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Brocade VDX 6730 Introduction
In this chapter
Brocade VDX 6730 overview
The Brocade VDX 6730 switches are a pair of 10 Gigabit Ethernet (GbE) line-rate, low latency,
lossless Data Center Bridging (DCB) switches: the Brocade VDX 6730-32 (a 32-port, single-height
switch) and the Brocade VDX 6730-76 (a 76-port, double-height switch). In addition to the array of
GbE ports, each Brocade VDX 6730 also has a number of Fibre Channel (FC) ports to permit
bridging between the Ethernet fabric and a traditional SAN fabric. The number of FC ports varies
with the chassis. The Brocade VDX 6730 switches feature Brocade's CloudPlex™ architecture and
run on the Brocade Network Operating System (Network OS) v2.1.0 or later. For details about
Network OS, refer to the Brocade Network OS Administrator's Guide.
The Brocade VDX 6730 switches offer Ports on Demand (POD) licensing. Base models of the
switches contain 16 Ethernet ports (for the Brocade VDX 6730-32) or 40 Ethernet ports (for the
Brocade VDX 6730-76). Additional ports can be licensed by way of POD. One POD license on the
Brocade VDX 6730-32 allows an additional 8 ports to be activated. For the Brocade VDX 6730-76,
two POD licenses (for 10 ports each) can be purchased. The FC ports do not require a POD license
for activation.
A key feature of the Brocade VDX 6730 switches is Brocade VCS™ technology, which includes
virtual cluster switching, a new set of technologies that allows users to create flatter, virtualized,
and converged data center networks. VCS fabrics are scalable, permitting users to expand at their
own pace, and simplified, allowing users to manage the fabric as a single entity. VCS-based
Ethernet fabrics are convergence-capable, with technologies such as Fibre Channel over Ethernet
(FCoE) for storage.
Platform components and capabilities
The Brocade VDX 6730 switches offer the following features and capabilities:
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Brocade VDX 6730 Hardware Reference Manual
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Brocade VDX 6730 overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
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Views of the Brocade VDX 6730-32 switch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
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Views of the Brocade VDX 6730-76 switch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
A system motherboard that features a Reduced Instruction Set Computer (RISC) CPU running
at 1.3 GHz with integrated peripherals
An RJ45 10/100/1000 Ethernet out-of-band management port
An RJ45-fronted serial (RS-232) port for terminal access and debugging
A USB port for firmware upgrades and system log downloads
Support for Brocade-branded SFP+ optical FC transceivers
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