Security Solutions

1 HP FlexFabric 5900CP switch overview
The HP FlexFabric 5900CP switch is a multipurpose converged L2/L3 switch with 48 converged
ports and four 40 GbE QSFP+ ports. This switch provides seamless integration of lossless 10GbE
networks into server-edge environments and core environments through FCoE, DCB, Fibre Channel,
and many other Ethernet network protocols. It is a full featured switch and a software license is
not required. When coupled with the HP StoreFabric converged optical transceiver, it provides
wire-once capability for 10GbE/FCoE and 8 Gb or 4 Gb Fibre Channel.
Figure 1 HP FlexFabric 5900CP front (port) and rear (power) view
The 5900 switch family is supported for use as standard Ethernet switches in HP Networking
Ethernet networks and as DCB Ethernet switches for converged environments with Ethernet/FCoE
and iSCSI connectivity. It provides native Fibre Channel and FCoE full-featured connectivity and
can be used as a gateway to other HP Fibre Channel switch series fabrics using NPV (N_Port
virtulization).
The HP 5900 family series members can be common members of an IRF (Intelligent Resilient
Framework) domain to simplify management by combining multiple physical switches into one
virtual switch. An IRF fabric appears as one node or virtual switch and is accessible as a single IP
address on the network. You can use this IP address to log in at any member device to manage
all the members of the IRF domain.
Features and benefits
The HP FlexFabric 5900CP switch provides the following features:
• Ethernet/FCoE support on 10GbE converged ports and 40GbE ports
• Fibre Channel 8Gb/4Gb/2Gb support on any of the 48 converged ports
• DCB/FCoE-FCF/NPV/TRILL/IPv6 support (QCN ready)
• Forty-eight converged ports that can use a single transceiver which supports 10GbE/FCoE or
8Gb/4Gb Fibre Channel
• FCoE/FC NPV gateway support
• Dual-hop support with Virtual Connect blade switches and the HP 6125-XLG
• Multi-hop support using FCoE VE_Port (7 hops) or Fibre Channel E_Port (3 hops) ISLs (inter-switch
links)
• 5900 Series IRF support (up to nine switches per domain with Ethernet, two switches per
domain with storage)
• iSCSI support
• Front-to-back or back-to-front airflow
• Comware OS version 7.1
4 HP FlexFabric 5900CP switch overview