Users Guide

Figure 24. VLAN configuration

Create SmartFabric

Creation of the SmartFabric depends on the IOM selected and the number of PowerEdge MX7000 chassis to be installed. The devices

eligible for SmartFabric deployment are:

• MX5108n Ethernet switch

• MX9116n Fabric Switching Engine

• MX7116n Fabric Expansion Module

When deploying the MX5108n switch, create chassis groups for improved management but the IOMs in each chassis function

independently of the IOMs in other chassis. Networks and templates that are created for the chassis groups can be applied to multiple

MX5108n switches for fast, reliable deployment of up to 20 PowerEdge MX7000 chassis containing up to 40 MX5108n Ethernet switches.

When deploying the MX9116n Fabric Switching Engine (FSE) and the MX7116n Fabric Expansion Module (FEM), the configured FSE can

manage FEMs across up to 10 PowerEdge MX7000 chassis. The FSE is single point of management and configuration and the FEMs

extend the configured ports to the local PowerEdge MX7000 chassis.

Smart Fabric Port Configuration

The configuration of the MX9116n external ports should be changed to achieve optimum performance. According to the Dell EMC

PowerEdge MX Networking Architecture Guide best performance requires that connections from the MX9116n be modified from the

default configuration.

Table 8. Recommenced port connections for additional chassis

Chassis MX9116n FSE port group Physical Port Numbers

1 or 2 Port group 1 17 and 18

3 Port group 7 29 and 30

4 Port group 2 19 and 20

5 Port group 8 31 and 32

6 Port group 3 21 and 22

7 Port group 9 33 and 34

8 Port group 4 23 and 24

9 Port group 10 35 and 36

10 Port group 5 25 and 26

Notice that port group 6 (ports 27 and 28) is absent from the list of port groups recommended for connection to addition chassis. Also

notice that chassis 9 should be connected to port group 10 (ports 35 and 36) of the MX9116n. From the OME Modular interface navigate

to Devices > I/O Modules > Select a MX9116n from the list > Port Information. Here we can see that the port configuration (last

column) has port groups 6 and 10 configured differently.

SmartFabric network configuration