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vStart 1000v for Enterprise Virtualization using VMware vSphere: Reference Architecture
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and availability, including Force10’s stacking technology, reversible front-to-back or back-to-front
airflow for hot/cold aisle environments, and redundant, hot-swappable power supplies and fans.
For more information on Force10 switches, see Dell.com/force10.
3.8 Dell Force10 S55
The Dell Force10 S-Series S55 1/10 GbE ToR switch is designed for high-performance data center
applications. The S55 leverages a non-blocking architecture that delivers line-rate, low-latency L2 and
L3 switching to eliminate network bottlenecks. The high-density S55 design provides 48GbE access
ports with up to four modular 10GbE uplinks in 1-RU to conserve valuable rack space. The S55
incorporates multiple architectural features that optimize data center network efficiency and
reliability, including reversible front-to-back or back-to-front airflow for hot/cold aisle environments
and redundant, hot-swappable power supplies and fans.
For more information on Force10 switches, see Dell.com/force10.
3.9 Brocade 5100
The Brocade 5100 switch is a high density FC switch providing 40 ports in a 1U form factor. The 5100
includes redundant power supplies and fans making it well suited to the high availability needs of
virtualization infrastructures. It also includes the Ports-on-Demand capabilities for cost reduction when
installing in smaller environments.
For more information on Brocade 5100 Fibre Channel Switches, see Dell.com/brocade.
3.10 Dell 8/4 Gbps FC SAN Module
The Dell 8/4 Gbps FC SAN Module is a 24-port FC module with eight external ports and 16 internal ports
that installs in a Dell PowerEdge M1000e Blade Enclosure. Built on industry-standard N_Port ID
Virtualization (NPIV) technology, the module eliminates the traditional challenges of heterogeneous
switch-to-switch interoperability and can non-disruptively connect Dell blades to NPIV-enabled FC
SANs, including Brocade, Cisco, McData, and others. The Dell 8/4 Gbps FC SAN Module eliminates
incremental switch management and configuration by presenting FC connections as a logical device
(rather than switch domains) to the SAN fabric. The module enables the benefits of port aggregation,
failover, and redundancy without the complexities of additional SAN switches or additional switch
domains.
For more information on Dell 8/4 Gbps FC SAN Module, see Dell.com/us/enterprise/p/fc-san/pd.
3.11 Dell Compellent Series 40 Storage Center
Dell Compellent Storage is available in a dual-controller configuration with 4|8 Gb FC interconnects
and 4 Gb FC or 36 Gb SAS backend interconnects. The Series 40 controllers connect to servers without
server-side agents and automatically fail over to another controller when clustered. The Series 40
features six PCI-e expansion slots, battery-less cache, redundant hot-swappable power supplies, and
cooling fans to help ensure non-stop operation and high availability. Virtual ports increase port
capacity, disk bandwidth, I/O connectivity, and port failover.