Lenovo 90Y3450 Flex System IB6131 InfiniBand Switch Owner’s Manual

Lenovo 90Y3450 Flex System IB6131 InfiniBand Switch

Product Guide (withdrawn product)

The Flex System IB6131 InfiniBand Switch is designed to offer the performance you need to support clustered databases, parallel processing, transactional services, and high-performance embedded I/O applications, helping to reduce task completion time and lower the cost per operation. The switch supports 40 Gbps QDR InfiniBand and can be upgraded to 56 Gbps FDR InfiniBand.

The Flex System IB6131 InfiniBand Switch can be installed in the Flex System chassis, which provides a high bandwidth, low latency fabric for Enterprise Data Centers (EDC), high-performance computing (HPC), and embedded environments. When used in conjunction with IB6132 InfiniBand QDR and FDR dual-port mezzanine I/O cards, these switches will achieve significant performance improvements resulting in reduced completion time and lower cost per operation.

Figure 1 shows the switch module.

Did you know

This switch is designed for low latency, high bandwidth, and computing efficiency for performance-driven server and storage clustering applications. The switch supports full bisectional bandwidth, and, when combined with the InfiniBand 56 Gbps FDR adapter, your organization can achieve efficient high- performance computing by providing maximum bandwidth and off-loading from the CPU protocol processing and data movement overhead, such as Remote Direct Memory Access (RDMA) and Send/Receive semantics, allowing more processor power for the application.

Flex System, a new category of computing and the next generation of Smarter Computing, offers intelligent workload deployment and management for maximum business agility. This chassis delivers high-speed performance complete with integrated servers, storage, and networking for multiple chassis management in data center compute environments. Furthermore, its flexible design can meet the needs of varying workloads with independently scalable IT resource pools for higher utilization and lower cost per workload. While increased security and resiliency protect vital information and promote maximum uptime, the integrated, easy-to-use management system reduces setup time and complexity, providing a quicker path to a return on investment (ROI).

Part number information

The Flex System IB6131 InfiniBand Switch base enables 14 internal Quad Data Rate (QDR) links to each compute node and 18 Quad Small Form-factor Pluggable (QSFP) uplink ports for inter-switch links or to connect to external servers. Clients can upgrade to FDR speed (56 Gb) via the Feature On Demand (FOD) process. The following table shows the part numbers for ordering the switch and upgrade.

Table 1. Part numbers and feature codes for ordering

The first feature code listed is for configurations ordered through the System x® sales channel. The second feature code is for configurations ordered through the IBM Power Systems™ sales channel.

The part number for the switch, 90Y3450, includes the following items:

• One Flex System IB6131 InfiniBand Switch
• Documentation package

Note:
IB6131 supports QDR and FDR copper QSFP cables to connect to other devices or servers. No cables are included with the switch.

The part number for the upgrade, 90Y3462, includes the following items:

• Feature on Demand Activation Flyer
• Upgrade activation key

The base switch and upgrades are as follows:

• 90Y3450 is the part number for the physical device and comes with 14 internal QDR ports enabled, one to each compute node, and 18 external QDR ports enabled to connect to a server or other InfiniBand devices. All external ports are QSFP-based connections.
• 90Y3462 can be applied on the base switch (one upgrade per switch) to enable FDR on all ports (both internal and external).

Supported cables
The following table lists the supported cables.

Table 2. Supported direct-attach cables (DAC) and serial cables

Serial cables
90Y9338| A2RR / None| Flex System Management Serial Access Cable Kit
InfiniBand QSFP cables
90Y3470| A227 / None| 3m FDR InfiniBand Cable
None| None / 3249| QDR InfiniBand 3M QSFP Cable

The first feature code listed is for configurations made through x-config (HVEC). The second feature code is for configurations ordered through e-config (AAS).

Benefits

• Ultra high performance with full bisectional bandwidth at both Fourteen Data Rate (FDR) and Quad Data Rate (QDR) speeds
• Capability of up to 18 uplink ports for 14 servers allowing high-speed throughput with zero oversubscription
• Suited for clients running InfiniBand infrastructure in High-Performance Computing and Financial Services
• When operating at FDR speed, less than 170 nanoseconds measured latency node to node —nearly half of the typical QDR InfiniBand latency
• Forward Error Correction–resilient
• Low power consumption
• Capability to scale to larger node counts to create a low latency clustered solution and reduce packet hops

Features and specifications

The Flex System IB6131 InfiniBand Switch has the following features and specifications:

• Internal ports:
• Fourteen internal ports can operate at 40 Gbps QDR or 56 Gbps FDR. An optional Feature-on-Demand (FoD) upgrade is required to enable ports to operate at 56 Gbps.
• FDR requires IB6131 FDR InfiniBand Adapter (90Y3454).
• One 1 GbE port is connected to the chassis management module.
• External ports:
• Eighteen QSFP ports auto-sensing 10 Gbps, 20 Gbps, or 40 Gbps QDR (or 56 Gbps FDR with optional upgrade) supporting QSFP copper direct-attach cables (DAC). DAC cables are not included and must be purchased separately.
• One RS-232 serial port (mini-USB connector) provides an additional means to configure the switch module.
• One external Ethernet port with RJ-45 connector for switch configuration and management.
• The InfiniBand QDR and FDR switches based on Mellanox technology are unmanaged switches. No embedded subnet manager. Switch requires subnet management from an external source.
• InfiniBand Trade Association (IBTA) 1.3 and 1.21 compliant.
• PowerPC® based MLNX-OS management.
• InfiniBand: Auto-negotiation of 10 Gbps, 20 Gbps, 40 Gbps, or 56 Gbps.
• Mellanox quality of service (QoS): Nine InfiniBand virtual lanes for all ports, eight data transport lanes, and one management lane.
• Management: Baseboard, performance, and device management agents for full InfiniBand in-band management.
• Switching performance: Simultaneous wire speed any port to any port.
• Addressing: 48,000 unicast addresses maximum per subnet, 16,000 multicast addresses per subnet.
• Switching capacity: 2 Tbps for FDR and 1.44 Tbps for QDR.

Standards supported

The module supports the following standard:

• IBTA (InfiniBand Trade Association) 1.3 compliant

Supported chassis and adapter cards
The switches are installed in switch bays in the rear of the Flex System Enterprise Chassis, as shown in Figure 2.

Figure 2. Location of the switch bays in the Flex System Enterprise Chassis

The connections between the adapters installed in the compute nodes to the switch bays in the chassis are shown diagrammatically in Figure 3. Figure 3 shows both half-wide servers, such as the x240 with two adapters, and full- wide servers, such as the x440 with four adapters.

Figure 3. Logical layout of the interconnects between I/O adapters and I/O modules

The Flex System IB6131 InfiniBand Switch can be installed in bays 1, 2, 3, and 4 of the Enterprise Chassis. A supported InfiniBand adapter card must be installed in the corresponding slot of the compute node (slot A1 when modules are installed in bays 1 and 2 or slot A2 when switches are in bays 3 and 4).

With compute nodes that have an integrated dual-port 10 GbE network interface controller (NIC), these switches can only be installed in bays 3 and 4, because integrated NIC’s ports are routed to bays 1 and 2 with a specialized periscope connector, and the InfiniBand adapter card in slot A1 cannot be installed. However, when needed, the periscope connector can be replaced with an InfiniBand adapter card. In this case, the integrated NIC will be disabled, and the InfiniBand switches can be used in bays 1 and 2.
The following table shows the connections between the adapters installed in the compute nodes other than x222 to the switch bays in the chassis.

Table 3. Adapter to I/O bay correspondence

I/O adapter slot in the server| Port on the adapter| Corresponding I/O module bay in the chassis
---|---|---
Slot 1| Port 1| Module bay 1
Port 2| Module bay 2
Slot 2| Port 1| Module bay 3
Port 2| Module bay 4
Slot 3

(full-wide compute nodes only)

| Port 1| Module bay 1
Port 2| Module bay 2
Slot 4

(full-wide compute nodes only)

| Port 1| Module bay 3
Port 2| Module bay 4

The following table shows the connections between the adapters installed in the x222 compute nodes to the switch bays in the chassis.

Table 4. x222 InfiniBand adapter to I/O bay correspondence

Compute node| IB6132D 2-port FDR InfiniBand| Corresponding I/O module bay in the chassis
---|---|---
Upper compute node| Upper Port 1| Module bay 4
Lower compute node| Lower Port 1| Module bay 3

The following table lists the InfiniBand I/O adapters that are supported by the IB6131 InfiniBand Switch.

Table 5. Supported InfiniBand I/O adapter cards

Description| Part number| Feature code (x-config / e- config)| Support for IB6131

switch

---|---|---|---
Flex System IB6132 2-port FDR InfiniBand Adapter| 90Y3454| A1QZ / None| Yes
Flex System IB6132 2-port QDR InfiniBand Adapter| None| None / 1761| Yes
Flex System IB6132D 2-port FDR InfiniBand Adapter| 90Y3486| A365 / A365| Yes

The adapters are installed in slots in each compute node. Figure 4 shows the locations of the slots in the x240 M5 Compute Node. The positions of the adapters in the other supported servers are similar.

Figure 4. Location of the I/O adapter slots in the Flex System x240 M5 Compute Node

Connectors and LEDs

Figure 5 shows the front panel of the Flex System IB6131 InfiniBand Switch. Note that the port numbering shown in the figure is different from the shipping version. Consult the Installation and User’s Guide for the switch for more information.

Figure 5. Front panel of the Flex System IB6131 InfiniBand Switch

The front panel contains the following components:

• LEDs that display the status of the module and the network:
  • Green power LED indicates that the module has passed the power-on self-test (POST) with no critical faults and is operational.
  • Identify LED: This blue LED can be used to identify the module physically by illuminating it via the management software.
  • The fault LED (switch error) indicates that the module has failed the POST or detected an operational fault.
• Eighteen external QSFP ports for 10 Gbps, 20 Gbps, 40 Gbps, or 56 Gbps connections to external InfiniBand devices.
• An InfiniBand physical link LED and an InfiniBand Tx/Rx LED for each external port on the module.
• One mini-USB RS-232 console port provides an additional means to configure the switch module. This mini-USB-style connector enables the connection of a special serial cable (the cable is optional, and it is not included with the switch. See the Part number information section for details).

Network cabling requirements

The network cables that can be used with the switch are as follows:

• InfiniBand:
  • 1 m, 3 m, or 5 m InfiniBand QDR or 3 m InfiniBand FDR copper QSFP cables are listed in the Supported cables section.
  • Other IBTA-compliant QSFP cables
• External Ethernet RJ45 management port:
  • Unshielded Twisted Pair (UTP) Category 6
  • UTP Category 5e (100 meters (328.1 ft) maximum)
  • UTP Category 5 (100 meters (328.1 ft) maximum)
• RS-232 serial cable: Console cable DB9-to-mini-USB or RJ45-to-mini-USB (nonstandard use of USB connector) that comes with optional Flex System Management Serial Access Cable, 90Y9338.

Warranty

There is a 1-year, customer-replaceable unit (CRU) limited warranty. When installed in a chassis, these switches assume your system’s base warranty and any Lenovo Services upgrade.

Physical specifications

These are the approximate dimensions and weight of the switch:

• Height: 30 mm (1.2 inches)
• Width: 401 mm (15.8 inches)
• Depth: 317 mm (12.5 inches)
• Weight: 3.7 kg (8.1 lb)

Shipping dimensions and weight (approximate):

• Height: 114 mm (4.5 in)
• Width: 508 mm (20.0 in)
• Depth: 432 mm (17.0 in)
• Weight: 4.1 kg (9.1 lb)

Regulatory compliance
The module conforms to the following standards:

• Safety:
  • US/Canada: cULus
  • EU: IEC60950
  • International: CB
• Environmental:
  • Type I / II
  • EU: IEC 60068?2?32: Fall Test

Popular configurations

Figure 6 shows the use of the Flex System IB6131 InfiniBand switches to route two InfiniBand FDR ports on the dual-port expansion card installed in slot 2 of the compute node. Each compute node has two InfiniBand ports, and two IB6131 switches are installed in bays 3 and 4 of the Enterprise Chassis. The connections between the adapter card and the modules are internal to the chassis. No cabling is needed.

Figure 6. Using IB6131 InfiniBand Switch with dual-port InfiniBand FDR adapter cards

The following table lists the solution components.

Table 6. Components used when connecting the adapter to the InfiniBand switches

14
90Y3454| Flex System IB6132 2-port FDR InfiniBand Adapter| 1 per server
8721-A1x| Flex System Enterprise Chassis| 1
95Y3309| Flex System Fabric EN4093R 10Gb Scalable Switch| 2
90Y3450| Flex System IB6131 InfiniBand Switch| 2
90Y3462| Flex System IB6131 InfiniBand Switch (FDR Upgrade)| 2
90Y3470| 3m FDR InfiniBand Cable| Up to 18 per IB6131 switch

Related publications
For more information, see the following resources:

• US Announcement Letter 112-053
  http://ibm.com/common/ssi/cgi- bin/ssialias?infotype=dd&subtype=ca&&htmlfid=897/ENUS112-053
  Flex System Information Center:
  http://pic.dhe.ibm.com/infocenter/flexsys/information/index.jsp
  Flex System IB6131 InfiniBand Switch User’s Guide:
  http://ibm.co/1zOEKMh
  Flex System Network Devices Basic Troubleshooting Information:
  http://ibm.co/1zOEKMh
  Flex System Enterprise Chassis Product Guide
  http://lenovopress.com/tips0863

• Flex System Products and Technology by Lenovo
  http://lenovopress.com/sg248255

• Flex System Interoperability Guide
  http://lenovopress.com/fsig.

Related product families
Product families related to this document are the following:

• Blade Networking Modules
• InfiniBand Embedded Connectivity

Notices

Lenovo may not offer the products, services, or features discussed in this document in all countries. Consult your local Lenovo representative for information on the products and services currently available in your area. Any reference to a Lenovo product, program, or service is not intended to state or imply that only the Lenovo product, program, or service may be used. Any functionally equivalent product, program, or service that does not infringe any Lenovo intellectual property right may be used instead. However, it is the user’s responsibility to evaluate and verify the operation of any other product, program, or service. Lenovo may have patents or pending patent applications covering the subject matter described in this document. The furnishing of this document does not give you any license to these patents. You can send license inquiries, in writing, to:

Lenovo (United States), Inc.
8001 Development Drive Morrisville, NC 27560 U.S.A.

Attention: Lenovo Director of Licensing
LENOVO PROVIDES THIS PUBLICATION ”AS IS” WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF NON-INFRINGEMENT, MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. Some jurisdictions do not allow disclaimers of express or implied warranties in certain transactions, therefore, this statement may not apply to you. This information could include technical inaccuracies or typographical errors. Changes are periodically made to the information herein; these changes will be incorporated in new editions of the publication. Lenovo may make improvements and/or changes in the product(s) and/or the program(s) described in this publication at any time without notice.

The products described in this document are not intended for use in implantation or other life support applications where malfunction may result in injury or death to persons. The information contained in this document does not affect or change Lenovo product specifications or warranties. Nothing in this document shall operate as an express or implied license or indemnity under the intellectual property rights of Lenovo or third parties. All information contained in this document was obtained in specific environments and is presented as an illustration. The result obtained in other operating environments may vary. Lenovo may use or distribute any of the information you supply in any way it believes appropriate without incurring any obligation to you.

Any references in this publication to non-Lenovo Web sites are provided for convenience only and do not in any manner serve as an endorsement of those Web sites. The materials at those Web sites are not part of the materials for this Lenovo product, and use of those Web sites is at your own risk. Any performance data contained herein was determined in a controlled environment. Therefore, the result obtained in other operating environments may vary significantly. Some measurements may have been made on development-level systems and there is no guarantee that these measurements will be the same on generally available systems. Furthermore, some measurements may have been estimated through extrapolation. Actual results may vary. Users of this document should verify the applicable data for their specific environment.
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This document, TIPS0871, was created or updated on January 5, 2015.

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Lenovo and the Lenovo logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Lenovo in the United States, other countries, or both. A current list of Lenovo trademarks is available on the Web at https://www.lenovo.com/us/en/legal/copytrade/.
The following terms are trademarks of Lenovo in the United States, other countries, or both:

Lenovo® Flex System Lenovo Services System x®

Other company, product, or service names may be trademarks or service marks of others.

Flex System IB6131 InfiniBand Switch (withdrawn product).

References

• Lenovo Flex System Documentation
• Flex System Interoperability Guide > Lenovo Press
• Lenovo Flex System Products and Technology > Lenovo Press
• Flex System Enterprise Chassis Product Guide > Lenovo Press
• InfiniBand Embedded Connectivity > Lenovo Press
• Blade Networking Modules > Lenovo Press
• Flex System IB6131 InfiniBand Switch Product Guide (withdrawn product) > Lenovo Press
• Copyright and Trademark Information | Lenovo US | Lenovo US

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