UCS is a network-and-computer integrated solution. All management and data movement intelligence for chassis components and blade servers is present in the Fabric Interconnects and Fabric Extenders (which are line cards for the FIs, also called I/O modules, or IOMs). Therefore, proper cabling between Fabric Interconnects and I/O modules is an important design consideration.
Fabric Extenders are used to connect blade server chassis to Fabric Interconnects. The I/O modules act as line cards to the Fabric Interconnects. It is therefore necessary to maintain proper connectivity between IOMs and Fabric Interconnects. Since an IOM becomes part of the Fabric Interconnect, multiple links from a single IOM can only be connected to a single Fabric Interconnect and cannot be connected across to the other Fabric Interconnect. Depending on the IOM model, there can be 1, 2, 4, or 8 links from the...