Key Features; Components And Connectors - Lenovo Flex System SI4091 10Gb Product Manual

Key features

The SI4091 interconnect module is considered particularly suited for the following customers:
Customers who want simple 10 GbE network connectivity from the chassis to the upstream network,
without the complexity of spanning tree and other advanced Layer 2 and Layer 3 features.
Customers who want to manage physical compute node connectivity in the chassis by using the existing
network management tools.
Customers who want to reduce total cost of ownership (TCO) and improve performance, while
maintaining high levels of availability and security.
Customers who want to minimize oversubscription, which can result in congestion and loss of
performance.
Customers who want to implement a converged infrastructure with NAS, iSCSI, or FCoE. For FCoE
implementations, the SI4091 passes through FCoE traffic upstream to other devices (such as the
Lenovo RackSwitch™ G8264CS) where the FC traffic is broken out.
The SI4091 offers the following key features and benefits:
Increased performance
With the growth of virtualization and the evolution of cloud computing, many of today's applications
require low latency and high-bandwidth performance. The SI4091 supports sub-microsecond latency
and up to 480 Gbps throughput, while delivering full line rate performance.
The SI4091 also offers increased security and performance advantage when configured in VLAN-aware
mode; it does not force communications upstream into the network, which reduces latency and
generates less network traffic.
Simplified network infrastructure
The SI4091 simplifies the deployment of a converged LAN and SAN with support for the newest
protocols, including Data Center Bridging/Converged Enhanced Ethernet (DCB/CEE), which can be used
in a converged iSCSI, Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE) or NAS environment.
The default configuration of the SI4091 requires little or no management for most data center
environments, which eliminates the need to configure each device or individual ports and reduces the
number of management points.
Transparent networking The SI4091 is a transparent network device that is invisible to the upstream
network and eliminates network administration concerns of Spanning Tree Protocol configuration and
interoperability, VLAN assignments, and avoidance of possible loops.
By emulating a host NIC to the data center core, it accelerates the provisioning of virtual machines (VMs)
by eliminating the need to configure the typical access switch parameters.

Components and connectors

Lenovo Flex System SI4091 10Gb System Interconnect Module 2