Lenovo Voltaire 40 Gb InfiniBand Switch Module for BladeCenter User Guide

: June 3, 2024
: Lenovo

Table of Contents

Voltaire 40 Gb InfiniBand Switch Module for BladeCenter
Features and specifications
Popular configurations
Connectors and LEDs
Related publications
References
Read User Manual Online (PDF format)
Download This Manual (PDF format)

Voltaire 40 Gb InfiniBand Switch Module for BladeCenter
Product Guide (withdrawn product)

Voltaire 40 Gb InfiniBand Switch Module for BladeCenter

Clients want to increase the use of their existing servers to reduce overall costs as well as the IT footprint within the organization. BladeCenter offers several choices, including servers, chassis, and types of interconnect fabric. This solution offers end-to-end 40 Gb (4X QDR) InfiniBand connectivity. Clients can take advantage of the resiliency of BladeCenter as well as the performance of 4X QDR InfiniBand in a single package.
The Voltaire 40 Gb InfiniBand Switch Module for BladeCenter provides InfiniBand QDR connectivity between the server platform’s high-performance blade servers and external InfiniBand fabrics in nonblocking designs, all on a single device. Voltaire’s high-speed module also accommodates performance- optimized fabric designs utilizing a single BladeCenter chassis or stacking multiple BladeCenter chassis without requiring an external InfiniBand switch.
The InfiniBand switch module offers 14 Gb ports, one for each server, and 16 ports out of the chassis per switch. This solution offers a no-compromise, congestion-free solution to meet even the most performance-hungry applications.
Figure 1 shows the switch module. Lenovo Voltaire 40 Gb InfiniBand
Switch Module for BladeCenter - Figure 1

Did you know?
The module’s HyperScale architecture also provides a unique inter-switch link or mesh capability to form highly scalable, cost-effective, and low-latency fabrics. Since this switch has 16 uplink ports, they can create a meshed architecture and still have unblocked access to data using the 14 uplink ports. This solution can scale from 14 to 126 nodes and offer a latency of fewer than 200 nanoseconds allowing applications to operate at maximum efficiency.

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Part number information
Table 1 shows the part numbers to order the module and the supported cables.
Table 1. The part number and feature code for ordering

Description	Part number	Feature codes
Voltaire 40 Gb InfiniBand Switch Module for BladeCenter	46M6005*	57
3 m Copper QDR InfiniBand QSFP Cable	49Y9980*	3866

Withdrawn from marketing
The Voltaire 40 Gb InfiniBand Switch Module part number includes the following items:
- One Voltaire 40 Gb InfiniBand Switch Module
- Documentation package

Features and specifications

The Voltaire 40 Gb InfiniBand Switch Module includes the following features and functions:

Form-factor
ο Double-height high-speed switch module
Internal ports
ο 14 internal 4X QDR/DDR/SDR InfiniBand to the server blades
ο Two internal 4X InfiniBand ports to the bridge modules
External ports
ο Up to 16 auto-sensing 4X QDR/DDR/SDR InfiniBand QSFP ports (40, 20, or 10 Gbps auto-negotiate)
Characteristics
ο Full QDR rate InfiniBand switching
ο Based on the Infiniscale-IV device
ο Up to 40 Gbps performance for clusters and grids (bidirectional)
ο Hot-swap support, with soft start and current limiting
ο Bay address and presence support
ο High-temperature monitoring
ο Full BladeCenter H AMM interface via I2C
ο Fully non-blocking QDR blade
ο QSFP front panel connectors
ο Onboard CPU for chassis management capabilities
ο Ultra-low latency: under 100 nanoseconds blade-to-blade connectivity
ο Built-in high availability
ο Port status controllability

Supported BladeCenter chassis and expansion cards
The Voltaire 40 Gb InfiniBand Switch Module is supported only in the BladeCenter H chassis as listed in Table 2.
Table 2. BladeCenter chassis that support the Voltaire 40 Gb InfiniBand Switch Module

I/O module| Part number| BladeCenter S| BladeCenter E| BladeCenter H| BladeCenter T| BladeCenter HT| MSIM| MSIM-HT
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---
Voltaire 40 Gb InfiniBand Switch Module| 46M6005| N| N| Y| N| N| N| N

The Voltaire 40 Gb InfiniBand Switch Module supports the expansion cards listed in Table 3. This table also lists the chassis bays in which the switch module must be installed when used with each expansion card.
Table 3. Voltaire 40 Gb InfiniBand Switch Module and BladeCenter chassis I/O bays support

| Bay 1 (Standard)| Bay 2 (Standard)| Bay 3 (Standard)| Bay 4 Standard)| Bay 5 ,(Bridge)| Bay 6 (Bridge)| Bay 7 (High- speed)| Bay 8 (High-speed)| Bay 9 (High-speed)| Bay 10 (High- speed)
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---
2-Port 40Gb InfiniBand Expansion Card (CFFh)| 46M6001| N| N| N| N| N| Y| Y| Y| Y
InfiniBand 4X DDR Expansion Card (CFFh)| 43W4423| N| N| N| N| N| Y| Y| Y| Y
Voltaire 4X InfiniBand DDR (CFFh)| 43W4420| N| N| N| N| N| Y| Y| Y| Y

Note: The Voltaire 40 Gb InfiniBand Switch Module is a double-high switch module and occupies two adjacent high-speed bays (7 and 8 or 9 and 10).
The BladeCenter H chassis has four standard I/O bays (1, 2, 3, and 4), two bridge bays (5 and 6), and four high-speed bays (7, 8, 9, and 10). The Voltaire 40 Gb InfiniBand Switch Module is supported only in the BladeCenter H chassis and occupies two adjacent high-speed I/O bays (bays 7 and 8, or bays 9 and 10).

Popular configurations

Figure 2 shows the use of the Voltaire 40 Gb InfiniBand Switch Module to route two 4X InfiniBand ports from the 2Port 40Gb InfiniBand Expansion Card (CFFh) installed into each server. Two Voltaire 40 Gb InfiniBand Switch Modules are installed in bays 7/8 and bays 9/10 of the BladeCenter H chassis. All connections between the expansion cards and the switch modules are internal to the chassis. No cabling is needed.

Lenovo Voltaire 40 Gb InfiniBand Switch Module for BladeCenter - Figure
2 Figure 2. A 40 Gb solution using two Voltaire 40 Gb InfiniBand Switch Modules
Table 4 lists the components that this configuration uses.
Table 4. Components used when connecting 2-Port 40 Gb InfiniBand Expansion Card (CFFh) to two Voltaire 40 Gb InfiniBand Switch Modules

Diagram reference| Part number/machine type| Description| Quantity
---|---|---|---
1| Varies| BladeCenter HS22 or another supported server| 1 to 14
2| 46M6001| 2-Port 40 Gb InfiniBand Expansion Card (CFFh)| 1 per server
3| 8852| BladeCenter H| 1
4| 46M6005| Voltaire 40 Gb InfiniBand Switch Module| 2
5| 49Y9980| 3 m Copper QDR InfiniBand QSFP Cable| Up to 32*

The Voltaire 40 Gb InfiniBand Switch Module has 16 external ports. To communicate outside of the chassis, you must have QSFP cables connected. You have the flexibility to expand bandwidth using from one to 16 connections per switch.

Connectors and LEDs

Figure 3 shows the left side of the Voltaire 40 Gb InfiniBand Switch Module front panel. Lenovo Voltaire 40 Gb InfiniBand Switch Module for BladeCenter -
Figure 3 * The port LEDs on the right side of the front panel of the Voltaire 40 Gb InfiniBand Switch Module are the same as on the left side.
The front panel contains the following components:

Three status LEDs display the status of the switch module and the network:
ο OK (indicating that the switch module has passed the power-on self-test (POST) with no critical faults and is operational)
ο Switch-module error (indicating that the switch module has failed the POST or detected an operational fault)
ο SM (reserved for future use)
16 QSFP port connectors to attach QSFP cables.
ο Each external QSFP port on the switch module contains IB physical link and IB logical link LEDs

Network cabling requirements
The Voltaire 40 Gb InfiniBand Switch Module supports the following cable:

3 m Copper QDR InfiniBand QSFP Cable, part number 49Y9980

For more information, see the following documents:

IBM US Announcement Letter for the Voltaire 40 Gb InfiniBand Switch Module
http://ibm.com/common/ssi/cgi- bin/ssialias?infotype=dd&subtype=ca&&htmlfid=897/ENUS109-377
Voltaire 40 Gb InfiniBand Switch Module Installation Guide
http://www.ibm.com/support
BladeCenter Interoperability Guide
http://lenovopress.com/bcig
BladeCenter Products and Technology, SG24-7523
http://lenovopress.com/sg247523

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

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This document, TIPS0696, was created or updated on December 4, 2009.
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