Device Introduction; Figure 3. Mxl External Interfaces - Dell Force10 C150 Manual

Deploying the Dell Force10 MXL into a Cisco Nexus Network Environment

Device Introduction

The Dell Force10 MXL is an I/O Module for the M1000e modular server chassis that is a line-speed,
multilayer, 10 and 40Gb Ethernet switch that provides 32 internal 10GbE links—enabling full
connectivity to M420 quarter-height server blades—and flexible 10 and 40Gb Ethernet options for
external connectivity. With as much as 240 Gigabits of full-duplex external connectivity, it offers a
favorable 1.33:1 over-subscription ratio of internal to external connectivity. With spanning-tree options
of RSTP, MSTP, and PVST it can be natively integrated into most layer-2 network environments and
optionally participate at layer-3 environments using OSPF or static routing. The MXL also offers Data-
Center Bridging features enabling it to act as an FCoE transit switch (FIP snooping bridge). This
document however only covers basic layer-2 deployment.
External Interfaces—Connectivity, Cabling, and Port Numbering
Figure 3. MXL External Interfaces
Fixed QSFP+ Ports
IO Bay 1
IO Bay 2
IO Bays 2 and 1 can each use one of the FlexIO modules detailed below. The fixed QSFP+ 40Gb
Ethernet ports can be connected using Dell Force10 QSFP+ transceivers or Dell Force10 twinax cabling.
Additionally there are special breakout fiber and twinax cables that allow each 40GbE port to instead
be split into four 10GbE links that will connect with compatible 10GbE fiber transceivers or SFP+ ports
respectively.
Between IO Bay 1 and the fixed QSFP+ ports is a USB type-A port that allows directly connecting a USB
storage device to the MXL for copying files directly to and from the switch. Between the fixed QSFP+
ports and the MXL's latch hinge are the MXL's status indicator LEDs and a serial console interface that
uses a physical USB type-A port—a required serial console cable is provided with each Force10 MXL
switch. If the serial console cable is unavailable, the console may also be accessed via the M1000e CMC
CLI "connect" command. Access to the serial console (either via the provided cable or the CMC) is
required for manual out-of-box deployment of the MXL switch. See Management Connectivity for
further details.
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