Cisco Cisco MDS 9000 NX-OS Software Release 5.0 Ficha De Dados
Data Sheet
© 2010 Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. This document is Cisco Public Information.
Page 1 of 15
Cisco MDS 9000 NX-OS Software Release 5.0(1)
Product Overview
Cisco
®
MDS 9000 NX-OS Software is the underlying system software that powers the award-winning Cisco MDS
9000 Family multilayer switches. Cisco MDS 9000 NX-OS is designed for data center switches to create a strategic
platform with superior reliability, performance, and scalability.
In addition to providing all the essential features that the market expects of a SAN switch, Cisco MDS 9000 NX-OS
provides many unique features that help the Cisco MDS 9000 Family deliver low total cost of ownership (TCO) and a
quick return on investment (ROI).
Flexibility and Scalability
Cisco MDS 9000 NX-OS is a highly flexible and scalable platform for enterprise SANs.
Common Software Across All Platforms
Cisco MDS 9000 NX-OS runs on all Cisco MDS 9000 Family switches, from multilayer fabric switches to multilayer
directors. Using the same base system software across the entire product line helps Cisco provide an extensive,
consistent, and compatible feature set across the Cisco MDS 9000 Family. In addition, Cisco MDS 9000 NX-OS also
runs on the Cisco Nexus
®
Family data center Ethernet switches, providing a common software infrastructure for the
evolution of unified fabrics.
Multiprotocol Support
In addition to supporting Fibre Channel Protocol (FCP), Cisco MDS 9000 NX-OS supports IBM Fibre Connection
(FICON), Small Computer System Interface over IP (iSCSI), and Fibre Channel over IP (FCIP) in a single platform.
Native iSCSI support in the Cisco MDS 9000 Family helps customers consolidate storage for a wide range of servers
into a common pool on the SAN. Native FCIP support allows customers take advantage of their existing investment
in IP networks for cost-effective business-continuance solutions for both Fibre Channel and FICON environments.
With Cisco MDS 9000 NX-OS multiprotocol support, customers can better use their enterprise resources, thereby
lowering costs. Servers using the Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE) standard can connect to Cisco MDS 9000
SANs via the Cisco Nexus 5000 Series Switches.
Virtual SANs
Virtual SAN (VSAN) technology partitions a single physical SAN into multiple VSANs. The Cisco MDS 9000 Family
switches led the market with VSAN support built into the switch hardware, and have the most mature and
comprehensive support for this implementation of the industry "virtual fabric" standard. VSAN capabilities allow
Cisco MDS 9000 NX-OS to logically divide a large physical fabric into separate, isolated environments to improve
Fibre Channel SAN scalability, availability, manageability, and security. For mainframe environments, VSANs
facilitate true hardware-based separation of FICON and open systems.
Each VSAN is a logically and functionally separate SAN with its own set of Fibre Channel fabric services. This
partitioning of fabric services greatly reduces network instability by containing fabric reconfigurations and error
conditions within an individual VSAN. The strict traffic segregation provided by VSANs helps ensure that the control
and data traffic of a given VSAN are confined within the VSAN’s own domain, increasing SAN security, scalability,
and resilience. VSANs help reduce costs by facilitating the consolidation of isolated SAN islands into a common
infrastructure without compromising availability, security, or scalability.