topic Re: c7000 FlexFabric to Nexus 5000 cabling in BladeSystem - General

c7000 FlexFabric to Nexus 5000 cabling

Brian Proteau — Sat, 09 Apr 2011 23:26:44 GMT

For the FlexFabric outgoing ports, I planned to configure:

4-8GB fiber channel ports to our SAN fabric and
4-10GbE ports to the Nexus 5000

I'm specifically looking for FlexFabric-Nexus cables with SFPs already on them. Anyone have a part number for this cable.

I was quoted over $8500 for 8-10GbE SFPs and 4-cables(2m) separately?

Re: c7000 FlexFabric to Nexus 5000 cabling

Sivaramakrishna_1 — Sun, 10 Apr 2011 14:24:04 GMT

Hi,

As per my understanding any Standard FC Cables will work.

If you want specifically HP PArt numbers, below are those.

AJ835A/AJ836A/AJ837A are the 2M/5M/15M Cables

Re: c7000 FlexFabric to Nexus 5000 cabling

Brian Proteau — Sun, 10 Apr 2011 15:38:28 GMT

Thanks for the reply but, I have the FC side covered. Looking for the 10GbE side (these will go to a Nexus 5000. I was given this part number for the FlexFabric 10GbE SFPs "FIO-455883-B21"

Re: c7000 FlexFabric to Nexus 5000 cabling

Mark Wibaux — Mon, 11 Apr 2011 05:23:48 GMT

According to the HP Qucikspecs for the FlexFabric module you can use

AP784A - HP 3m C-series Passive Copper SFP+ Cable
NOTE: Equivalent to Cisco 3-m 10G SFP+CopperTwinax Cable (PN SFP-H10GB-CU3M).

AP785A - HP 5m C-series Passive Copper SFP+ Cable
NOTE: Equivalent to Cisco 5-m 10G SFP+Copper Twinax Cable (PN SFP-H10GB-CU5M).

OR
J9281B - HP X242 SFP+ SFP+ 1m Direct Attach Cable
J9283B - HP X242 SFP+ SFP+ 3m Direct Attach Cable
J9285B - HP X242 SFP+ SFP+ 7m Direct Attach Cable

Re: c7000 FlexFabric to Nexus 5000 cabling

Sivaramakrishna_1 — Mon, 11 Apr 2011 05:35:04 GMT

Hi,

If you want the SFP+ Transeivers of 10Gb for VC Flex Fabric Module, Below is the part number

455883-B21 HP BladeSystem c-Class 10Gb Short Range Small Form-Factor Pluggable Option

For 8GB FC - AJ716A - HP 8Gb Shortwave B-series Fibre Channel 1 Pack SFP+ Transceiver

Re: c7000 FlexFabric to Nexus 5000 cabling

Brian Proteau — Mon, 11 Apr 2011 16:15:12 GMT

Thanks for the replies.

Mark - I think I want this one. I'm just concerned there are proprietary or special requirements on each end? I'll try to verify with the vendors but, are you pretty confident this is supported for FlexFabric-Nexus 5000 10GbE?

AP785A - HP 5m C-series Passive Copper SFP+ Cable NOTE: Equivalent to Cisco 5-m 10G SFP+Copper Twinax Cable (PN SFP-H10GB-CU5M).

Re: c7000 FlexFabric to Nexus 5000 cabling

Mark Wibaux — Mon, 11 Apr 2011 21:36:41 GMT

Just checked in with the part numbers used in the last customer I did this sort of connection for.

We used the 7mtr version of the following cables to link a both FlexFabric and Flex-10 VC modules to a pair of Nexus 5020 switches.

487649-B21 HP 0.5m SFP+ 10GbE Copper Cable
487652-B21 HP 1m SFP+ 10GbE Copper Cable
487655-B21 HP 3m SFP+ 10GbE Copper Cable
537963-B21 HP 5m SFP+ 10GbE Copper Cable
487658-B21 HP 7m SFP+ 10GbE Copper Cable

In theory any Cisco or HP cable with a SFP+ connector at each end should be fine. The ones I listed in my previous reply weren't around when we did this particular customer. I only suggested them as they specifically say they are equivalent to the specified Cisco cables.

One thing to be aware of with the FlexFabric modules is that the first 4 ports are limited to 5mtr copper cables (not an issue for fibre). In your case this should not be an issue as you are putting FC in the first 4 ports.

Re: c7000 FlexFabric to Nexus 5000 cabling

Sivaramakrishna_1 — Tue, 12 Apr 2011 00:03:27 GMT

Hi,

I hope we can use both types of Cables - Copper/FC. The Copper Cables will come along with SFP+ Connector and limited for short distance like within the Rack or adjucent rack.

If both Ends having SFP+ Modules, the best thing would be using FC Cables as the common cable length will be 15 meters.

Re: c7000 FlexFabric to Nexus 5000 cabling

Mark Wibaux — Tue, 12 Apr 2011 00:41:17 GMT

Re-reading it I realise that my statement about the first 4 ports was a bit ambiguous.

What I should have said is that for the first 4 ports if you choose to use copper cables then these are limited to 5 mtrs.
I did not mean that these ports are limited to copper connections. You can use fibre optic cables for either ethernet or FC on these ports, just pick the require SFP+ module.