Users Guide

13
Managing Input Output Fabric
The chassis can have up to six I/O modules (IOMs), where each IOM is a pass-through or switch module. The IOMs are classied
into three groups—A, B, and C. Each group has two slots—Slot 1 and Slot 2.
The slots are designated with letters, from left to right, across the back of the chassis: A1 | B1 | C1 | C2 | B2 | A2. Each server has
slots for two mezzanine cards (MCs) to connect to the IOMs. The MC and the corresponding IOM must have the same fabric.
Chassis IO is segregated into three discrete data paths: A, B and C. These paths are described as FABRICS and support Ethernet,
Fibre Channel, or InniBand. These discrete fabric paths are split into two IO Banks, bank one and bank two. Each server IO adapter
(Mezzanine Card or LOM) can have either two or four ports depending on the capability. These ports are divided evenly to IOM
banks one and two to allow for redundancy. When you deploy the Ethernet, iSCSI, or FibreChannel networks, span their redundant
links across banks one and two for maximum availability. The discrete IOM is identied with the fabric identier and the bank number.
Example: A1 denotes Fabric A in bank 1. C2 denotes Fabric Cin bank 2.
The chassis supports three fabric or protocol types. The IOMs and Mezzanine Cards in a group must have the same or compatible
fabric types.
• Group A IOMS are always connected to the servers' on-board Ethernet adapters; the fabric type of Group A is always Ethernet.
• For Group B, the IOM slots are permanently connected to the rst MC slot in each server module.
• For Group C, the IOM slots are permanently connected to the second MC in each server module.
NOTE: In the CMC CLI, IOMs are referred to by the convention, switch-n: A1=switch-1, A2=switch-2, B1=switch-3,
B2=switch-4, C1=switch-5, and C2= switch-6.
Related link
Fabric Management Overview
Invalid Congurations
Fresh Power-up Scenario
Monitoring IOM Health
Conguring Network Settings for IOMs
Managing VLAN for IOM
Managing Power Control Operation for IOMs
Enabling or Disabling LED Blinking for IOMs
Resetting IOM to Factory Default Settings
Fabric Management Overview
Fabric management helps avoid electrical, conguration, or connectivity-related problems due to installation of an IOM or MC that
has an incompatible fabric type from the chassis' established fabric type. Invalid hardware congurations can cause electric or
functional problems to the chassis or its components. Fabric management prevents invalid congurations from powering on.
The following gure shows the location of IOMs in the chassis. The location of each IOM is indicated by its group number (A, B, or
C). These discrete fabric paths are split into two IO Banks, bank one and two. On the chassis, the IOM slot names are marked A1, A2,
B1, B2, C1, and C2.
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