Dell FC Flex IO Module for Dell MXL/IOA Blade Switch
Very exciting news from Dell today as they announced the availability of the Dell FC Flex IOM module which transforms the Dell M1000e MXL/IOA blade switch into a NPIV Proxy Gateway (NPG). This allows the MXL/IOA to bridge between Ethernet and Fibre Channel allowing for network convergence with FCoE.
The Dell FC Flex IOM is a 4-port FC (2/4/8G) module that can be inserted into one or both of the Flex I/O slots on the Dell MXL/IOA blade switch for the Dell M1000e chassis. The FC Flex IOM allows for the MXL/IOA to bridge between Ethernet and Fibre Channel and acts as a NPIV Proxy Gateway.
The Dell S5000, Cisco Nexus 5548UP, or Brocade VDX line are all converged/FCoE switches that provide this Ethernet-FibreChannel bridging capability at the ToR layer – the Dell MXL/IOA w/ FC Flex IOM brings the convergence layer down to the blade level. It provides not only network convergence but also infrastructure convergence and consolidation. The below network diagram displays such a topology.
Converged Network with Dell MXL and FC Flex IO Module
The great thing about the Dell MXL/IOA blade switch w/ FC Flex IOM is that since it acts as a NPIV Proxy Gateway, it does not consume a Fibre Channel Domain ID and any back-end existing FC SAN infrastructure remains in place allowing for an easy transition to network convergence with FCoE.
Additionally, since the Dell MXL/IOA blade switches have 2 x Flex I/O slots, it is possible to utilize 2 x FC Flex IOMs for a total of 8 x FC ports per blade switch. It is also possible to use the FC Flex IOM with other FC Flex I/O moudles such as the 4-port 10 GbE SFP+ module, the 4-port 10GBaseT module, or the 2-port 40 GbE module.
Check-out my latest Dell Networking FC Flex IOM whitepapers on dell.com and converge your network today! 🙂
Dell FC Flex IOM Whitepapers:
Dell Networking FC Flex IOM: Infrastructure & Network Convergence w/ FCoE
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