Lenovo Flex System EN6131 40Gb Ethernet Switch

Lenovo Flex System EN6131 40Gb Ethernet Switch

Product Guide (withdrawn product)

The Lenovo Flex System™ EN6131 40Gb Ethernet Switch in conjunction with the EN6132 40Gb Ethernet Adapter offer the performance that you need to support clustered databases, parallel processing, transactional services, and high- performance embedded I/O applications, which reduces task completion time and lowers the cost per operation.
This switch offers 14 internal and 18 external 40 Gb Ethernet ports that enable a non-blocking network design. It supports all Layer 2 functions so servers can communicate within the chassis without going to a Top-of-Rack (ToR) switch, which helps improve performance and latency.
The EN6131 40Gb Ethernet Switch is shown in Figure 1.Figure 1. Lenovo Flex System EN6131 40Gb Ethernet Switch

Did you know?
The 40 Gb Ethernet solution that is offered by Lenovo Flex System can deploy more workloads per server without running into I/O bottlenecks. If there are failures or server maintenance, clients can also move their virtual machines much faster by using 40 Gb interconnects within the chassis.
The 40 GbE switch and adapter are designed for low latency, high bandwidth, and computing efficiency for performance-driven server and storage clustering applications. They provide extreme scalability for low-latency clustered solutions with reduced packet hops.
The Flex System 40 GbE solution offers the highest bandwidth without adding any significant power impact. It can also help increase the system usage and decrease the number of network ports for further cost savings.

Part number information
Table 1 shows the part numbers for ordering the EN6131 switch.
Table 1. Part numbers and feature codes for ordering

The part number for the EN6131 switch includes the following items:

• One Lenovo Flex System EN6131 40Gb Ethernet Switch
• Documentation package

Note: No QSFP+ (quad small form-factor pluggable plus) transceivers or cables are included with the switch. They must be ordered separately (see Table 2).

The switch does not include a serial management cable. However, Flex System Management Serial Access Cable, 90Y9338, is supported and contains two cables, a mini-USB-to-RJ45 serial cable and a mini-USB-to-DB9 serial cable, either of which can be used to connect to the switch module locally for configuration tasks and firmware updates.

Supported cables and transceivers
Table 2 lists the supported cables and transceivers.
Table 2. Supported transceivers and direct-attach cables

Serial console cables
Flex System Management Serial Access Cable Kit| 90Y9338| A2RR| 1
QSFP+ transceiver and cables – 40 GbE
Lenovo 40GBASE-SR4 QSFP+ Transceiver| 49Y7884| A1DR| 18
Optical cables for 40 GbE QSFP+ SR4 transceivers
Lenovo 10m QSFP+ MTP-MTP OM3 MMF Cable| 90Y3519| A1MM| 18
Lenovo 30m QSFP+ MTP-MTP OM3 MMF Cable| 90Y3521| A1MN| 18
Lenovo 10m QSFP+ MTP-MTP OM3 MMF Cable (replaces 90Y3519)| 00VX003| AT2U| 18
Lenovo 30m QSFP+ MTP-MTP OM3 MMF Cable (replaces 90Y3521)| 00VX005| AT2V| 18
QSFP+ direct-attach cables – 40 GbE
3m FDR InfiniBand Cable| 90Y3470| A227| 18
Lenovo 3m Passive QSFP+ DAC Cable| 49Y7891| A1DQ| 18
Lenovo 5m Passive QSFP+ DAC Cable| 00D5810| A2X8| 18
Lenovo 7m Passive QSFP+ DAC Cable| 00D5813| A2X9| 18

Benefits
The EN6131 40Gb Ethernet Switch offers the following benefits:

• End-to-end 40 Gb connectivity with non-blocking throughput and 230 ns latency
• Ideal for clients running Ethernet infrastructure in high speed trading, Web 2.0, virtualization, and cloud computing
• Enables clients to maximize compute usage by removing an I/O bottleneck
• Low power consumption with less than 0.1 watts per Gbps
• Can linearly scale to larger node counts to create a low latency clustered solution and reduce packet hops
• Reduces cabling up to four times, which simplifies deployment and maintenance

Features and specifications
The EN6131 40Gb Ethernet Switch has the following features and specifications:

• MLNX-OS operating system
• Internal ports
  • Fourteen internal full-duplex 40 Gigabit ports (10, 20, or 40 Gbps auto-negotiation).
  • One internal full-duplex 1 GbE port that is connected to the chassis management module.
• External ports
  • Eighteen ports for 40 Gb Ethernet QSFP+ transceivers or QSFP+ DAC cables (10, 20, or 40 Gbps auto-negotiation). QSFP+ modules and DAC cables are not included and must be purchased separately.
  • One external 1 GbE port with RJ-45 connector for switch configuration and management.
  • One RS-232 serial port (mini-USB connector) that provides an additional means to configure the switch module.
• Scalability and performance
  • 40 Gb Ethernet ports for extreme bandwidth and performance.
  • Non-blocking architecture with wire-speed forwarding of traffic and an aggregated throughput of 1.44 Tbps.
  • Support for up to 48,000 unicast and up to 16,000 multicast media access control (MAC) addresses per subnet.
  • Static and LACP (IEEE 802.3ad) link aggregation, up to 720 Gb of total uplink bandwidth per switch, up to 36 link aggregation groups (LAGs), and up to 16 ports per LAG.
  • Support for jumbo frames (up to 9,216 bytes).
  • Broadcast/multicast storm control.
  • IGMP v1 and v2 snooping to limit flooding of IP multicast traffic.
  • Fast port forwarding and fast uplink convergence for rapid STP convergence.
• Availability and redundancy
  • IEEE 802.1D STP for providing L2 redundancy.
  • IEEE 802.1w Rapid STP (RSTP) provides rapid STP convergence for critical delay-sensitive traffic such as voice or video.
• VLAN support
  • Up to 4094 VLANs are supported per switch, with VLAN numbers 1 – 4094.
  • 802.1Q VLAN tagging support on all ports.
• Security
  • Up to 24,000 rules with VLAN-based, MAC-based, protocol-based, and IP-based access control lists (ACLs).
  • User access control.
  • Multiple user IDs and passwords
  • RADIUS, TACACS+, and LDAP authentication and authorization
• Quality of service (QoS)
  • Support for IEEE 802.1p traffic processing.
  • Traffic shaping that is based on defined policies.
  • Four Weighted Round Robin (WRR) priority queues per port for processing qualified traffic. Priority-Based Flow Control (PFC) (IEEE 802.1Qbb) extends 802.3x standard flow control to allow the switch to pause traffic based on the 802.1p priority value in each packet’s VLAN tag. Enhanced
  • Transmission Selection (ETS) (IEEE 802.1Qaz) provides a method for allocating link bandwidth based on the 802.1p priority value in each packet’s VLAN tag.
• Manageability
  • IPv4 and IPv6 host management.
  • Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP V1, V2, and V3).
  • WebUI graphical user interface.
  • Industry standard command-line interface (IS-CLI) through Telnet, SSH, and serial port. Link Layer Discovery Protocol (LLDP) to advertise the device’s identity, capabilities, and neighbors.
  • Firmware image update (TFTP, FTP, and SCP).
  • Network Time Protocol (NTP) for clock synchronization.
• Monitoring
  • Switch LEDs for external port status and switch module status indication.
  • Port mirroring for analyzing network traffic passing through the switch.
  • Change tracking and remote logging with the syslog feature.
  • Support for sFLOW agent for monitoring traffic in data networks (separate sFLOW collector/analyzer is required elsewhere).
  • POST diagnostic tests.

Standards supported
The switch supports the following Ethernet standards:

• IEEE 802.1AB Link Layer Discovery Protocol
• IEEE 802.1D Spanning Tree Protocol (STP)
• IEEE 802.1p Class of Service (CoS) prioritization
• IEEE 802.1Q Tagged VLAN (frame tagging on all ports when VLANs are enabled)
• IEEE 802.1Qbb Priority-Based Flow Control (PFC)
• IEEE 802.1Qaz Enhanced Transmission Selection (ETS)
• IEEE 802.1w Rapid STP (RSTP)
• IEEE 802.3ab 1000BASE-T copper twisted pair Gigabit Ethernet
• IEEE 802.3ad Link Aggregation Control Protocol
• IEEE 802.3ba 40GBASE-SR4 short range fiber optics 40 Gb Ethernet
• IEEE 802.3ba 40GBASE-CR4 copper 40 Gb Ethernet
• IEEE 802.3u 100BASE-TX Fast Ethernet
• IEEE 802.3x Full-duplex Flow Control

Supported chassis and adapters
The EN6131 switches are installed in the I/O module bays in the rear of the Flex System chassis, as shown in Figure 2. Switches are normally installed in pairs because ports on the I/O adapters that are installed in the compute nodes are routed to two I/O bays for redundancy and performance.

Figure 2. Location of the I/O module bays in the Flex System chassis
The Flex System EN6131 40Gb Ethernet Switch can be installed in bays 1, 2, 3, and 4 of the Enterprise Chassis. A supported Ethernet adapter must be installed in the corresponding slot of the compute node.

In the compute nodes that have an integrated dual-port 10 GbE network interface controller (NIC), NIC ports are routed to bays 1 and 2 with a specialized periscope connector, and the adapter is not required. However, when needed, the periscope connector can be replaced with the adapter. In such a case, the integrated NIC is disabled.

4-port 10 GbE adapters: With 4-port 10 GbE adapters, only up to two adapter ports can be used with the EN6131 switches (one port per switch).

8-port 10 GbE adapters: 8-port 10 GbE adapters are not supported by the EN6131. See Table 5 for a list of supported adapters.

Table 3 shows compatibility information for the EN6131 and Flex System chassis.
Table 3. Flex System chassis compatibility

Description| Part number| Enterprise Chassis with CMM| Enterprise Chassis with CMM2| Carrier-Grade Chassis with CMM2
---|---|---|---|---
Lenovo Flex System EN6131 40Gb Ethernet Switch| 90Y9346| Yes| Yes| No

The connections between the adapters that are installed in the compute nodes to the EN6131 switches that are installed in the chassis I/O bays are shown in Figure 3. The figure also shows both half-wide compute nodes, such as the x240 with two adapters, and full-wide compute nodes, such as the x440 with four adapters.

Figure 3. Logical layout of the interconnects between I/O adapters and EN6131 modules
Table 4 shows the connections between the adapters that are installed in the compute nodes to the EN6131 switches that are installed in the chassis.
Table 4. Adapter to EN6131 I/O bay correspondence

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

(full-wide compute nodes only)

| Port 1| Yes| | |
Port 2| | Yes| |
Slot 4

(full-wide compute nodes only)

| Port 1| | | Yes|
Port 2| | | | Yes

Table 5 lists the Ethernet I/O adapters that are supported by the EN6131 40Gb Ethernet Switch.

Table 5. Supported Ethernet I/O adapters

40 Gb Ethernet
Flex System EN6132 2-port 40Gb Ethernet Adapter| 90Y3482| A3HK
10 Gb Ethernet
Embedded 10Gb Virtual Fabric Adapter (2-port)| None| None
Flex System CN4022 2-port 10Gb Converged Adapter| 88Y5920| A4K3
Flex System CN4052 2-port 10Gb Virtual Fabric Adapter| 00JY800| A5RP
Flex System CN4054 10Gb Virtual Fabric Adapter (4-port)#| 90Y3554| A1R1
Flex System CN4054R 10Gb Virtual Fabric Adapter (4-port)#| 00Y3306| A4K2
Flex System EN4132 2-port 10Gb Ethernet Adapter| 90Y3466| A1QY
Flex System EN4172 2-port 10Gb Ethernet Adapter| 00AG530| A5RN

• The Embedded 10Gb Virtual Fabric Adapter is included in some models of the x240, x440, and X6 compute nodes.

  With 4-port 10 GbE adapters, only up to two adapter ports can be used with

  the EN6131 switches (one port per switch).
  The adapters are installed in slots in each compute node. Figure 4 shows the locations of the slots in the x240 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 Compute Node

Connectors and LEDs
Figure 5 shows the front panel of the Flex System EN6131 40Gb Ethernet Switch. Figure 5. Front panel of the Flex System EN6131 40Gb Ethernet 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 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 through the management software.
  • The fault LED (switch error) indicates that the module failed the POST or detected an operational fault.
• Eighteen external QSFP+ ports for 10 Gbps, 20 Gbps, or 40 Gbps connections to the external network devices.
• An Ethernet physical link LED and an Ethernet Tx/Rx LED for each external port on the module.
• One mini-USB RS-232 console port that 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 EN6131 40Gb Ethernet Switch are shown in Table 6.
Table 6. EN6131 40Gb Ethernet Switch network cabling requirements

40 Gb Ethernet
40GBASE-SR4
QSFP+ Transceiver (49Y7884)| 40GBASE- SR4| Lenovo 10 m or 30 m MTP fiber optics cables (see Table 2); support for up to 100 m with OM3 multimode fiber or up to 150 m with OM4 multimode fiber| MTP
Direct attach cable| 40GBASE- CR4| Lenovo QSFP+ to QSFP+ DAC cables up to 7 m (see Table 2)| QSFP+
Management ports
External 1 GbE management port| 1000BASE- T| UTP Category 5, 5E, and 6 up to 100 meters| RJ-45
External RS-232 management port| RS-232| DB-9-to-mini-USB or RJ-45-to-mini-USB console cable (comes with optional Management Serial Access Cable, 90Y9338)| Mini- USB

Warranty

There is a 1-year, customer-replaceable unit (CRU) limited warranty. When installed in a chassis, these I/O modules assume your system’s base warranty and any Lenovo warranty service.

Physical specifications

The EN6131 40Gb Ethernet Switch has the following physical specifications:

Dimensions and weight (approximate):

• Height: 30 mm (1.2 in.)
• Width: 401 mm (15.8 in.)
• Depth: 317 mm (12.5 in.)
• 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)

Agency approvals
The EN6131 40Gb Ethernet Switch conforms to the following standards:

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

Typical configurations
A typical application of the end-to-end 40 Gb Ethernet connectivity includes high performance computing (HPC) interconnects and an enterprise data center’s highly available production network.

HPC interconnect
In this configuration, there are two networks: a production network and an interconnect network. The production network consists of EN4093R 10Gb Scalable Switches that are connected to the RackSwitch™ G8264 10 GbE switches through redundant aggregated 10 Gb uplinks. The interconnect network consists of EN6131 switches connected to each other through 40 Gb aggregated uplinks. The topology is shown in Figure 6. Figure 6. HPC interconnect network with the EN6131 40Gb Ethernet Switch
The solution components that are used in the HPC configuration that is shown in Figure 6 are listed in Table 7.

Table 7. Components that are used in the HPC interconnect with the EN6131 switch

chassis
Flex System 40 Gb HPC interconnect
Flex System EN6131 40Gb Ethernet Switch| 90Y9346| 1 per
chassis
Flex System EN6132 2-port 40Gb Ethernet Adapter| 90Y3482| 1 per server

Note: You also need QSFP+ modules and optical cables or QSFP+ DACs (not shown in Table 6; see Table 2 for details) for the external connectivity.

40 Gb production network

In this configuration, a production network consists of EN6131 40Gb Ethernet Switches that are connected to the G8332 40 GbE upstream network switches through redundant aggregated 40 Gb uplinks (Figure 7). Figure 7. Enterprise data center network with the EN6131 40Gb Ethernet Switch
The solution components that are used in the enterprise data center network configuration that is shown in Figure 7 are listed in Table 8.
Table 8. Components that are used in the enterprise data center network with the EN6131 switch

Note: You also need QSFP+ modules and optical cables or QSFP+ DACs (not shown in Table 7; see Table 2 for details) for the external 40 Gb Ethernet connectivity.

Related publications
For more information, see the following EN6131 40Gb Ethernet Switch product publications, available from the Flex System Information Center at the following website:
http://publib.boulder.ibm.com/infocenter/flexsys/information/index.jsp

• Installation and User’s Guide

Here are other useful references:

• Mellanox MLNX-OS User Manual for Lenovo
  http://delivery04.dhe.ibm.com/sar/CMA/XSA/MLNX-OS_LEN_ETH_v3_4_3002_UM.pdf

• Lenovo Flex System EN4091 10Gb Ethernet Pass-thru Module
  http://lenovopress.com/tips0865

• Lenovo Press publication Flex System Products and Technology, SG24-8255
  http://lenovopress.com/sg248255

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

• Lenovo Press Product Guides for Flex System servers and options
  http://lenovopress.com/flexsystem

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

• Blade Networking Modules
• 40 Gb 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 that 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 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
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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 disclaimer 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, TIPS0911, was created or updated on November 30, 2016.
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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
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The following terms are trademarks of Lenovo in the United States, other countries, or both:
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References

• Lenovo Press
• Lenovo Flex System Products and Technology > Lenovo Press
• Lenovo Flex System EN4091 10Gb Ethernet Pass-thru Product Guide > Lenovo Press
• 40 Gb Embedded Connectivity > Lenovo Press
• Blade Networking Modules > Lenovo Press
• Lenovo Flex System EN6131 40Gb Ethernet Switch Product Guide (withdrawn product) > Lenovo Press
• Copyright and Trademark Information | Lenovo US | Lenovo US

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