Cisco Storage Area Networking (SAN)
Cisco storage networks deliver superior 64G Fibre Channel, NVMe enhanced analytics and investment protection.

Cisco MDS 9706 Multilayer Director

The Cisco MDS 9706 Multilayer Director brings superior performance, scalability, multiprotocol convergence, integrated analytics, and enterprise-grade availability to data center SANs in a compact form factor. It is an ideal candidate for deployment in small to medium-sized data center storage environments as well as pod-based converged solutions for the cloud.

High Performance and Scalability

The Cisco MDS 9706 switch is designed to meet the performance and scalability needs of the most demanding SANs today and well into the future, while also lowering TCO. It offers:

• Up to 12-Tbps front-panel Fibre Channel switching capacity
• 1.5-Tbps front-panel Fibre Channel performance per slot
• Industry-leading port densities of up to 192 32/16/10/8/4/2-Gbps autosensing line-rate Fibre Channel, or 384 10-Gbps FcoE, or 192 40-Gbps FcoE ports per chassis
• Up to 32 10-Gbps FCIP ports and 8 40-Gbps FCIP ports on MDS 9706
• Integrated analytics on 32G module

Reduce TCO and Protect Investments

The Cisco MDS 9706 switch is optimized for the data center and delivers a lower TCO. It features:

• Compact 9-rack-unit form factor to make optimal use of valuable data center floor space
• Reduced system power consumption
• True front-to-back air flow for hot-cold aisle deployments

The Cisco MDS 9706 supports the same Fibre Channel and FCoE switching modules as supported by the Cisco MDS 9710 and allows for a high degree of system commonality. Designed to grow with your storage environment, the Cisco MDS 9706 provides smooth migration, common sparing, and outstanding investment protection.

Enterprise-Class Availability

The Cisco MDS 9706 offers enterprise-grade availability. It provides:

• Industry's first redundancy on all major hardware components
• Nondisruptive software upgrades, automatic process restarts, and stateful supervisor failover

Cisco MDS 9710 Multilayer Director

The Cisco MDS 9710 Multilayer Director brings superior performance, scalability, multiprotocol convergence, integrated analytics, and enterprise-grade availability to data center SANs. With it, you can deploy Fibre Channel, IBM Fibre Connectivity (FICON), Fibre Channel over IP (FCIP), Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE), and NVMe over Fibre Channel on a single fabric. This director meets the stringent requirements of large virtualized storage environments.

High Performance and Scalability

The Cisco MDS 9710 is designed to meet the performance and scalability needs of the most demanding SANs while also lowering the TCO. It offers:

• Up to 24-Tbps front-panel Fibre Channel switching capacity
• 1.5-Tbps front-panel Fibre Channel performance per slot
• Industry-leading port densities of up to 384 32/16/10/8/4/2-Gbps autosensing line-rate Fibre Channel, or 384 10-Gbps FcoE, or 192 40-Gbps FCoE ports per chassis
• Up to 64 10-Gbps FCIP ports and 16 40-Gbps FCIP ports on MDS 9710
• Integrated hardware-based analytics support with 32G module

Lower TCO and Outstanding Investment Protection

The Cisco MDS 9710 is optimized for the data center and delivers a lower TCO. It features:

• Very high density 32-Gbps FC and 10/40-Gbps FCoE connectivity
• Investment protection for more than a decade
• True front-to-back air flow for hot-cold aisle deployments

Designed to grow with your storage environment, the Cisco MDS 9710 provides smooth migration, common sparing, and outstanding investment protection.

Enterprise-Class Availability

The Cisco MDS 9710 provides:

• Industry's first redundancy on all major hardware components, including the supervisor and fabric modules as well as the power supplies
• Availability in the software architecture through nondisruptive software upgrades, automatic process restarts, and stateful supervisor failover

Converged Networks to Simplify SAN Connectivity

Using the Cisco MDS 9710 Multilayer Director, you can easily connect a Cisco MDS-based SAN infrastructure to large converged networks with multihop FCoE. In addition, the operating system and management interface are the same as that of all other Cisco data center switches.

Cisco MDS 9718 Multilayer Director

Gain superior performance, scalability, multiprotocol convergence, and enterprise-grade availability in your data center SAN. Our newest director offers the industry’s highest port density with 768 line-rate 32Gbps Fibre Channel ports and NVMe over Fibre Channel support. The MDS 9718 meets the stringent requirements of large virtualized storage environments.

High Performance and Scalability

The MDS 9718 is designed to meet the performance and scalability needs of the most demanding SANs while also lowering the TCO. It offers:

• Up to 48-Tbps front-panel Fibre Channel (FC) switching capacity
• 1.5-Tbps front-panel FC performance per slot
• Up to 768 32-Gbps autosensing line-rate FC ports; 10-Gbps FCoE ports per chassis; or 24 ports of 40-Gbps FCoE
• Up to 128 10-Gbps FCIP ports
• Integrated analytics on 32G module

Lower TCO and Outstanding Investment Protection

The Cisco MDS 9718 is optimized for the data center and delivers a lower TCO. It features:

• Very high-density 32-Gbps FC and 10/40-Gbps FCoE connectivity
• Investment protection for more than a decade
• True front-to-back air flow for hot-cold aisle deployments

Designed to grow with your storage environment, the Cisco MDS 9718 provides smooth migration, common sparing, and outstanding investment protection.

Enterprise-Class Availability

The Cisco MDS 9718 provides:

• The MDS 9718 provides the industry's first redundancy on all major hardware components, including the supervisor and fabric modules as well as the power supplies.
• It is available in a software architecture through non-disruptive software upgrades, automatic process restarts, and stateful supervisor failover.

Converged Networks to Simplify SAN Connectivity

Using the 9718 director, you can easily connect a Cisco MDS-based SAN infrastructure to large converged networks with multihop FCoE. The operating system and management interface are the same as all other Cisco data center switches.

Cisco MDS 9396S 16G Multilayer Fabric Switch

The Cisco MDS 9396S 16G Multilayer Fabric Switch is the next generation of the high performance, high density and highly reliable Cisco MDS Series Fabric switches. It combines high performance with exceptional flexibility and cost effectiveness. This powerful, compact, 2-rack-unit (2RU) switch scales from 48 to 96 line-rate 16-Gbps Fibre Channel ports.

The Cisco MDS 9396S is excellent for:

• A standalone SAN in large departmental storage environments
• A middle-of-row or top-of-rack switch in medium-sized redundant fabrics
• An edge switch in enterprise data center core-edge topologies

The Cisco MDS 9396S is powered by Cisco NX-OS Software and Cisco Prime Data Center Network Manager (DCNM) software. It delivers advanced storage networking features and functions with ease of management and compatibility with the entire Cisco MDS 9000 Family portfolio for reliable end-to-end connectivity.

Cisco MDS 9396T 32-Gbps 96-Port Fibre Channel Switch

The Cisco MDS 9396T 32-Gbps 96-Port 2-rack unit Fibre Channel Switch provides high-speed Fibre Channel connectivity in the SAN. This switch offers state-of-art analytics and telemetry capability built into its next-generation Application-Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC) platform. The Non-Volatile Memory express (NVMe)-ready switch allows seamless transition to Fibre Channel Non-Volatile Memory Express (FC-NVMe) workloads whenever available without any hardware upgrade in the SAN. This high-density, highly reliable and scalable, enterprise class switch is ideal for medium to large departmental SANs.

Cisco MDS 9250i Multiservice Fabric Switch

The Cisco MDS 9250i Multiservice Fabric Switch, the next generation of the highly flexible, industry‑leading, proven Cisco MDS 9200 Series Multiservice Switches, is an optimized platform for deploying high-performance SAN extension solutions, distributed intelligent fabric services, and cost-effective multiprotocol connectivity for both open systems and mainframe environments. With a compact form factor and advanced capabilities normally available only on director-class switches, the Cisco MDS 9250i is an ideal solution for departmental and remote branch-office SANs as well as in large-scale SANs in conjunction with the Cisco MDS 9710 Multilayer Director.

The Cisco MDS 9250i offers up to forty 16-Gbps Fibre Channel ports, two 1/10 Gigabit Ethernet IP storage services ports, and eight 10 Gigabit Ethernet Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE) ports in a fixed Two-Rack-Unit (2RU) form factor. The Cisco MDS 9250i connects to existing native Fibre Channel networks, protecting current investments in storage networks. The Cisco SAN Extension over IP application package license is enabled as standard on the two fixed 1/10 Gigabit Ethernet IP storage services ports, enabling features such as Fibre Channel over IP (FCIP) and compression on the switch without the need for additional licenses. Also, using the eight 10 Gigabit Ethernet FCoE ports, the Cisco MDS 9250i platform attaches to directly connected FCoE and Fibre Channel storage devices and supports multitiered unified network fabric connectivity directly over FCoE.

Cisco MDS 9148T 32-Gbps 48-Port Fibre Channel Switch

MDS 9148T 32-Gbps 48-Port Fibre Channel Switch provides high-speed Fibre Channel connectivity for All-Flash arrays. This switch offers state-of-the-art analytics and telemetry capability built into its next-generation Application-Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC) platform. This switch allows seamless transition to Fibre Channel Non-Volatile Memory Express (FC-NVMe) workloads whenever available without any hardware upgrade in the SAN. It empowers small, midsize, and large enterprises that are rapidly deploying cloud-scale applications using extremely dense virtualized servers, providing the benefits of greater bandwidth, scale, and consolidation. Some of the main benefits for a small-scale Storage Area Network (SAN) are automatic zoning, nonblocking forwarding, and smaller port groups of 16 ports. Benefits for a mid- to large-size SAN include higher scale for Fibre Channel control-plane functions, virtual SANs, fabric login (FLOGI), device alias and name server scale, 48 ports of 32-Gbps non-oversubscribed line-rate ports, bidirectional airflow, and a fixed-form FC-NVMe-ready SAN switch with enhanced Buffer-to-Buffer (B2B) credits connecting both storage and host ports and Fibre Channel link encryption. Large-scale SAN architectures built with SAN core directors can expand 32-Gbps connectivity to the server rack using these switches in either switch mode or Network Port Virtualization (NPV) mode. Additionally, the switch supports enhanced diagnostic features such as Inter-Switch Link (ISL) and
Host-Bus-Adapter (HBA) diagnostics, read diagnostic parameter, link cable beacon,1 and advanced reliability features such as Forward Error Correction (FEC) with HBA ports.

Cisco MDS 9148S 16G Multilayer Fabric Switch

The Cisco MDS 9148S 16G Multilayer Fabric Switch is the next generation of the highly reliable Cisco MDS 9100 Series Switches. It includes up to 48 auto-sensing line-rate 16-Gbps Fibre Channel ports in a compact easy to deploy and manage 1-rack-unit (1RU) form factor. In all, the Cisco MDS 9148S is a powerful and flexible switch that delivers high performance and comprehensive Enterprise-class features at an affordable price.

The Cisco MDS 9148S is excellent for:

• A standalone SAN in small departmental storage environments
• A top-of-the-rack switch in medium-sized redundant fabrics
• An edge switch in enterprise data center core-edge topologies

The Cisco MDS 9148S is powered by Cisco NX-OS and Cisco Prime Data Center Network Manager (DCNM) software. It delivers advanced storage networking features and functions with ease of management and compatibility with the entire Cisco MDS 9000 Family portfolio for reliable end-to-end connectivity.

Cisco MDS 9148T 32-Gbps 48-Port Fibre Channel Switch

The Cisco MDS 9148T 32-Gbps 48-Port Fibre Channel Switch provides high-speed Fibre Channel connectivity for All-Flash arrays. This switch offers state-of-the-art analytics and telemetry capability built into its next-generation Application-Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC) platform. This switch allows seamless transition to Fibre Channel Non-Volatile Memory Express (FC-NVMe) workloads whenever available without any hardware upgrade in the SAN. It empowers small, midsize, and large enterprises that are rapidly deploying cloud-scale applications using extremely dense virtualized servers, providing the benefits of greater bandwidth, scale, and consolidation. Some of the main benefits for a small-scale Storage Area Network (SAN) are automatic zoning, nonblocking forwarding, and smaller port groups of 16 ports. Benefits for a mid- to large-size SAN include higher scale for Fibre Channel control-plane functions, virtual SANs, fabric login (FLOGI), device alias and name server scale, 48 ports of 32-Gbps non-oversubscribed line-rate ports, bidirectional airflow, and a fixed-form FC-NVMe-ready SAN switch with enhanced Buffer-to-Buffer (B2B) credits connecting both storage and host ports and Fibre Channel link encryption. Large-scale SAN architectures built with SAN core directors can expand 32-Gbps connectivity to the server rack using these switches in either switch mode or Network Port Virtualization (NPV) mode. Additionally, the switch supports enhanced diagnostic features such as Inter-Switch Link (ISL) and
Host-Bus-Adapter (HBA) diagnostics, read diagnostic parameter, link cable beacon,1 and advanced reliability features such as Forward Error Correction (FEC) with HBA ports.

Automation

Accelerate provisioning from days to minutes, and simplify deployments.

Visibility

Reduce troubleshooting cycles with graphical operational visibility for topology, network fabric, and infrastructure.

Consistency

Eliminate configuration errors with templated deployment models and automatic compliance remediation.

Nexus Dashboard

A single platform for full-lifecycle data center automation.

Nexus Dashboard Orchestrator

Consistent network and policy orchestration across multiple data centers through a single pane of glass.