Connectivity between UCS 6249 - UCS 6248 Switches and 10GB iscsi on EMC Storage - VNXe 3200

[Sami AlSawaftah]

Hi

I am trying to check VNXe 3200 Connectivity with SFP+ ( Cisco UCS 6249 - UCS 6248 Switches )

will the 10 GB iscsi fiber / Copper connect directly to the UCS 6248 and what is the type of Cables ?

will SFP and SFP+ connect to each other or that will cause some issues?

i tried to search the EMC side but getting difficulty to get the Document showing the Comparability but expecting soon so wanted to check from Cisco side

I know this is the Guide to refer to

http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/products/collateral/servers-unified-computing/ucs-6200-series-fabric-interconnects/data_sheet_c78-675245.pdf

but please help me finding answers

Thanks

[Walter Dey]

Hi Sami

https://community.emc.com/message/841141#841141

has the answer

EMC does not support Passive Twinaxial cables in an iSCSI or FCOE environment.
EMC only supports Active Twinaxial cables in an iSCSI or FCOE environment.

We currently support EMC, Brocade and Cisco cables.

SFP-H10GB-ACU7M and SFP-H10GB-ACU10M are active twinax cables

see http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/interfaces_modules/transceiver_modules/compatibility/matrix/10GE_Tx_Matrix.html

https://community.emc.com/message/837419 might also be useful.

Walter.

[Sami AlSawaftah]

Walter

VNXe 3200 has new iscsi modules

New Hardware I/O modules

• 4 port 1Gbps iSCSI 10GbaseT (copper) – negotiates to 10Mbps, 100Mbps, or 1000 Mbps
• 4 port 10Gbps iSCSI optical module – supports 10GbE SFP or Active and Passive Twin-Ax Cables

so do we need to have the optical module to connect to UCS 6248  ?

[Walter Dey]

Hi Sami

Important: iSCSI should use 10G Ethernet, 1G is not enough for a server.

The cheapest method is using Twinax-cables (it seems quite new, that EMC now also supports passive ones); they are available at 1/3/5/7 meters. No need for additional transceivers, as they are part of the cable.

If you require bigger distances, you have to go with optical SFP+, requireing a SPF+ transceiver on the VNX and UCS FI.

Hope that helps

Walter.