The Fabric Interconnect (FI) is the core component of a UCS solution, providing network, storage, and unified management capabilities to servers. Fabric Interconnects are typically configured as highly available clustered pairs in production environments and provide active-active data traffic. A single FI-based design is also possible for proof of concept (POC) but not recommended for a production environment. Fabric Interconnects provide the following two capabilities:
- Network connectivity to both LAN and SAN
- UCS infrastructure management through embedded management software UCSM for both hardware and software management
With Gen 3 UCS hardware, Cisco has introduced a new series of Fabric Interconnects, Cisco UCS Fabric Interconnect 6300. This generation has been upgraded from the earlier 10 GbE-port model to a high-density 40 GbE-port model with 2.56 Tbps throughput. At the time of writing this, the customer can still select the Cisco UCS Fabric Interconnect 6200 series from the second-generation to go with the 10 Gig unified port model. The first-generation Cisco UCS Fabric Interconnect 6100 series has reached end of life and will not be supported.
The core functionality is the same in all the generations, with a difference in the number of physical ports, and can be upgraded to the latest UCSM software.
Fabric Interconnects provide converged ports. Converged means that depending on physical SFP and Fabric Interconnect software configuration, each port can be configured as an Ethernet port, an FCoE, or an FC port.
In production, Fabric Interconnects are deployed in clustered pairs to provide high availability. A Cisco-supported implementation requires that clustered Fabric Interconnects be identical. The only scenario for having different Fabric Interconnects in a cluster is during a cluster upgrade.
Note
Larger enterprises may consider deploying Cisco UCS Central, which can manage multiple UCS domains across globally distributed data centers.
The Gen 3 Fabric Interconnect comes in two models: UCS FI 6332, which is 32-port 40 Gig Ethernet/FCoE, and UCS FI 6332-16UP, which comes with 16 unified ports to support 1/10 Gig Ethernet/FCoE or 4, 8, and 16 Gig native Fibre Channel. The Fabric Interconnect is a top-of-rack (ToR) switch and provides 10 Gig/40 Gig LAN connectivity northbound, where 40 Gig I/O module connectivity southbound.
The Gen 2 Fabric Interconnect comes in two models: UCS FI 6248UP, which has 32 fixed ports and 16 ports with an expansion module, and UCS FI 6296UP, which has 48 fixed ports and 48 ports with three expansion modules (16 ports per expansion module). Both models provide unified ports that can be changed to any mode through a software configuration change.
Cisco 6332 is a 1U device with a maximum of 32 fixed ports with 2.56 Tbps throughput. The 32 ports support 10/40 Gig Ethernet/FCoE connectivity and don't support native Fibre Channel connectivity to a SAN switch. The fixed ports can be configured as 10 Gig with breakout cables to connect with a 10 Gig infrastructure but the last six 40 Gig at the Fabric Interconnect do not support breaking out and can be used only as 40 Gig network uplink ports:
Its specifications are as follows:
- A maximum of 20 blade server chassis per UCS domain
- Fabric throughput of 2.56 Tbps
- 40 Gig ports providing at most 98x10 Gig ports with breakout cables
- Default 8-port license
Cisco 6332-16UP is a 1U device with a maximum of 40 fixed ports with 2.46 Tbps throughput. 24 ports support 40 Gig Ethernet/FCoE, and the remaining 16 support 1/10 Gig Ethernet/FCoE or 1/4/8/16 Gig Fibre Channel. The model can provide native Fibre Channel support to the FC infrastructure. Like the previous model, this model's fixed ports can be configured as 10 Gig with breakout cables to connect with a 10 Gig infrastructure, but the last six 40 Gig ports at the Fabric Interconnect do not support breaking out and can be used only as 40 Gig network uplink ports.
Its specifications are as follows:
- A maximum of 20 blade-server chassis per UCS domain
- Fabric throughput of 2.46 Tbps
- 24-port base unit with one expansion slot, which can provide 16 extra ports
- 40 Gig ports providing a maximum of 72x10 Gig ports with breakout cables
- Default 12-port license (four from fixed ports and eight from an expansion module)
The Cisco 6248UP is a 1U device with a maximum of 48 converged ports. Ports can be configured as 1 Gig Ethernet, 10 Gig Ethernet, 10 Gig/FCoE, and 2/4/8 Gig Fibre Channel.
The specifications of the 6248UP are as follows:
- A maximum of 20 blade-server chassis per UCS domain
- Fabric throughput of 960 Gbps
- 32-port base unit with one expansion slot, which can provide 16 extra ports
The Cisco 6296UP is a 2U device with a maximum of 96 converged ports. The ports can be configured as 1 Gig Ethernet, 10 Gig Ethernet, 10 Gig/FCoE, and 2/4/8 Gig Fibre Channel.
The specifications of the 6296UP are as follows:
- A maximum of 20 blade-server chassis per UCS domain
- Fabric throughput of 1920 Gbps
- 48-port base unit with three expansion slots, which can provide 48 extra ports