Data Sheet

To help minimize downtime costs, Brocade
DCX 8510 Backbones build upon years of
innovation and leverage the core technology
of Brocade systems performing at greater
than 99.999 percent uptime in the world’s
most demanding data centers.
SIMPLIFIED SCALE-OUT
NETWORK DESIGN
Networks are evolving in order to adapt
to rapid growth and change in the server
and storage infrastructure. Brocade
UltraScale chassis connectivity leverages
optical Inter-Chassis Links (ICLs) of up to
100 meters to connect up to 10 Brocade
DCX 8510 Backbones, enabling atter,
faster, and simpler fabrics that increase
consolidation while reducing network
complexity and costs.
UltraScale ICLs enable scalable core-edge
and active-active mesh chassis topologies.
These high-density chassis topologies
reduce inter-switch cabling by 75 percent
and free up to 33 percent of ports for server
and storage. This maximizes overall port
density in the lowest amount of rack space.
SIMPLIFIED MANAGEMENT AND
ROBUST NETWORK ANALYTICS
Brocade Fabric Vision technology, an
extension of Brocade Gen 5 Fibre Channel,
introduces a breakthrough hardware
and software solution that maximizes
uptime, simplies SAN management, and
provides unprecedented visibility and
insight across the storage network. Offering
innovative diagnostic, monitoring, and
management capabilities, the Brocade DCX
8510 with Fabric Vision technology helps
administrators avoid problems, maximize
application performance, and reduce
operational costs. Brocade Fabric Vision
technology includes:
• Flow Vision: Enables administrators to
identify, monitor, and analyze specic
application and data ows in order
to maximize performance, avoid
congestion, and optimize resources.
Flow Vision includes:
– Flow Monitor: Provides comprehensive
visibility into ows in the fabric,
including the ability to automatically
learn (discover) ows and non-
disruptively monitor ow performance.
Users can monitor all ows from a
specic host to multiple targets/LUNs
or from multiple hosts to a specic
target/LUN; monitor all ows across
a specic ISL; or perform LUN-level
monitoring of specic frame types
to identify resource contention
or congestion that is impacting
application performance.
– Flow Mirror: Provides the ability to
non-disruptively create copies of
specic application and data ows or
frame types that can be captured for
deeper analysis.
– Flow Generator: Provides a built-in
test trafc generator for pre-testing
and validating the SAN infrastructure,
including verication of routes and
integrity of optics, cables, ports,
and ISLs, for robustness before
deploying applications.
• Monitoring and Alerting Policy Suite
(MAPS): Simplies fabric-wide threshold
conguration and monitoring. By
leveraging pre-built rule/policy-based
templates, applying thresholds and alerts
to ports and switches is a simple two-step
process. Organizations can congure the
entire fabric (or multiple fabrics) at one
time using common rules and policies,
or customize policies for specic ports
or switch elements—all through a single
dialog. The integrated dashboard displays
an overall switch health report, along with
details on out-of-policy conditions, to help
administrators quickly pinpoint potential
issues and easily identify trends and
other behaviors occurring on a switch
or fabric.
• Brocade ClearLink Diagnostics:
Ensures optical and signal integrity
for Gen 5 Fibre Channel optics and
cables, simplifying deployment and
support of high-performance fabrics.
It leverages ClearLink Diagnostic Port
(D_Port) capabilities of Gen 5 Fibre
Channel platforms.
• Bottleneck Detection: Identies and
alerts administrators to device or
ISL congestion as well as abnormal
levels of latency in the fabric. It works
in conjunction with Brocade Network
Advisor to automatically monitor and
UNMATCHED MAINFRAME
TECHNOLOGY INNOVATION
AND LEADERSHIP
The Brocade DCX 8510 matches the
highest-performing and most reliable
FICON infrastructure with the industry’s
fastest and most scalable System z
mainframes. Brocade builds on more than
25 years of mainframe leadership that
includes designing the FICON standard
and authoring many FICON patents.