Users Guide
Table Of Contents
- 1 Introduction
- 2 SmartFabric Services for PowerEdge MX: An overview
- 3 SmartFabric mode requirements, guidelines, and restrictions
- 3.1 Create multi-chassis management group
- 3.2 Upstream network requirements
- 3.3 VLAN scaling guidelines
- 3.4 Configuring port speed and breakout
- 3.5 Switch slot placement for SmartFabric mode
- 3.6 Switch-to-Switch cabling
- 3.7 NIC teaming guidelines
- 3.8 Maximum Transmission Unit (MTU) behavior
- 3.9 Other restrictions and guidelines
- 4 Creating a SmartFabric
- 4.1 Physically cable MX chassis and upstream switches
- 4.2 Define VLANs
- 4.3 Create the SmartFabric
- 4.4 Configure uplink port speed or breakout, if needed
- 4.5 Create Ethernet uplink
- 4.6 Configure Fibre Channel universal ports
- 4.7 Create Fibre Channel uplinks
- 4.8 Configuring the upstream switch and connect uplink cables
- 5 Deploying a server
- 6 SmartFabric operations
- 7 Switch operations
- 8 Validating the SmartFabric deployment
- 9 SmartFabric troubleshooting
- 9.1 Troubleshooting errors encountered for port group breakout
- 9.2 Troubleshooting Spanning Tree Protocol (STP)
- 9.3 Verify VLT/vPC configuration on upstream switches
- 9.4 Discovery of FEM and compute sleds
- 9.5 Troubleshooting uplink errors
- 9.6 Troubleshooting FC/FCoE
- 9.7 SmartFabric Services – Troubleshooting commands
- 10 Uplink configuration scenarios
- 10.1 Scenario 1 - SmartFabric deployment with Dell EMC PowerSwitch Z9100-ON upstream switches
- 10.2 Scenario 2 - SmartFabric connected to Cisco Nexus 3232C switches
- 10.3 Scenario 3: Connect MX9116n FSE to Fibre Channel storage - NPIV Proxy Gateway mode
- 10.4 Scenario 4: Connect MX9116n FSE to Fibre Channel storage - FC Direct Attach
- 10.5 Scenario 5: Connect MX5108n to Fibre Channel storage - FSB
- 10.6 Scenario 6: Configure Boot from SAN
- A Hardware used in this document
- B Dell EMC Unity information
- C Additional information
- D Validated components
- E Technical resources
- F Support and feedback
12 Dell EMC PowerEdge MX SmartFabric Configuration and Troubleshooting Guide
• show switch-operating-mode – displays the current operating mode (SmartFabric or
Full Switch) of a supported switch
• show discovered-expanders – displays the MX7116n FEMs attached to the MX9116n
FSEs
• show unit-provision – displays or configures the unit ID and service tag of a MX7116n
FEM attached to a MX9116n FSE
Note: For more information, see the SmartFabric OS10 User Guide for PowerEdge MX I/O Modules on the
Support for Dell EMC Networking MX9116n - Manuals and documents and Support for Dell EMC Networking
MX5108- Manuals and documents web pages.
2.2.1 Full Switch mode
In Full Switch mode, all SmartFabric OS10 features and functions supported by the hardware are available to
the user. In other words, the switch operates the same way as any other SmartFabric OS10 switch.
Configuration is primarily done using the CLI, however, the following items can be configured or managed
using the OME-M GUI:
1. Initial switch deployment: Configure hostname, password, SNMP, NTP, etc.
2. Set ports administratively up or down, configure MTU
3. Monitor health, logs, alerts, and events
4. Update the SmartFabric OS10 software
5. View physical topology
6. Switch power management
Full Switch mode is typically used when a desired feature or function is not available when operating in
SmartFabric mode. For more information about Dell EMC SmartFabric OS10 operations, see Dell EMC
Networking OS Info Hub.
2.2.2 SmartFabric mode
A SmartFabric is a logical entity that consists of a collection of physical resources, such as servers and
switches, and logical resources such as networks, templates, and uplinks. The OpenManage Enterprise –
Modular (OME-M) console provides a method to manage these resources as a single unit.
In the PowerEdge M1000e and FX2 platforms, I/O Aggregation (IOA) was implemented to simplify the
process to connect blade servers to upstream networks, so server administrators and generalists could
manage uplinks, downlinks, and VLAN assignments without needing to be fluent with the CLI.
SmartFabric Services mode builds on this IOA functionality providing:
1. Data center modernization
• I/O Aggregation
• Plug-and-play fabric deployment
• Single interface to manage all switches in the fabric
2. Lifecycle management
• Fabric-wide SmartFabric OS10 updates
• Automated or user enforced roll back to last well-known state