Data Center Architecture with Panduit, Intel, and Cisco 10GBASE-T Application Note Integrating Panduit Category 6A Interconnects with the Cisco Nexus 2232TM and Intel Ethernet Server Adapter X520-T2 ©2011 PANDUIT Corp. All rights reserved.
Introduction Modern data centers face a wide array of challenges that threaten the integrity of mission critical business applications. These data centers are now stretched to capacity in terms of power, cooling, and floor space. Increasing use of server consolidation, unified networking and virtualization technologies offer cost savings, improved performance, and reliability, but are driving unprecedented demand for network I/O.
10GBASE-T Interconnect Advantages Data Center administrators have a number of 10 GbE interconnect options: 10GBASE-SR (Short Reach fiber optic), Enhanced Small Form-Factor Pluggable SFP+ Direct Attach Copper (DAC), and 10GBASE-T. Currently the most commonly used options are 10GBASE-SR optical and SFP+ DAC copper because they offer low latency and can both be used with the same SFP+ ports.
Panduit ® TX6A™ and TX6A-SD™ 10Gig™ Copper Cabling Other advances in 10GBASE-T have come with new higher performance and smaller diameter copper cabling. Early generations of Category 6A 10 GbE compliant cabling were rather large in diameter, up to 0.350 inch, in order to suppress cable to cable coupling known as alien crosstalk. Newer cabling technology such as Panduit’s TX6A™ 10Gig™ UTP (Unshielded Twisted Pair) cabling with patented MaTriX Technology has reduced the cable diameter to a more manageable 0.
Intel Ethernet Server Adapter X520-T2 The Intel Ethernet Server Adapter X520-T2 delivers easy-to-deploy, high-volume 10 GbE connectivity over existing copper infrastructure. This card includes Intel Virtual Machine Device Queues for optimized I/O virtualization, supports unified data and storage networking, and provides reliable, consistent performance across a broad range of virtualized and non-virtualized operating systems.
ToR Architecture Top-of-Rack is a distributed modular system in which a switch or a fabric extender such as the Cisco Nexus 2232TM resides at the top of the server rack. Although the EoR and MoR designs are most common today, ToR is becoming popular because it allows the use of higher density server racks. As the number of cables exiting the rack increases with the number of servers the cost and space constraints become harder to maintain.
There are eight SFP+ uplink ports on the Nexus 2232TM, for a 4:1 oversubscription ratio. To provide more redundancy, four up-links can be connected to one Nexus 5000 Series switch with the remaining four uplinks connecting to a different Nexus 5000 Series switch located in either in the same cabinet or different cabinets. One Nexus 5000 Series switch can support up to 24 Nexus 2232TM fabric extenders, but for redundancy a factor of twelve is normally used.
EoR Architecture Panduit ® QuickNet™ OM3/OM4 Fiber Uplinks to Cisco Nexus 7000 Panduit Category 6A QuickNet™ Cable Assembly Panduit Category 6A QuickNet™ Patch Panels Panduit ® TX6A™ 10Gig™ Patch Cords 4 3 Cisco Nexus 2232TM 4 3 3 3 3 4 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 1 1 5 2 2 2 Cisco Nexus 5548UP Panduit SFP+DAC 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 5 Intel Ethernet Server Adapter X520-T2 1 Nexus 2232TM and Nexus 5000 series switches located in switch cabinets at both ends of the row 2 Intel Ethernet Server Ada
MoR Architecture Middle of Row architecture is basically the same as EoR architecture except that the switch cabinets are located in the middle of the row, with cabling branching to the right and left to each of the server cabinets. The cable lengths are generally shorter, which can reduce cabling complexity and allows more connectivity options. The shorter runs can use lower cost copper instead of fiber and allow for single patch fields instead of the dual point patching normally used in EoR.
MoR Architecture Panduit ® QuickNet™ OM3/OM4 Fiber Uplinks to Cisco Nexus 7000 Panduit Category 6A QuickNet™ Cable Assembly Panduit Category 6A QuickNet™ Patch Panels 4 3 4 3 3 3 3 3 4 3 3 1 3 2 Cisco Nexus 5548UP 1 2 2 5 3 3 3 1 6 Cisco Nexus 2232TM Panduit ® TX6A™ 10Gig™ Patch Cords 6 2 2 2 2 2 2 5 Panduit SFP+DAC Intel Ethernet Server Adapter X520-T2 Nexus 2232TM Fabric Extenders located in switch cabinets in the middle of the row 2 Intel Ethernet Server Adapter X520
Conclusion 10GBASE-T with its ability to be used with all standard data center topologies (ToR, EoR, and MoR) is well suited for widespread usage in today’s data centers. It simplifies data center infrastructures by providing the highest architectural flexibility for new data centers and the easiest upgrade path for existing data centers. By offering both sufficient reach and bandwidth, 10GBASE-T meets the demands of virtualized and ever flattening networks.
