Feature/function matrix: Director-class products

This document is a sample version of a complete report available on the Evaluator Group Web site for subscribers to the SAN components'section of the ES/OL database. Some areas of this sample report are intentionally blank. The actual report is

    Requires Free Membership to View

    Login

updated regularly.

This feature/function matrix, along with individual product reports in the Evaluator Series Online (ES/OL) database, is provided to help quickly sort out various director-class products. Data from the complete report is included in the content of some Evaluator Group seminars. These seminars are held publicly and can be tailored for and presented to private audiences.

  • Brocade, Silkworm 12000
  • INRANGE/Qlogic, FC/9000-64/128/ SANbox-64/128
  • McData, ED-6064

Updates are made to this matrix regularly.

A variety of items are compared among the products listed, including:

  • Port Type
  • Media
  • Protocol Standards
  • Fabric Services
  • Performance
  • Architecture
  • Availability
  • Serviceability
  • Management Tools and Protocol
  • Management Functionality
  • Security Features

Vendor Brocade INRANGE McDATA
Product Silkworm 12000 FC/9000-64/128 / SANbox-64/128 ED-6064
Connectivity
# ports per director 64 or 128 (two 64-port switches in an enclosure) 128-port switch in the future 8 to 128 in 8-port increments. 64 ports per chassis. Future 256 port version(1) (2002) 32 or 64 (4 ports per port card)
Scalability(2) 4 tested 16 tested Up to 16 tested, 24 in near future
Port type
F_Port Yes Yes G_Port
FL_Port Yes Yes(public or private)(3) No
E_Port Yes. Backwards interoperability for E_Port connection to earlier Silkworm (i.e., 1-Gbit) switches Yes. SANmark certified for interoperability with non-INRANGE switches and directors G_Port
Mix and match ports Yes Yes No
Other - - -
Media
Interface SFP GBIC GBIC GBIC
Copper(m) No Yes (HSSDC, DB9) (13m uncompensated or 30m compensated) No
Short wave optical(m) Yes (500m) Yes (500m) Yes (500m)
Long wave optical(km) Yes (10km) Yes (10km, 20-30km with repeaters) Yes (10km, 100km with repeaters)
Mixed media (copper+optical) No Yes No
ISL trunking Yes, 4 lines per trunk No On the roadmap for all directors and switches
Maximum distance at full bandwidth 100km (Extended Fabric)(4) 100km (XCAF Extended Distance)(5) 10km

The following tables have been left blank intentionally. A complete report is available on the Evaluator Group Web site for subscribers to the software section of the ES/OL database.

Vendor Brocade INRANGE/Qlogic McDATA
Product Silkworm 12000 FC/9000-64/128 / SANbox-64/128 ED-6064
Protocol Standards
FC-AL - - -
FC-FLA - - -
FC-GS - - -
FC-FG - - -
FC-PH - - -
FC-PLDA - - -
FC-SW - - -
FC-MI (media interconnect) - - -
FC-VI - - -
FCP - - -
IPFC - - -
FC-FICON - - -
Other - - -
Class - - -
Fabric Services
Simple Name Server - - -
Login Server - - -
RSCN - - -
Unicast - - -
Multicast (Alias Server) - - -
Broadcast - - -
Cascading - - -

Vendor Brocade INRANGE/Qlogic McDATA
Product Silkworm 12000 FC/9000-64/128 / SANbox-64/128 ED-6064
Performance
Mbyte/sec/port - - -
Gbit/sec/switch - - -
Max latency across switch (usec) - - -
Architecture
Max frame size (bytes) - - -
Frame buffers - - -
Buffer pool management - - -
Architecture - - -
Non-blocking - - -
Cut-through routing - - -
Dynamic load sharing - - -
In-order frame delivery - - -
2 Gbit/sec technology - - -
10 Gbit/sec technology - - -
Embedded WAN capability - - -
Other - - -

Vendor Brocade INRANGE/Qlogic McDATA
Product Silkworm 12000 FC/9000-64/128 / SANbox-64/128 ED-6064
Availability
Redundant power - - -
Redundant fans - - -
Redundant controller - - -
Redundant switch module - - -
Redundant backplane - - -
Hot swap port cards - - -
Internal data path protection - - -
Other - - -
Serviceability
Granularity of service - - -
Port-level fault isolation - - -
Loop-level fault isolation - - -
Error monitoring - - -
Auto port disable/restart - - -
Isolate port and reroute traffic - - -
Power-on self test - - -
Diagnostics - - -
Firmware upgrades - - -
Call home - - -
Other - - -

Vendor Brocade INRANGE/Qlogic McDATA
Product Silkworm 12000 FC/9000-64/128 / SANbox-64/128 ED-6064
Packaging
Enclosure dimensions (HxWxD) - - -
Weight excluding cabinet - - -
Packaging - - -
Management Tools
Management software - - -
Display - - -
Upgrade (download, CD) - - -
Management protocol
SNMP - - -
Telnet - - -
TFTP - - -
SES - - -
GS3 - - -
Web - - -
Other - - -

Vendor Brocade INRANGE/Qlogic McDATA
Product Silkworm 12000 FC/9000-64/128 / SANbox-64/128 ED-6064
Management functionality
Self-discovery SAN devices - - -
Self-discovery port type - - -
Fabric access to private loop devices - - -
Reconfigure without power down - - -
Configure multiple logical loops - - -
Configuration views - - -
Performance monitoring - - -
Remote access - - -
Mass deployment toolset - - -
Other management features - - -

Vendor Brocade INRANGE/Qlogic McDATA
Product Silkworm 12000 FC/9000-64/128 / SANbox-64/128 ED-6064
Security features
Hardware zoning - - -
Software zoning - - -
LUN masking/blocking - - -
Switch port binding - - -
Port type configuration control - - -
Trusted switch - - -
Trusted client - - -
Fabric membership authorization - - -
Distributed lock manager - - -
Management access - - -
Other security features - - -

Vendor Brocade INRANGE/Qlogic McDATA
Product Silkworm 12000 FC/9000-64/128 / SANbox-64/128 ED-6064
Management access
Ethernet - - -
In-band - - -
Local access - - -
Product Availability
Announcement - - -
Revenue ship - - -
Pricing
US List price (Effective date) - - -
Price per port - - -

  1. 64-port FC/9000s are field-upgradeable to 128-port versions. Current 64-and 128-port directors will be field-upgradeable to 256-port version in the future.
  2. Scalability refers to the number of directors that can be linked together.
  3. All ports can assume any of the following: F_port, FL_port, E_port, TL_port (Translative Mode = allows public-to-private and private-to-public bridging).
  4. Extended Fabrics extends full fabric SAN-to-SAN connectivity from 10 kilometers to 120 kilometers through the use of different buffering allocation and credit handling, extended distance GBICs, and fibre channel repeaters over Dense Wave Division Multiplexing (DWDM) or dark fiber Metropolitan Area Networks (MANs). The switch ISLs (E_ports) are configured with up to 60 buffer credits to ensure near-full bandwidth performance. The maximum distance allowed for 1-Gibt products is 120 kilometers. For 2 Gbit products the maximum distance is 60 kilometers. Each device attached appears as a local device to simplify management.
  5. Extended Credit Addressing Facility (XCAF) technology that allows any port on the FC/9000 to communicate over 100 kilometers without any performance degradation. XCAF FIO's guarantees 64 credits for 100 km support. The XCAF technology is useable with DWDM offerings in the enterprise space.

===========================================================
To view all Storage Evaluator analyses and commentaries, go to Storage Evaluator Tips ===========================================================

The Evaluator Series and Evaluator Series On-Line (ES/OL) are trademarks of Evaluator Group, Inc.


This was first published in March 2002

Join the conversationComment

Share
Comments

    Results

    Contribute to the conversation

    All fields are required. Comments will appear at the bottom of the article.

    Disclaimer: Our Tips Exchange is a forum for you to share technical advice and expertise with your peers and to learn from other enterprise IT professionals. TechTarget provides the infrastructure to facilitate this sharing of information. However, we cannot guarantee the accuracy or validity of the material submitted. You agree that your use of the Ask The Expert services and your reliance on any questions, answers, information or other materials received through this Web site is at your own risk.

    Back to top