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Chapter 4 Connect Data Cables
About Cabling the SSF and PMI
Back-end cabling, which involves cabling the Storage System Fabric (SSF)
(sometimes referred to as the private interconnect, or simply PI) and the private
management interface (PMI).
The SSF cables provide the connections between the Bricks and the Slammers
to support all data traffic. The PMI cables provide the connections between the
Pilot and the Slammers to support management traffic.
The SSF operates at 2 Gb/s (copper) or 4 Gb/s (optical) depending on the
hardware that is configured on the Pillar Axiom 600 system and on the cables
and connectors that are used.
For the SSF back-end fabric to operate at 4 Gb/s, the following conditions must
be met:
● Both control units (CUs) in all the Slammers must contain a combination of
only version 2 PIMs .
● Both CUs in all the Bricks must contain only version 2 SATA RAID
controllers or version 2 FC RAID (FCR) controllers.
● All ports on the version 2 PIMs, version 2 SATA RAID controllers, and
version 2 FC RAID controllers (FCR) must contain only 4 Gb/s small form-
factor pluggable (SFP) connectors.
● The patch cables connecting these 4 Gb/s SFPs must be optical.
Important! Pillar provides a set of SFPs for version 2 PIMs, version 2 SATA
RAID controllers, and version 2 FC RAID (FCR) controllers.
Important! Do not mix copper and optical cable connections on the Slammer in
the same Pillar Axiom 600 system.
Caution
If any of the following conditions are true, the back-end fabric operates at 2 Gb/s:
● A version 1 FC Brick is configured into the storage array.
● A version 1 SATA Brick or version 1PIM is included in the configuration.
About Cabling the SSF and PMI
Use of any SFP or cable not provided by Pillar can lead to
performance and reliability issues when unqualified SFPs
are used. Use of third party SFPs can also void the warranty
of your Pillar Axiom 600 system, if the third party SFP or
cable is determined to be the cause of any problems within
the Pillar Axiom 600 system.
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