Datasheet

FUTURE-READY TECHNOLOGY
Next-generation 8 Gbit/sec technology
powers the Brocade M5424 to handle the
dynamic I/O requirements for blade servers
and virtualized environments. At twice the
speed of legacy 4 Gbit/sec networks, half
of the number of ports and Inter-Switch
Links (ISLs) are required to support current
workloads with plenty of headroom for
growth and expansion.
In addition to individual port performance,
the Brocade M5424 supports Inter-Switch
Link (ISL) Trunking, an optional feature, to
optimize performance, bandwidth utilization
and availability. ISL Trunking consolidates
up to eight external ports into a single,
logical ISL with full-duplex throughput of
128 Gbit/sec.
DATA CENTER-PROVEN RELIABILITY
In a consolidated infrastructure, any
disruptions or failures will impact more
applications and users. With fewer SAN
components and no additional fans or
power supplies, the Brocade M5424
reduces complexity and potential points of
failure. In addition, it leverages data center-
proven switch technology to proactively
overcome network congestion or hardware
failure. Advanced SAN management,
hot-pluggable design and redundant I/O
paths ensure the highest availability and
resiliency for Dell M1000e enclosures.
SERVER VIRTUALIZATION SIMPLIFIED
Blade servers and Fibre Channel SANs are
an ideal infrastructure for server virtual-
ization combining high compute density
and scalable networked storage. However,
consolidating Virtual Machines (VMs) on
blades intensies I/O require ments for
storage resources.
The Brocade M5424 delivers next-
generation performance and simplied
management to address dynamic and
growing server vir t ualization deployments.
This enhances server virtualization with
opportunities for more aggressive
consolidation and cost savings.
With 8 Gbit/sec bandwidth, each blade can
host more virtual machines without degrading
performance or availability. This maximizes
the number of physical and virtual servers
that can connect to a SAN fabric utilizing
fewer ports.
The Brocade M5424 and Dell FlexAddress
virtualize storage I/O to simplify storage
management and improve agility for
vir t ualized environments. A persistent
storage identity is created to provision,
upgrade or replace blades without
disrupting the SAN fabric.
Figure 1.
Brocade 5424 reduces the complexity of deploying
a Dell PowerEdge M1000e to a SAN Fabric
SAN CONNECTIVITY SIMPLIFIED
Cable aggregation is a signicant benet of
blade systems. Servers have traditionally
connected to a SAN one physical box
at a time, resulting in higher costs and
increasing complexity as more switches,
cables and optics are added to the fabric.
Blade systems using Fibre Channel pass-
through modules simply continue this
legacy approach with the same results.
The Brocade M5424 is an integrated
Fibre Channel switch for the Dell M1000e
chassis and the only solution providing
Fibre Channel port and cable aggregation.
The integrated design eliminates the space,
cooling and power requirements of an
external switch. In addition, it consolidates
I/O from all of the blade servers in up to
eight shared switch ports. This eliminates
up to 80% of the port, optical and cabling
components and more than 40% of the
costs of a pass-through solution (See
gure 1).
Fabric Components
• 16 Embedded Dual Port Mezz Cards
• 2 Pass-Through Modules
• 36 FC Cables
• 36 SFPs
• 2 External 32-port Switches
M1000e
Fabric Components
• 16 Embedded Dual Port Mezz Cards
• 2 Brocade M5424 Fibre Channel Switches
• 4 FC Cables
Networked Storage with
Pass-Through Module
Networked Storage with
Brocade M5424 & Dell IT Simplification
Dell M1000e
External Switches
Storage
Storage
Dell M1000e