Datasheet

Data Sheet
© 2011 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. This document is Cisco Public Information. Page 4 of 12
High-Availability Platform for Mission-Critical Environments
The Cisco MDS 9148 is designed for mission-critical availability. With nondisruptive software upgrades, hot-
swappable redundant fans and power supplies, and the unique capability to automatically restart failed processes,
the platform defines a new standard for fabric switch availability.
High availability is implemented at the fabric level through the industry’s most robust and highest-performance ISLs.
The standard PortChannel feature allows users to aggregate up to 16 physical ports into one logical bundle. The
bundle can sustain the failure of any physical link without causing a reset. Additionally, FSPF multipathing provides
the intelligence to load-balance across up to 16 equal-cost paths and, if a switch fails, to dynamically reroute traffic.
The F-port channeling feature enables up to 16 physical uplinks between a Cisco MDS 9148 operating in NPV mode
and the core switch to be bundled into a PortChannel. The Cisco MDS 9148 offers outstanding fabric switch
availability, reducing TCO.
Comprehensive Security
Recognizing the need for unassailable business security, the Cisco MDS 9148 provides a comprehensive framework
to protect highly sensitive data crossing today’s enterprise networks. Included as standard with every Cisco MDS
9148 are features such as VSAN isolation, role-based access control (RBAC), secure FTP (SFTP), intelligent packet
inspection at the port level, hardware zoning using access control lists (ACLs), extended broadcast zoning, secure
shell (SSH), control-plane security, simple network management protocol (SNMP), and FC-SP switch-to-switch plus
host-to-switch access authentication. These features, in conjunction with the rarely needed, but even more
innovative and powerful features in the optional Cisco MDS 9000 Family Enterprise Package License, will make the
Cisco MDS 9148 the most secure platform in its class.
Simplified Management
The Cisco MDS 9148 provides four principal modes of management: the Cisco MDS 9000 Family CLI, the Quick
Configuration Wizard, the Cisco DCNM, and integration with third-party storage management tools.
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Consistent, logical CLI: Adhering to the syntax of the widely known Cisco IOS
®
Software CLI, the Cisco MDS
9000 Family CLI is easy to learn and delivers broad management capabilities. The Cisco MDS 9000 Family
CLI is an extremely efficient and direct interface designed to provide optimal capabilities to administrators in
enterprise environments.
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Zero-Touch Installation: The Zero-Touch Installation feature provides easy, plug-and-play deployment and
provisioning capabilities without the need for serial cable console access and is enabled through new
Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) client support that stores a common default Cisco MDS 9148
switch configuration. Zero-Touch Installation automatically assigns an IP address (through DHCP) or provides
a default address if there is no DHCP server. Zero-Touch Installation also provides a default user password
for the administrator user and automatically launches the Quick Configuration Wizard.
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Quick Configuration Wizard: The Quick Configuration Wizard helps eliminate management complexity and
creates a readily available SAN environment for small- and medium-sized-business (SMB) applications. The
wizard allows server access to storage to be set up quickly and easily in a single step using an intuitive GUI.
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Cisco DCNM: Cisco DCNM can be licensed for management of a combination of SAN and LAN
environments. Cisco DCNM streamlines the provisioning of the unified fabric and proactively monitors the
LAN and SAN components. Cisco DCNM for SAN Essentials Edition (formerly Cisco Fabric Manager), which
comes standard with the Cisco MDS 9148, is an easy-to-use application that simplifies management across
multiple switches and converged SAN fabrics. Focused on supporting efficient operations and management
of virtual machine-aware fabrics, Cisco DCNM for SAN Essentials Edition provides a robust framework and
comprehensive feature set that meets the routing, switching, and storage administration needs of present and
future virtualized data centers. The optional Cisco DCNM for SAN Advanced Edition (formerly Cisco Fabric