System connectivity requirements

Types of connectivity

Your system requires the following types of connections:

Fibre Channel--Connects your appliance to disk shelves, Fibre Channel switches, tape backup devices, and to other storage devices.
Ethernet --Connects your appliance to an Ethernet network through the following media:
- Copper
- Fiber
  Note
  For ATM and DAFS network connectivity, see your platform hardware guide.
TCP Offload Engine (TOE)--Connects your appliance to an Ethernet network

Fibre Channel connectivity

Your appliance connects to disk shelves, Fibre Channel switches, tape backup devices, and other storage through onboard ports or adapter ports.

Type

Dual

Connector type

LC or SC

Cable type

50 micron or 62.5 micron multimode fiber optic

Maximum distance:

550m for 50 micron--500 MHz BW with 850 nm MM laser
300m for 62.5 micron--200 MHz BW with 850 nm MM laser

Ethernet connectivity

Your appliance connects to a GbE network through either onboard ports or GbE NICs, which support either copper or fiber cabling.

Copper GbE cabling and NICs

The cabling and network requirements are for GbE networks using copper cabling.

Types

Single-port, dual-port, quad-port

Connector type

RJ-45 for all

Cable type

Category 5 or Category 5E unshielded four-pair cable for 10/100-T/100Base-TX/1000Base-TX

Note
Category 5 cables that do not have four-pair wires do not work properly with 10/100-T/100Base-TX/1000Base-TX speed networks.

Maximum distance

100m

Fiber GbE cabling and NICs:

The following cabling and network requirements are for GbE networks using optical cabling.

Types

Single-port and dual-port

Connector type

LC connector

Cable types:

50 micron multimode fiber optic
62.5 micron multimode fiber optic

Maximum distance:

550m for 50 micron--500 MHz BW with 850 nm MM laser
220m for 62.5 micron--160 MHz BW with 850 nm MM laser
275m for 62.5 micron--200 MHz BW with 850 nm MM laser
Note
Some earlier versions of fiber NICs have SC connectors.

TCP Offload Engine connectivity

Your appliance can connect to a network through TCP Offload Engine (TOE) NICs:

1000Base-T TOE NIC

The following cable requirements are for 1000Base-T TOE NICs.

Type

Quad-port

Connector type

RJ-45 connector

Cable types

Category 5 four-pair cable for 10/100-T/100Base-TX/1000Base-TX

Maximum distance

100m

10G Base SR TOE NIC

The following cable requirements are for 10G Base SR TOE NICs.

Connector type

LC duplex connector

Cable types:

50 micron multimode fiber optic
62.5 micron multimode fiber optic

Maximum distance:

300m for 50 micron--500 MHz BW with 850 nm MM laser
300m for 62.5 micron--200 MHz BW with 850 nm MM laser