Operating instructions

Chapter 3. Cisco Systems Intelligent Gigabit Ethernet Switch Module 13
򐂰 Integrates industry-leading Cisco networking capabilities to reduce data center complexity
and increases networking manageability.
򐂰 Leverages the leadership capabilities our BladeCenter Alliance Partners to provide
customers the most technological choices.
Leadership features and function
The leadership features and function include:
򐂰 BladeCenter delivers with the Cisco Systems Intelligent Gigabit Ethernet Switch Module,
the complete suite of layer 2+ features from across the Cisco Catalyst product family.
򐂰 The switch module will run Cisco Internetworking Operating System (IOS) so that the
switch module will appear as any other Cisco networking element to the data center’s
network management tools.
Competitive advantage
The competitive advantage includes:
򐂰 BladeCenter delivers full integration of Ethernet switching, reducing infrastructure
complexity.
򐂰 No other blade vendor offers intelligent Gigabit Ethernet switching embedded into its
chassis.
3.3 Product functionality
In this section, we discuss the particular functions of each feature of the Cisco Systems
Intelligent Gigabit Ethernet Switch Module and the supported network protocols.
3.3.1 Switch management
The switch management features of the Cisco Systems Intelligent Gigabit Ethernet Switch
Module include:
򐂰 Cisco Discovery Protocol (CDP) Versions 1 and 2 for network topology discovery and
mapping between the switch and other Cisco network devices.
򐂰 Network Time Protocol (NTP) for providing a consistent time stamp to all switches from an
external source.
򐂰 Directed unicast requests to a Trivial File Transfer Protocol (TFTP) server for obtaining
software upgrades from a TFTP server.
򐂰 Default configuration storage in flash memory to ensure that the switch can be connected
to a network and can forward traffic with minimal user intervention.
򐂰 In-band management access through a Cluster Management Suite (CMS) Web-interface
session.
򐂰 In-band management access through up to 16 simultaneous Telnet connections for
multiple command-line interface (CLI)-based sessions over the network.
򐂰 In-band management access through up to five simultaneous, encrypted Secure Shell
(SSH) connections for multiple CLI-based sessions over the network. This option is only
available in the cryptographic software image and can be obtain from:
http://www.ibm.com/support/us/
򐂰 In-band management access through SNMP Versions 1, 2c, and 3 get and set requests.