BB-2, Revision 6.0 (ANSI INCITS 372-2003)
● FC-BB-3, Revision 6.8 (ANSI INCITS 414-2006)
● FC-BB-4, Revision 2.7 (ANSI INCITS 419-2008)
● FC-BB-5, Revision 2.0 (ANSI INCITS 462-2010)
● FC-VI, Revision 1.84 (ANSI INCITS 357-2002)
● FC-SP, Revision 1.8 (ANSI INCITS 426-2007)
● FAIS, Revision 1.03 (ANSI INCITS 432-2007)
● FAIS-2, Revision 2.23 (ANSI INCITS 449-2008)
● FC-IFR, Revision 1.06 (ANSI INCITS 475-2011)
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Item Specification
● FC-FLA, Revision 2.7 (INCITS TR-20-1998)
● FC-PLDA, Revision 2.1 (INCITS TR-19-1998)
● FC-Tape, Revision 1.17 (INCITS TR-24-1999)
● FC-MI, Revision 1.92 (INCITS TR-30-2002)
● FC-MI-2, Revision 2.6 (INCITS TR-39-2005)
● FC-DA, Revision 3.1 (INCITS TR-36-2004)Class of service: Class 2, Class 3, and Class F
● Fibre Channel standard port types: E, F, FL, and B
● Fibre Channel enhanced port types: SD, ST, and TE
● IP over Fibre Channel (RFC 2625)
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Item Specification
Serviceability ● Configuration file management
● Call home
● Port beaconing
● System LEDs
● SNMP traps for alerts
Safety ● UL 60950 -1
● CAN/CSA-C22.2 No. 60950 -1
● EN 60950 -1
● IEC 60950 -1
● AS/NZS 60950
● IEC 60825
● EN 60825
● 21 CFR 1040
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Ordering Information
Table 3 provides ordering information for the Cisco MDS 9124.
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Product Description Part Number
MDS 9124 Accessory Kit for SUN, configure-to-order (CTO) DS-9124-KIT-SUN
MDS 9124 Accessory Kit for SUN, spare DS-9124-KIT-SUN=
MDS 9124 Accessory Kit for DELL, configure-to-order (CTO) DS-9124-KIT-DELL
Small Form-Factor Pluggable (SFP) Optical Transceiver Options
Cisco MDS 9000 Family 4/2/1-Gbps Fibre Channel-SW, SFP, LC, configure-to-order (CTO) only for OSM/STI DS-SFP-FC4G-SW
orders
Cisco MDS 9000 Family 4/2/1-Gbps Fibre Channel-SW, SFP, LC, spare DS-SFP-FC4G-SW=
Cisco MDS 9000 Family 4/2/1-Gbps Fibre Channel-SW, SFP, LC, 4-pack, spare DS-SFP-4G-SW-4=
Cisco MDS 9000 Family 4/2/1-Gbps Fibre Channel-LW (10 km), SFP, LC, spare DS-SFP-FC4G-LW=
Optional Software Licenses
Cisco MDS 9000 Family Enterprise Package (uninstalled . . . see Note 1), configure-to-order (CTO) M9100ENT1K9
Cisco MDS 9000 Family Enterprise Package, spare M9100ENT1K9=
Cisco Data Center Network Manager (DCNM) for SAN Advanced Edition (unstalled . . . see Note 2), configure-to- DCNM-SAN-M91-K9
order (CTO)
Cisco Data Center Network Manager (DCNM) for SAN Advanced Edition, spare DCNM-SAN-M91-K9=
Cisco E-delivery Data Center Network Manager (DCNM) for SAN Advanced Edition, spare L-DCNM-S-M91-K9=
Cisco DCNM for SAN Advanced Edition Configurable Pack for MDS 9000, spare (See Note 3) DCNM-SAN-PAK=
Cisco E-delivery DCNM for SAN Advanced Edition Configurable Pack for MDS 9000, spare (See Note 3) L-DCNM-S-PAK=
Power Cord, 250VAC 10A CEI 23-16/VII Plug, Italy, Spare CAB-9K10A-IT=
Power Cord, 125VAC 13A KSC8305 Plug, Korea, Spare CAB-9K10A-KOR=
Power Cord, 250VAC 10A SABS 164/1 Plug, South Africa, Spare CAB-9K10A-SA=
Power Cord, 250VAC 10A, Straight C15, MP232 Plug, SWITZ, Spare CAB-9K10A-SW=
Power Cord, 125VAC 15A CNS10917-2, Taiwan, Spare CAB-9K10A-TWN=
Power Cord, 250VAC 10A BS1363 Plug (13 A fuse), UK, Spare CAB-9K10A-UK=
Power Cord, 125VAC 13A NEMA 5-15 Plug, North America, Spare CAB-9K12A-NA=
Cabinet Jumper Power Cord, 250 VAC 13A, C14-C15 Connectors, Spare CAB-C15-CBN=
Note 1: License documentation ships with switch unit in Accessory Kit for customer installation on switch.
Note 2: License documentation ships with switch unit in Accessory Kit for customer installation on management
server.
Note 3: Cisco DCNM for SAN Advanced Edition Configurable Packs have additional Configure-To-Order Part
Numbers not shown here which are detailed in the Cisco Dynamic Configuration Tool.
Note 4: Configure-to-Order (CTO) part numbers for Cisco Direct and OSM/STI orders are same as Spares except
without “=” suffix.
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Service and Support
Cisco offers a wide range of services programs to accelerate customer success. These innovative services
programs are delivered through a unique combination of people, processes, tools, and partners, resulting in high
levels of customer satisfaction. Cisco Services offerings help you protect your network investment, optimize
network operations, and prepare the network for new applications to extend network intelligence and the power of
your business. For more information about Cisco Services, see Cisco Technical Support Services or
Cisco Advanced Services.
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