Installation guide

Fabric Modules

BlackDiamond X8 Series Switches Hardware Installation Guide

Fabric Modules

Up to four fabric modules (Figure 7) can be installed in each BlackDiamond X8 chassis to provide the

active switching fabric for the switch. The switch fabric supports N+1 redundancy. Three fabric modules

are required to provide full switch fabric capacity. The fourth module provides excess capacity but is

not required to maintain full line rate on the front-panel ports. Fabric modules are installed in dedicated

slots at the back of the chassis, behind the fan trays.

Figure 7: Fabric Module

Two types of fabric modules are available for the BlackDiamond X8 switch:

● BDXA-FM10T module

● BDXA-FM20T module

BDXA-FM10T fabric modules provide a total switch fabric capacity of 10 Terabits per second, and

BDXA-FM20T fabric modules provide 20 Terabits per second.

A switch fabric composed of BDXA-FM10T modules will provide full line rate for the BDXA-10G48X

and BDXA-40G12X I/O modules. For the BDXA-40G24X I/O module, a BDXA-FM20T switch fabric is

required for full line rate on all ports. The BDXA-40G24X I/O module will not operate with a switch

fabric composed of BDXA-FM10T modules.

All the fabric modules in a BlackDiamond X8 switch must be the same type; you cannot combine

BDXA-FM10T modules and BDXA-FM20T modules.

Status LEDs for each fabric module are on the fan tray that is in front of that fabric module. The status

LEDs for the fabric module are labeled Diag and Stat.

Table 6 describes the meanings of the fabric module LEDs.

Table 6: LEDs for the BlackDiamond X8 Series Fabric Modules

Label/Function Color/State Meaning

DIAG

Module diagnostics

Amber/blinking Diagnostic tests are in progress.

Amber/steady A diagnostic failure has occurred.

Off Normal operation

STAT

Module status

Green/blinking Normal operation

Amber/blinking Configuration error, code version error, or other

severe module error.

Amber/steady The module is present but not receiving power.

Off The module is not present.

BDX_028

1 = Inserter/extractor lever