Brocade 12000 Datasheet - TeamKCI

TECH BRIEFSILKWORM 12000 HIGH AVAILABILITYThe Brocade SilkWorm 12000Director provides the Reliability,Availability, and Serviceability(RAS) characteristics thatfacilitate the deployment ofmission-critical enterpriseStorage Area Networks (SANs).Increased Reliability, Availability,and Serviceability for Enterprise SANsAs organizations increasingly rely on information resources to drive theirdaily operations and strategic initiatives, that information must be availablevirtually 100 percent of the time.To help support these continuousavailability goals, Brocade ® provides a wide array of SAN infrastructuresolutions designed with high reliability in mind.Supporting the most demanding business requirements for high availabilityis the Brocade SilkWorm ® 12000 Director. A revolutionary dual 64-portdirector-class Fibre Channel switch based on the Brocade IntelligentFabric Services Architecture, the SilkWorm 12000 combines 2 Gbit/secperformance with unprecedented scalability, flexibility, functionality, andreliability capabilities.The SilkWorm 12000 features an integrated design with innovativehardware, software, firmware, and management tools.The comprehensiveset of high-availability features includes:• Non-disruptive software upgrades• Non-disruptive control processor failover• Hot-swappable components• Extensive diagnostics• System monitoring capabilities integrated with Brocade Fabric OSmanagement toolsTogether, these elements provide unprecedented Reliability, Availability,and Serviceability (RAS) levels for a director-class switch.A VARIETY OF FEATURES TO PREVENT SYSTEM DOWNTIMEThe highly available SilkWorm 12000 is specifically designed to addressthe most common types of failures that can cause the loss of data orsystem availability. As a result, the SilkWorm 12000 is highly adept atpreventing both planned and unplanned downtime.Addressing the Causes of Unplanned DowntimeTo prevent unplanned downtime, the SilkWorm 12000 accounts forhardware failures, software failures, and the most common cause of downtime:human errors.

SILKWORM 12000 HIGH AVAILABILITYFigure 1.SilkWorm 12000 cable side view.The SilkWorm 12000 addresses potential hardwarefailures by:• Utilizing the most reliable components available• Eliminating single points of failure• Employing redundant components throughout the switch• Providing hot-swap capabilities for all Field-ReplaceableUnits (FRUs)The SilkWorm 12000 addresses potential software failures by:• Incorporating the most robust, highly reliablesoftware components• Utilizing redundant control processors withredundant software• Providing non-disruptive control processor failovercapabilities in the event of a software malfunctionThe SilkWorm 12000 addresses potential issues related tohuman error by providing the following capabilities:• Brocade Secure Fabric OS ® helps prevent unauthorizedusers from accessing the SAN.• Secure Fabric OS restricts management application accessto the SAN.• Brocade Advanced Zoning provides the additional securityof hardware-enforced zoning to prevent unauthorizeddevice access.Addressing the Causes of Planned DowntimeTo address the most common causes of planned downtime(such as scheduled maintenance, product upgrades, or thedeployment or removal of new components), theSilkWorm 12000 enables non-disruptive hardware andsoftware upgrades.Figure 2.SilkWorm 12000 blower side view.To prevent downtime, all major hardware componentsof the SilkWorm 12000 switch are field-replaceable andhot-swappable. Field-replaceable components can beinstalled without disrupting SAN operations—minimizingdowntime for hardware upgrades. Port cards can be addedwithout disrupting the switch or the SAN fabric.To prevent downtime during software upgrades theSilkWorm 12000 provides hot code activation—whichenables firmware upgrades to be downloaded and activatedwithout disrupting other operations.

TECH BRIEFHIGH-AVAILABILITY SWITCH FEATURESHigh-availability features of the SilkWorm 12000 includeredundant hardware components, hot-swappable andfield-replaceable components that simplify servicing,and security capabilities that greatly reduce the risk ofpotential outages.A Redundant Hardware DesignTo help ensure the highest levels of availability, theSilkWorm 12000 incorporates a redundant hardware designwith no single point of failure. Key components include:• Redundant control processors with automaticnon-disruptive failover and hot-swappablereplacement capabilities• Dual redundant AC inputs• A redundant power subsystem with hot-swappablepower supplies• A redundant cooling system with threehot-swappable blowers• Hot-swappable switching modules (blades)To account for one of the most common causes of systemdisruption (power outages), the SilkWorm 12000 employsfour hot-swappable power supplies designed to protectagainst the loss of an AC source.Two power supplies eachreceive power from one of two AC inputs. Under normalconditions, only two power supplies are required for fullsystem operation.Simplified Serviceability CharacteristicsBecause ease-of-service is a key factor in maintaining availabilityduring planned maintenance, the SilkWorm 12000is designed for field servicing that does not interruptsystem operations.All major subsystems are hot-swappableand field-upgradeable, so planned maintenance andupgrades can be performed without scheduled downtime.Hot-swappable components enable the replacement of failedcomponents without impacting data traffic. In addition,modular hot-swappable FRUs can be easily replaced in thefield.These FRUs include:• Switch blade assembly• Control processor blade assembly• Small Form-Factor Pluggable (SFP) optical transceivers• Blower assembly• Power supplyAll cables, blade assemblies, and power supplies areserviced from the cable side of the switch, and blowers areserviced from the opposite side. For greater flexibility,the chassis can be mounted with cables facing the front orrear of the equipment rack. Additional serviceabilityfeatures include:• Redundant flash memory that stores two firmwareimages per control processor• Background health check daemon• Memory scrubber, self-test, and bus ping to determinewhether a bus is functioning• Watchdog timers• Predictive diagnostics analysis through BrocadeFabric Watch and Advanced Performance MonitoringAdvanced Security CapabilitiesBecause security is an essential factor in high availability,the SilkWorm 12000 with Secure Fabric OS is designedto prevent unauthorized users, administrators, applications,or devices from accessing the SAN and causing systemoutages. Fabric-based authentication and access controldeliver the highest levels of configuration integrity.To augment previous Brocade Zoning capabilities,Brocade Advanced Zoning enables hardware-enforcedzoning by World Wide Name (WWN).This new featuremaintains the superior security of hardware-enforced zoningconfigurations even if one or more hosts is attached to adifferent switch port.The same Brocade Frame Filteringtechnology that enables hardware-enforced WWN zoningmight eventually be used to enable more detailed zoningby protocol or Logical Unit Number (LUN).The SilkWorm 12000 also provides secure Telnet accessthrough SSH Secure Shell, a network security protocolthat helps ensure secure remote login and other networkservices over insecure networks (release 4.1).To increase SAN management security, BrocadeWEB TOOLS can operate over a secure browser usingthe Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) protocol.This protocolprovides data encryption, server authentication, messageintegrity, and optional client authentication for TCP/IPconnections. Because SSL is built into all major browsersand Web servers, installing a digital certificate activates theSSL capabilities.

SILKWORM 12000 HIGH AVAILABILITYComponentSwitch backplaneBlower backplaneControl processorFailure Rate798,000 hours10,722,000 hours209,000 hours16 port FC blade 191,000 hoursPower supplyBlower FRUWWN cardTable 1. Reliability prediction summary500,000 hours473,000 hours2,154,000 hoursHIGH-RELIABILITY FEATURESThe SilkWorm 12000 includes several integrated features designedto provide the highest levels of reliability in the industry.Hardware and software reliability features combine to generateimpressive overall system reliability.Hardware ReliabilityTo provide high reliability, the SilkWorm 12000 offers thefollowing capabilities:• Internal switch data protection through an error detection andcorrection mechanism.• Power-On Self Test (POST).• Error Detection and Fault Isolation (EDFI), such as CyclicRedundancy Checking (CRC), parity checking, checksum,and illegal address checking.• Dual control processors that enable fast, dynamic,and non-disruptive firmware upgrades. Each control processorcontains two serial ports and one Ethernet port. In addition,offline control processor diagnostics and remote diagnosticssimplify troubleshooting.• I2C monitoring and control.The most common measure of hardware reliability is Mean TimeBetween Failures (MTBF), and the reliability predictions for theSilkWorm 12000 are based on the related Bellcore TR322 PartsCount Method.This particular method is a very conservativeestimate of component failure (which does not necessarilySwitch Model Bellcore Failure DemonstratedRate Prediction Failure Rate*SilkWorm 2400 194,000 hours 1,529,000 hoursSilkWorm 2800 187,000 hours 1,148,000 hours* Based on field data collected through January 2002Table 2. Reliability prediction versus field data (for a switch with one powersupply and no media)indicate the unavailability of the overall system). It defines thesystem failure rate as the sum of its components’ failure rates,resulting in higher calculations for systems with redundantcomponents. However, systems with redundant componentswould actually experience a lower probability of unavailabilityin a real-world environment.Table 1 indicates the predicted reliability results for SilkWorm12000 components, while Table 2 indicates the actual results datacollected from the field.As these statistics clearly indicate, the actual field performance ofthe SilkWorm switch components is demonstrably higher than theperformance predicted by the Bellcore TR322 Parts Count Method.Software ReliabilitySoftware availability is typically defined by the probability of aparticular service being available at the time it is required.However, software reliability is defined by whether the software,in addition to being available, also provides fully functional operationwhen required. Based on field-proven results, the Brocade systemsoftware is highly reliable during switch operation.HIGH RAS CAPABILITIES FOR A STRATEGIC SAN INFRASTRUCTUREWhile some switch vendors stake their claims to high reliabilitybased on hardware capabilities, Brocade has a proven track recordof providing both reliable hardware and software components.Combining a wide array of redundant hardware components andinnovative software, the SilkWorm 12000 provides unprecedentedoverall RAS capabilities in a director-class switch. As a result, ithelps support a strategic SAN infrastructure capable of addressingthe most demanding business requirements. For more informationabout the SilkWorm 12000, visit www.brocade.com/products.Corporate HeadquartersSan Jose, CA USAT: (408) 487-8000info@brocade.comEuropean HeadquartersGeneva, SwitzerlandT: +41 22 799 56 40europe-info@brocade.comAsia Pacific HeadquartersTokyo, JapanT: +81-3-5402-5300apac-info@brocade.comLatin America HeadquartersMiami, FL USAT: (305) 716-4165latinam-sales@brocade.com© 2003 Brocade Communications Systems, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 06/03 GA-RG-260-03Brocade, the Brocade B weave logo, Secure Fabric OS, and SilkWorm are registered trademarks of Brocade Communications Systems, Inc., in the United States and/orin other countries. FICON is a registered trademark of IBM Corporation in the U.S. and other countries.All other brands, products, or service names are or may betrademarks or service marks of, and are used to identify, products or services of their respective owners.Notice:This document is for informational purposes only and does not set forth any warranty, expressed or implied, concerning any equipment, equipment feature, orservice offered or to be offered by Brocade. Brocade reserves the right to make changes to this document at any time, without notice, and assumes no responsibility for itsuse.This informational document describes features that may not be currently available. Contact a Brocade sales office for information on feature and product availability.Export of technical data contained in this document may require an export license from the United States government.