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Data Sheet
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Cisco MDS 9148 Multilayer Fabric Switch
Product Overview
The Cisco
®
MDS 9148 Multilayer Fabric Switch (Figure 1) is a high-performance, flexible, cost-effective platform with
the industry’s highest port density and lowest power consumption available in a compact one rack-unit (1RU) chassis
form factor. It provides 48 line-rate 8-Gbps ports for storage networking deployments in small, medium-sized, and
large enterprise environments. The Cisco MDS 9148, based on a purpose-built “switch-on-a-chip” application-
specific integrated circuit (ASIC), offers outstanding value by providing high-availability, security, and ease of use at
a cost-effective price. With the flexibility to expand from 16 to 48 ports in 8-port increments, the Cisco MDS 9148
offers the densities required to scale from an entry-level departmental switch to top-of-the-rack switch to edge switch
connectivity into enterprise core SANs. The Cisco MDS 9148 delivers a nonblocking architecture, with all 48 1/2/4/8-
Gbps ports operating at line rate concurrently.
The Cisco MDS 9148 supports Zero-Touch installation as well as the Cisco Device Manager Quick Configuration
Wizard, which allow it to be deployed quickly and easily in networks of any size. Powered by Cisco MDS 9000 NX-
OS Software, it includes advanced storage networking features and functions and is compatible with Cisco MDS
9500 Series Multilayer Directors and Cisco MDS 9200 and other 9100 Series Multilayer Fabric Switches, providing
transparent, end-to-end service delivery in core-edge deployments.
Figure 1. Cisco MDS 9148 Multilayer Fabric Switch
Highlights
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High-performance with exceptional flexibility: The Cisco MDS 9148 offers up to 48 autosensing Fibre Channel
ports capable of speeds of 1, 2, 4, and 8 Gbps in a compact 1RU form-factor chassis with 8 Gbps of
dedicated bandwidth for each port and an aggregate platform bandwidth of 768 Gbps. The Cisco MDS 9148
comes with three preconfigured models for 16, 32, or 48 ports. The 16- and 32-port models can be upgraded
onsite to enable additional ports by adding one or more 8-port Cisco MDS 9148 On-Demand Port Activation
licenses.
●
Intelligent storage networking services at a cost-effective price: The Cisco MDS 9148, powered by Cisco MDS
9000 NX-OS Software, offers intelligent storage networking capabilities such as virtual SANs (VSANs), link
aggregation using PortChannels, quality of service (QoS), and security. These features make it easy to
design, deploy, provision, and manage the Cisco MDS 9148 either as a standalone departmental SAN switch
or as a top-of-the-rack switch or an edge switch in an enterprise core-edge SAN.
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Simplified scalable deployment of virtual machine-aware SANs: In a virtual machine environment in which
many host operating systems or applications are running on a physical host, the Cisco MDS 9148 uses N-
Port ID Virtualization (NPIV) technology to provide independent management for each virtual machine.
Furthermore, the Cisco MDS 9148 provides Cisco N-Port Virtualization (NPV) and fabric-port (F-port) trunking
and channeling features to enable SANs to be scaled without reaching Fibre Channel domain ID limits. The
Cisco FlexAttach feature enables transparent server deployment and movement without SAN reconfiguration.