Reference Guide

Core blades
Core blades provide intra-chassis switching and inter-chassis link (ICL) connectivity between DCX 8510 and X6 platforms.
∙ Brocade DCX 8510-8 supports two CR16-8 core blades.
∙ Brocade DCX 8510-4 supports two CR16-4 core blades.
∙ Brocade X6-8 supports two CR32-8 core blades.
∙ Brocade X6-4 supports two CR32-4 core blades.
The core blades for each platform are not interchangeable or hot-swappable with the core blades for any other platform. If you try to
interchange the blades, they may be physically incompatible or become faulty.
Port and application blade compatibility
The maximum number of intelligent blades supported is eight on an 8-slot chassis and four on a 4-slot chassis. However, the maximum
number of a specific blade type is limited.
The following table lists the maximum supported limits of each blade for a specific platform. Software functions are not supported across
application blades.
NOTE
The hardware limit is enforced by software.
TABLE 7 Intelligent blade support within Brocade Backbone families
Intelligent blade DCX 8510-8 DCX 8510-4 X6-8 X6-4
FX8-24 4 4 Not supported Not supported
SX6 Not supported Not supported 4 4
Follow these guidelines when using an FX8-24, 7800, 7840 and SX6 platforms
∙ Brocade FX8-24 blade and 7800 cannot be connected to the 7840 and SX6 platforms. The ports may come online, but they
will not communicate with each other.
∙ If an FX8-24 blade is replaced by another FX8-24 blade, the previous IP configuration data would be applied to the new
FX8-24.
Enabling and disabling blades
Port blades are enabled by default. In some cases, you will need to disable a port blade to perform diagnostics. When diagnostics are
executed manually (from the Fabric OS command line), many commands require the port blade to be disabled. This ensures that
diagnostic activity does not interfere with normal fabric traffic.
If you need to replace an application blade with a different application blade, there may be extra steps you need to take to ensure that the
previous configuration is not interfering with your new application blade.
Enabling blades
Use the following procedure to enable a blade.
1. Connect to the switch and log in using an account with admin permissions.
Performing Advanced Configuration Tasks
Brocade Fabric OS Administration Guide, 8.0.1
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