Cisco MDS 9706 Multilayer Director Data Sheet

Data Sheet

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Updated:December 5, 2023

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Product overview

The Cisco® MDS 9706 Multilayer Director is a director-class SAN switch designed for deployment in small to medium-sized storage networks to support enterprise clouds and business transformation. It layers a comprehensive set of intelligent features onto a high-performance, protocol-independent switch fabric.

The MDS 9706 addresses the stringent requirements of large virtualized data center storage environments. It delivers uncompromising availability, security, scalability, ease of management, and transparent integration of new technologies for extremely flexible data center SAN solutions. It shares the same operating system and management interface with other Cisco data center switches. The MDS 9706 lets you transparently deploy unified fabrics with Fibre Channel, IBM Fibre Connection (FICON), and Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE) connectivity with a low Total Cost of Ownership (TCO).

Cisco MDS 9706 Multilayer Director

Figure 1.               

Cisco MDS 9706 Multilayer Director

Main features

The MDS 9706 offers a number of important features.

Lower TCO with SAN consolidation

Organizations need efficient, cost-effective SANs to keep up with today’s exponential data growth. The MDS 9706 lets you easily consolidate data assets into fewer, larger, and more manageable SANs to reduce your hardware footprint and associated Capital Expenditures (CapEx) and Operating Expenses (OpEx). It offers industry-leading scalability with:

     Up to 192 64-Gbps Fibre Channel or 10-Gbps FCoE ports or 96 40-Gbps FCoE ports per chassis.

     Up to 11.5 Terabits per second (Tbps) front-panel, Fibre Channel, line-rate, nonblocking system-level switching capacity.

     Exceptional capabilities with intelligent fabric services.

     Virtual SANs (VSANs) for consolidating individual physical SAN islands while maintaining logical boundaries.

     Inter-VSAN Routing (IVR) for sharing resources across VSANs.

For unified fabric deployments with converged LAN and SAN environments using lossless Ethernet, the MDS 9706 provides multihop FCoE. Protect your organization’s investments in existing storage infrastructure with any-to-any connectivity across multiple protocols.

Fully integrated SAN analytics

This best-in-class enterprise switch also offers state-of-the-art SAN analytics and telemetry capabilities that have been built into this next-generation hardware platform. This new state-of-the-art technology couples the next-generation port ASIC with a fully dedicated network processor (NPU) designed to complete analytics calculations in real time on the 64-Gbps and 32-Gbps line cards. This capability is extended due to the hardware capabilities of the 48-port 64- and 32-Gbps line cards (DS-X9748-3072K9 and DS-X9648-1536K9). The telemetry data extracted from the inspection of the frame headers are calculated on board (within the switch) and, using an industry-leading open format, can be streamed to any analytics-visualization platform.

Scalable expansion with outstanding investment protection

The MDS 9706 is designed to make optimal use of valuable data center floor space. It is 9RU (rack units) tall (15.6 inches). This allows up to four MDS 9706 directors per standard 42 RU rack (7 feet). Its smaller footprint makes it an excellent candidate for deployment in smaller storage networks as well as in pod-based converged data center infrastructure solutions for the cloud.

Using Cisco MDS 9700 Series switching modules, the MDS 9706 supports up to 192 ports in a 6-slot modular chassis, with up to 768 ports in a single rack. You can configure ports as Fibre Channel (4/8/16-Gbps, 8/16/32-Gbps, 16/32/64-Gbps or 10-Gbps), FCoE (10/40-Gbps), or a mix of both Fibre Channel and FCoE. The MDS 9706 supports the same Fibre Channel, FCoE, and Fibre Channel over IP (FCIP) SAN extension switching modules as the Cisco MDS 9710 and 9718 multilayer directors, providing a high degree of commonality between the three directors. Designed to grow with your storage environment, the MDS 9706 provides smooth migration, common sparing, and outstanding investment protection.

Enterprise-class availability

The MDS 9706 is designed from the beginning for high availability. In addition to meeting the basic requirements of nondisruptive software upgrades and redundancy of all critical hardware components, the MDS 9706 software architecture offers outstanding availability. The MDS 9706 is the first in the industry to provide redundancy on all major hardware components, including the supervisor and fabric modules as well as the power supplies. The Cisco MDS 9700 Series Supervisor-3 Module automatically restarts failed processes, making the MDS 9706 exceptionally robust. In the rare event that a supervisor module is reset, complete synchronization between the active and standby supervisor modules helps ensure stateful failover with no disruption of traffic.

Business transformation with enterprise cloud deployment

Enterprise clouds provide organizations with elastic computing and network capabilities, enabling IT to scale resources up or down as needed in a quick and cost-efficient manner. The MDS 9706 provides industry-leading scalability and the following features for enterprise cloud deployments:

     Pay-as-you-grow flexibility to meet the scalability needs in the cloud

     Multihop FCoE to provision storage in a multiprotocol unified fabric

     Robust security for multitenant cloud applications

     Predictable performance to meet stringent Service-Level Agreements (SLAs)

     Resilient connectivity for an always-on cloud infrastructure

     Advanced traffic management capabilities, such as Quality of Service (QoS), to rapidly and cost-efficiently allocate network capabilities to cloud applications

Furthermore, Cisco Nexus Dashboard Fabric Connect (NDFC) or Data Center Network Manager (DCNM) provides resource monitoring and capacity planning on a per-virtual machine basis. You can federate up to 10 DCNM servers to easily manage large clouds. Resource use information can be delivered through Storage Management Initiative Specification (SMI-S)–based developer APIs to deliver IT as a Service (ITaaS).

Convergence with multihop FCoE

FCoE allows an evolutionary approach to network and I/O convergence by preserving all Fibre Channel constructs, maintaining the latency, security, and traffic management attributes of Fibre Channel and preserving investments in Fibre Channel tools, training, and SANs. The MDS 9706 shares the same operating system and management plane as Cisco Nexus® Family switches to enable transparent coexistence in a unified fabric with any-to-any connectivity for Fibre Channel and FCoE.

Comprehensive solution for robust security

The MDS 9706 offers an extensive security framework to protect highly sensitive data crossing today's enterprise storage networks. It employs intelligent packet inspection at the port level, including the application of Access Control Lists (ACLs) for hardware enforcement of zones, VSANs, and advanced port-security features. It also uses Fibre Channel Security Protocol (FC-SP) and Cisco TrustSec® Fibre Channel link encryption mechanisms to provide comprehensive security for storage networks.

Investment protection with future readiness

The MDS 9706 switch can be used with Fabric switch module-3[1]. Switches currently running older Fabric-1 can be upgraded online and in-place to Fabric-3. Each Fabric-3 module provides double the bandwidth of Fabric-1. Thus three Fabric-3 can support 192 Fibre Channel ports running at 32-Gbps line-rate, while 6 are needed to support 192 Fabric Channel ports running at 64-Gbps line-rate.

Features and benefits

Table 1 summarizes the main features and benefits of the MDS 9706.

Table 1.           Features and benefits

Feature

Benefit

Performance and scalability

Outstanding SAN performance

The combination of 16-Gbps, 32-Gbps and 64-Gbps Fibre Channel switching modules and Cisco Fabric-3 crossbar switching modules enables up to three Tbps of front-panel Fibre Channel throughput between modules in each direction for each of the four MDS 9706 payload slots. MDS 9706 architecture, based on central arbitration and crossbar fabric, provides 64-Gbps line-rate, nonblocking, predictable performance across all traffic conditions for every port in the chassis.

Industry-leading scalability

With up to 12.3 Tbps of Fibre Channel system bandwidth and 192 full line-rate autosensing Fibre Channel (8/16-Gbps, 8/16/32-Gbps, 16/32/64Gbps or 10-Gbps) or 192 10-Gbps FCoE ports or 96 40-Gbps FCoE ports in a single chassis, the MDS 9706 leads the industry in scalability and is designed to meet the requirements of large data center storage environments.

Reliability and availability

High availability

The MDS 9706 combines nondisruptive software upgrades, stateful process restart and failover, and full redundancy of all major components for best-in-class availability. Redundancy is enabled on all major components, including the fabric card. It provides grid redundancy on the power supply and 1+1 redundant supervisors. Users can add fabric cards to enable N+1 fabric redundancy.

Multiprotocol connectivity

Multiprotocol architecture

The multilayer architecture of the Cisco MDS 9700 Series Multilayer Directors enables a consistent feature set over a protocol-independent switch fabric. The MDS 9706 transparently integrates Fibre Channel, FCoE, FCIP, and FICON.

  The MDS 9706 supports full line-rate Fibre Channel (8/16/32-Gbps or 16/32/64-Gbps) ports on the Cisco MDS 9700 48-Port 64-Gbps Fibre Channel Switching Module for deployment in both open systems and FICON [2] environments. The MDS 9706 supports 8/16/32-Gbps on the Cisco MDS 9700 48-Port 32-Gbps Fibre Channel Switching Module.
  FICON: The MDS 9706 supports IBM System z FICON and Linux environments.
  Multihop FCoE: The MDS 9706 supports 10-Gbps FCoE ports on the Cisco MDS 9700 48-Port FCoE Switching Module and 40-Gbps FCoE ports on the Cisco MDS 9700 24-Port FCoE Switching Module for deployment in multihop FCoE environments, extending connectivity from FCoE and Fibre Channel fabrics to FCoE and Fibre Channel storage devices.
  SAN Extension FCIP: The Cisco MDS 9000 24/10-Port SAN Extension Module is supported on MDS 9700 Series Multilayer Directors. With 24 line-rate 8/10/16-Gbps Fibre Channel ports and eight 1 and 10 Gigabit Ethernet FCIP ports, this module enables deployment of large and scalable SAN extension solutions.

Integrated mainframe support2

The MDS 9706 will support the FICON protocol in both cascaded and noncascaded fabrics, as well as a mix of FICON and open-systems Fibre Channel Protocol traffic on the same switch. IBM Control Unit Port (CUP) support enables in-band management of Cisco MDS 9000 Family switches from mainframe management applications and supports a fabric-binding feature that helps ensure that Inter-Switch Links (ISLs) are enabled only between specified switches in the fabric-binding configuration.

Software features

Advanced traffic management

Advanced traffic management capabilities in the MDS 9706 simplify deployment and optimization of large-scale fabrics:

  Virtual Output Queue (VOQ): Help ensure line-rate performance on each port, independent of traffic pattern, by eliminating head-of-line blocking.
  Up to 4095 buffer-to-buffer credits: Using extended credits, allocate up to 4095 buffer credits from a pool of more than 6000 buffer credits for a module to ports as needed to greatly extend the distance for Fibre Channel SANs. Alternatively, assign 4095 buffer credits to an individual port for optimal bandwidth utilization across distances.
  Port channels: Aggregate up to 16 physical ISLs into a single logical bundle, optimizing bandwidth utilization across all links. The bundle can consist of any speed-matched ports from any module in the chassis, helping ensure that the bundle can remain active even if a module fails. The MDS 9000 Family switch architecture helps ensure that frames can never be reordered within a switch.
  Fabric Shortest Path First (FSPF)-based multipathing: Get the intelligence to load-balance traffic across up to 16 Fibre Channel or FCoE equal-cost paths and, in the event of a switch failure, dynamically reroute traffic.
  Quality of Service (QoS): Prioritize critical traffic to manage bandwidth and control latency.

Intelligent network services

VSAN technology, ACLs for hardware-based intelligent frame processing, and fabric wide QoS enable migration from SAN islands to enterprise-wide storage networks.

  Integrated hardware-based VSANs and Inter-VSAN Routing (IVR): Integrating VSANs into port-level hardware allows any port in a system or fabric to be partitioned to any VSAN. Integrated hardware-based IVR provides line-rate routing between any ports in a system or fabric without the need for external routing appliances.
  Intelligent storage services: The MDS 9706 interoperates with intelligent service capabilities on other MDS 9000 Family platforms and the intelligent services switch. You can accelerate storage applications for data replication, backup, and data migration to hosts and targets attached to the MDS 9706.
  Smart Zoning: Using this feature, MDS 9700 Series director fabrics can provision hardware access control entries specified by the zone set more efficiently. Avoid superfluous entries that allow servers (initiators) to talk to other servers or storage devices (targets) to talk to other storage devices. Large zones with multiple initiators and multiple targets are now possible without consuming excessive hardware resources. Smart zones can correspond to applications, application clusters, hypervisor clusters, or other data center entities. Automate zoning tasks and save the time previously spent creating many small zones.

Virtual machine transparency

The MDS 9700 Series provides deterministic hardware performance and a comprehensive feature set that allows virtual machines to have the same SAN attributes as a physical server. On a per-virtual machine basis, Cisco NX-OS Software offers VSANs, QoS policies, access control, performance monitoring, and data protection to promote virtual machine scalability and mobility. Cisco DCNM provides end-to-end visibility, from the virtual machine to the storage resource, with resource allocation, performance measurements, and predictions available on a per-virtual machine basis.

Security

Comprehensive security

Comprehensive security services include VSANs, hardware-enforced zoning, ACLs, per-VSAN Role-Based Access Control (RBAC), and Cisco TrustSec Fibre Channel link encryption. The MDS 9700 Series also supports a comprehensive security framework with RADIUS and TACACS+, FC-SP, Secure File Transfer Protocol (SFTP), Secure Shell (SSH) Protocol, and Simple Network Management Protocol Version 3 (SNMPv3).

FC-SP provides switch-to-switch and host-to-switch Diffie-Hellman Challenge Handshake Authentication Protocol (DH-CHAP) supporting RADIUS and TACACS+ to help ensure that only authorized devices access-protected storage networks.

Cisco TrustSec Fibre Channel link encryption, available in the MDS 9700 Series 32-Gbps as well as 16-Gbps modules, lets you transparently encrypt ISLs at up to line-rate speeds, providing an additional layer of protection for traffic within and between data centers.

Diagnostics and troubleshooting

Sophisticated diagnostics

The MDS 9706 provides intelligent diagnostics, protocol decoding, and network analysis tools as well as integrated Cisco Smart Call Home capability for added reliability, faster problem resolution, and reduced service costs.

  For diagnostics, the MDS 9706 supports the powerful Cisco Generic Online Diagnostics (GOLD) framework. GOLD is a suite of diagnostic facilities that you can use to verify that hardware and internal data paths are operating as designed. Boot-time diagnostics, continuous monitoring, standby fabric loopback tests, and on-demand and scheduled tests are part of the GOLD feature set. This industry-leading diagnostics subsystem enables the rapid fault isolation and continuous system monitoring critical in today's continuously operating environments.
  The MDS 9706 provides the integrated functions required to implement diagnostic capabilities such as Fibre Channel traceroute to identify the exact path and timing of flows and Cisco Switched Port Analyzer (SPAN) and Remote SPAN (RSPAN) to intelligently capture network traffic. After traffic has been captured, it can be analyzed with the Cisco Fabric Analyzer, an embedded Fibre Channel analyzer. Comprehensive port-based and flow-based statistics enable sophisticated performance analysis and SLA accounting. With the MDS 9706, Cisco delivers a comprehensive tool set for troubleshooting and analysis of storage networks.

Management

Ease of management

The MDS 9700 Series includes built-in storage network management with all features available through a Command-Line Interface (CLI) or Cisco NDFC or DCNM, a centralized management tool that simplifies management of unified fabrics. NDFC (DCNM) supports integration with third-party storage management applications to allow transparent interaction with existing management tools.

Adhering to the syntax of the widely known Cisco IOS® Software CLI, the MDS 9000 Family CLI is easy to learn and delivers broad management capabilities. This highly efficient direct interface optimizes management. You can enable debugging modes for each switch feature and view a real-time updated activity log of control protocol exchanges. Log entries are time-stamped and listed in chronological order.

Cisco NDFC is the networking industry’s first converged SAN and LAN management solution. It can manage all NX-OS devices, including the MDS 9000 Family and Cisco Nexus Family switches. The intuitive GUI simplifies day-to-day operations of Cisco unified fabrics in highly virtualized data center environments. DCNM supports:

  Event and performance monitoring historically and at scale
  Wizard- and template-based provisioning of NX-OS technologies and services
  Cisco VMpath analytics with dynamic topology views for extended visibility into virtual infrastructure
  Resource management through trend analysis of inventory and performance
  Rule-based event notification and filtering
  RBAC to provide separation between the network and storage teams

Cisco NDFC can federate up to 10 DCNM servers to manage up to 150,000 devices using a single management pane. The solution can scale to large enterprise deployments through scale-out server architecture with automated failover capability. Gain a resilient management system that centralizes infrastructure and path monitoring across geographically dispersed data centers. The NDFC base management function is available at no charge, and advanced features are unlocked with a license. DCNM can be installed on Linux and Microsoft Windows operating systems and supports both PostgreSQL and Oracle databases.

Licensing

Table 2 summarizes the optional licenses that can be purchased to enable additional features and capabilities on the MDS 9706.

Table 2.                 Optional licenses

License

Description

Cisco MDS 9000 Family Enterprise Package

  Includes advanced traffic-engineering and network security features such as IVR, QoS and zone-based QoS, FC-SP, port security, VSAN-based access control, and fabric binding for open systems
  Licensed per switch for all the ports on the switch

Cisco DCNM for SAN Advanced Edition for Cisco MDS 9700 Series

  Includes advanced management capabilities such as VMware vCenter integration, performance trending, advanced provisioning, backup, and dashboards
  Licensed per switch for all the ports on the switch

Cisco MDS 9700 Series Mainframe Package

  Includes FICON protocol support and allows IBM CUP management for in-band management from IBM Z System Servers.
  Also includes FICON tape read-write acceleration
  License

      With a pre- 9.4.1a FICON supported Cisco MDS NX-OS Release, License is required.

      With Cisco MDS 9.4.1a onwards FICON feature set is included in the base NX-OS software, and it doesn't require a license.

Product specifications

Table 3 summarizes the Cisco MDS 9706 Multilayer Director specifications.

Table 3.        Product specifications

Feature

Description

Product compatibility

  Cisco MDS 9000 Family

Software compatibility

  Cisco MDS NX-OS Software Release 6.2.9 or later 3
  Cisco MDS NX-OS Software Release 8.4.1 or later to support the new Fabric and Supervisor modules
  Cisco MDS NX-OS Software Release 9.3.1 or later to support the new 64G line card with 64G optics

Indicators

  Power supply LED
  FAN LED
  Supervisor LED
  Fabric LED
  Line-card module LED

Protocols

Fibre Channel standards

  FC-PH, Revision 4.3 (ANSI INCITS 230-1994)
  FC-PH, Amendment 1 (ANSI INCITS 230-1994/AM1-1996)
  FC-PH, Amendment 2 (ANSI INCITS 230-1994/AM2-1999)
  FC-PH-2, Revision 7.4 (ANSI INCITS 297-1997)
  FC-PH-3, Revision 9.4 (ANSI INCITS 303-1998)
  FC-PI, Revision 13 (ANSI INCITS 352-2002)
  FC-PI-2, Revision 10 (ANSI INCITS 404-2006)
  FC-PI-3, Revision 4 (ANSI INCITS 460-2011)
  FC-PI-4, Revision 8 (ANSI INCITS 450-2008)
  FC-PI-5, Revision 6 (ANSI INCITS 479-2011)
  FC-FS, Revision 1.9 (ANSI INCITS 373-2003)
  FC-FS-2, Revision 1.01 (ANSI INCITS 424-2007)
  FC-FS-2, Amendment 1 (ANSI INCITS 424-2007/AM1-2007)
  FC-FS-3, Revision 1.11 (ANSI INCITS 470-2011)
  FC-LS, Revision 1.62 (ANSI INCITS 433-2007)
  FC-LS-2, Revision 2.21 (ANSI INCITS 477-2011)
  FC-SW-2, Revision 5.3 (ANSI INCITS 355-2001)
  FC-SW-3, Revision 6.6 (ANSI INCITS 384-2004)
  FC-SW-4, Revision 7.5 (ANSI INCITS 418-2006)
  FC-SW-5, Revision 8.5 (ANSI INCITS 461-2010)
  FC-GS-3, Revision 7.01 (ANSI INCITS 348-2001)
  FC-GS-4, Revision 7.91 (ANSI INCITS 387-2004)
  FCP, Revision 12 (ANSI INCITS 269-1996)
  FCP-2, Revision 8 (ANSI INCITS 350-2003)
  FCP-3, Revision 4 (ANSI INCITS 416-2006)
  FCP-4, Revision 2b (ANSI INCITS 481-2011)
  FC-SB-2, Revision 2.1 (ANSI INCITS 349-2001)
  FC-SB-3, Revision 1.6 (ANSI INCITS 374-2003)
  FC-SB-3, Amendment 1 (ANSI INCITS 374-2003/AM1-2007)
  FC-SB-4, Revision 3.0 (ANSI INCITS 466-2011)
  FC-SB-5, Revision 2.00 (ANSI INCITS 485-2014)
  FC-BB-6, Revision 2.00 (ANSI INCITS 509-2014)
  FC-BB-2, Revision 6.0 (ANSI INCITS 372-2003)
  FC-BB-3, Revision 6.8 (ANSI INCITS 414-2006)
  FC-BB-4, Revision 2.7 (ANSI INCITS 419-2008)
  FC-BB-5, Revision 2.0 (ANSI INCITS 462-2010)
  FC-VI, Revision 1.84 (ANSI INCITS 357-2002)
  FC-SP, Revision 1.8 (ANSI INCITS 426-2007)
  FC-SP-2, Revision 2.71 (ANSI INCITS 496-2012)
  FAIS, Revision 1.03 (ANSI INCITS 432-2007)
  FAIS-2, Revision 2.23 (ANSI INCITS 449-2008)
  FC-IFR, Revision 1.06 (ANSI INCITS 475-2011)
  FC-FLA, Revision 2.7 (INCITS TR-20-1998)
  FC-PLDA, Revision 2.1 (INCITS TR-19-1998)
  FC-Tape, Revision 1.17 (INCITS TR-24-1999)
  FC-MI, Revision 1.92 (INCITS TR-30-2002)
  FC-MI-2, Revision 2.6 (INCITS TR-39-2005)
  FC-MI-3, Revision 1.03 (INCITS TR-48-2012)
  FC-DA, Revision 3.1 (INCITS TR-36-2004)
  FC-DA-2, Revision 1.06 (INCITS TR-49-2012)
  FC-MSQS, Revision 3.2 (INCITS TR-46-2011)
  Fibre Channel classes of service: Class 2, Class 3, and Class F
  Fibre Channel standard port types: E, F, FL, and B
  Fibre Channel enhanced port types: SD, ST, and TE
  FCoE standard port types: VE and VF
  IEEE 802.1Qbb-2011: Priority-based flow control (PFC)
  IEEE 802.3db-2011: MAC address control frame for PFC
  IEEE 802.1Qaz-2011: Enhanced transmission selection for bandwidth sharing between traffic classes (ETS and DCBX)
  IP over Fibre Channel (RFC 2625)
  RFC 3643 and 3821 FCIP
  IPv6, IPv4, and Address Resolution Protocol (ARP) over Fibre Channel (RFC 4338)
  Extensive IETF-standards-based TCP/IP, SNMPv3, and remote monitoring (RMON) MIBs

Chassis slot configuration

  Line-card slots: 4
  Supervisor slots: 2
  Crossbar switching fabric slots: 6 *
  Fan trays: 3 fan trays at the back of the chassis
  Power supply bays: 4

Switching capability per fabric

Number of Fabric-3 cards

Front-panel Fibre Channel bandwidth per slot

FCoE bandwidth per slot

1

512 Gbps

440 Gbps

2

1024 Gbps

880 Gbps

3

1536 Gbps

1320 Gbps

4

2048 Gbps

1760Gbps

5

2560 Gbps

2200Gbps

6

3072 Gbps

2640 Gbps

Performance and scalability

  Up to 12.3-Tbps front-panel Fibre Channel switching bandwidth and 10.5 Tbps of FCoE bandwidth
  Supported Fibre Channel port speeds

      2/4/8-Gbps autosensing; optionally configurable (2G not supported on 32-Gbps module)

      4/8/16-Gbps autosensing; optionally configurable

      8/16/32-Gbps autosensing; optionally configurable

      16/32/64-Gbps autosensing; optionally configurable

      10-Gbps Fibre channel

  Buffer credits: 48-port line-rate 16-Gbps advanced Fibre Channel module

      Up to 500 per port (dedicated-mode ports) standard

      Up to 4095 on an individual port (dedicated-mode ports with optional Cisco MDS 9700 Series Enterprise Package license activated)

  Buffer credits: 48-port line-rate 32-Gbps Fibre Channel modules:

      Up to 500 per port (dedicated-mode ports) standard

      Up to 8191 on an individual port (dedicated-mode ports with optional Cisco MDS 9700 Enterprise Package license activated)

  Ports per chassis

      Up to 192 ports, which can be Fibre Channel (2/4/8-Gbps, 4/8/16-Gbps, 8/16/32-Gbps, or 10-Gbps)

      Up to 192 ports of 10-Gbps FCoE

      Up to 96 ports of 40-Gbps FCoE

  Ports per rack

      Up to 192 Fibre Channel (2/4/8-Gbps, 4/8/16-Gbps, 8/16/32-Gbps, 16/32/64-Gbps or 10-Gbps) or 10 Gigabit Ethernet FCoE ports

  Port channel: Up to 16 ports (The channel can span any speed-matched port on any module in the chassis.)

Features and functions

Fabric services

  Name server
  Registered State Change Notification (RSCN)
  Login services
  Fabric Configuration Server (FCS)
  Broadcast
  In-order delivery

Advanced functions

  VSAN
  IVR
  Port channel with multipath load balancing
  QoS: Flow-based and zone-based
  N-port ID virtualization (NPIV)

Diagnostics and troubleshooting tools

  Power-on self-test (POST) diagnostics
  Online diagnostics
  Internal port loopbacks
  SPAN and RSPAN
  Fibre Channel traceroute
  Fibre Channel ping
  Fibre Channel debug
  Cisco Fabric Analyzer
  Syslog
  Online system health
  Port-level statistics
  Real-Time Protocol (RTP) debug

Network security

  VSANs
  ACLs
  Per-VSAN RBAC
  Fibre Channel zoning
  N-port Worldwide Name (WWN)
  N-port FC-ID
  Fx-port WWN
  Fx-port WWN and interface index
  Fx-port domain ID and interface index
  Fx-port domain ID and port number
  FC-SP 1
  DH-CHAP switch-to-switch authentication
  DH-CHAP host-to-switch authentication
  Port security and fabric binding
  Management access
  SSHv2 implementing Advanced Encryption Standard (AES)
  SNMPv3 implementing AES
  SFTP
  Cisco TrustSec Fibre Channel link encryption

IBM FICON1

  FC-SB-6 compliant
  Cascaded FICON fabrics
  Intermix of FICON and Fibre Channel FCP traffic
  FICON CUP management interface
  Exchange-based-routing ready

Serviceability

  Configuration file management
  Nondisruptive software upgrades for Fibre Channel interfaces
  Cisco Smart Call Home
  Power-management LEDs
  Port beaconing
  System LEDs
  SNMP traps for alerts
  Network boot

Reliability and availability

  Online, nondisruptive software upgrades
  Stateful nondisruptive supervisor module failover
  Hot-swappable redundant supervisor modules
  Hot-swappable redundant fabric modules *
  Hot- swappable 2N redundant power
  Hot-swappable fan trays with integrated temperature and power management
  Hot-swappable Enhanced Small Form-Factor Pluggable (SFP+) optics (2/4/8/10/16/32-Gbps Fibre Channel and 10 Gigabit Ethernet). 2G speeds not supported on 32-Gbps switching module
  Hot-swappable switching modules
  Stateful process restart
  Any module, any port configuration for port channels
  Fabric-based multipathing
  Per-VSAN fabric services
  Online diagnostics
  Port tracking
  Virtual Routing Redundancy Protocol (VRRP) for management

Network management

  Access methods through Cisco MDS 9700 Series Supervisor-1 Module
  Out-of-band 10/100/1000 Ethernet port
  RS-232 serial console port
  In-band IP over Fibre Channel
  Access methods through Cisco MDS 9700 Series Fibre Channel switching module
  In-band FICON CUP over Fibre Channel
  Access protocols
  CLI using console and Ethernet ports
  SNMPv3 using Ethernet port and in-band IP over Fibre Channel access
  FICON CUP
  Distributed Device Alias service
  Network security
  Per-VSAN role-based access control using RADIUS-based and TACACS+-based Authentication, Authorization, and Accounting (AAA) functions
  SFTP
  SSHv2 implementing AES
  SNMPv3 implementing AES
  Management applications
  Cisco MDS 9000 Family CLI
  Cisco DCNM

Programming interface

  Scriptable CLI
  Cisco DCNM web services API
  Cisco DCNM GUI

Power and cooling

  Power supplies (3000W AC and DC)
  Input: 100 to 240V AC nominal (±10% for full range); 16A nominal; 50 to 60 Hz nominal (±3 Hz for full range)
  Output: 1451W 50V ±4% 28A, 3.4V ±4% 15A (100 to 120V AC input), 3051W 50V ±4% 60A, and 3.4V ±-4% 15A (200 to 240V AC input)
  Airflow: Front to back

The Cisco MDS 9706 provides x Linear Feet per Minute (LFM) average system velocity, and y Cubic Feet per Minute (CFM) total flow through each line-card slot, depending on the line-card type and fan-speed setting.

Power consumption (typical)

Cisco MDS 9706 with three fabrics (Watts)

Ports

Watts

96

1465

192

2425

Environmental

  Temperature, ambient operating: 32 to 104°F (0 to 40°C)
  Temperature, ambient nonoperating and storage: –40 to 158°F (–40 to 70°C)
  Relative humidity, ambient (noncondensing) operating: 10 to 90%
  Relative humidity, ambient (noncondensing) nonoperating and storage: 10 to 95%
  Altitude, operating: –197 to 6500 ft (–60 to 2000m)

Physical dimensions
(H x W x D)

  Chassis dimensions (9RU): 15.6 x 17.3 x 32.0 in. (39.62 x 43.9 x 81.3 cm)
  Chassis depth including cable management and chassis doors is 38 in. (96.52 cm)
  Unit is rack mountable in a standard 19-inch (482.6-mm) EIA rack; unit is also 2-post rack mountable.

Weight

  Chassis only: 145 lb (65.8 kg)
  Fully configured: 325 lb

Approvals and compliance

  Safety compliance
  CE Marking
  UL 60950
  CAN/CSA-C22.2 No. 60950
  EN 60950
  IEC 60950
  TS 001
  AS/NZS 3260
  IEC60825
  EN60825
  21 CFR 1040
  EMC compliance
  FCC Part 15 (CFR 47) Class A
  ICES-003 Class A
  EN 55022 Class A
  CISPR 22 Class A
  AS/NZS 3548 Class A
  VCCI Class A
  EN 55024
  EN 50082-1
  EN 61000-6-1
  EN 61000-3-2
  EN 61000-3-3
  FIPS certified
  FIPS 140-2 Level 2
* A minimum of three fabric modules is needed to support a fully populated chassis with four Cisco MDS 9700 48-Port 16-Gbps Fibre Channel cards; four fabric modules are needed to provide N+1 redundancy. A minimum of six fabric modules is needed to support a fully populated chassis with four Cisco MDS 9700 48-Port 32-Gbps Fibre Channel cards.
1 IBM FICON will be officially supported on the Cisco MDS 9706 in a release after the First Customer Shipment (FCS).

Warranty information

Find warranty information on Cisco.com on the Product Warranties page.

Ordering information

To place an order, visit the Cisco Ordering homepage. To download software, visit the Cisco Platform Suite. Table 4 summarizes the ordering information.

Table 4.        Ordering information

Product description

Part number

Cisco MDS 9700 Series Component

MDS 9706 Chassis, No Power Supplies, Fans Included

DS-C9706

MDS 9700 Series Supervisor-4

DS-X97-SF4-K9

MDS 9706 Crossbar Switching Fabric-3 Module

DS-X9706-FAB3

MDS 9700 3000W AC power supply

DS-CAC97-3KW

MDS 9700 3000W DC power supply

DS-CDC97-3KW

MDS 9700 48-port 64-Gbps FC module with 48x 32Gbps SW Optics

DS-X9748-3072-TK9

MDS 9700 48-port 64-Gbps FC module with 48x64 Gbps SW Optics

DS-X9748-3072-VK9

MDS 9700 48-Port 32-Gbps Fibre Channel Switching Module

DS-X9648-1536K9

Cisco MDS 9000 Family 24/10 SAN Extension Module

DS-X9334-K9

MDS 9706 V2 Base Config: Chassis, 2 Sup-4, 3 Fabric-3, 2 3K AC

DS-C9706-V2K9

MDS 9706 Config: Chassis, 2 Sup-4, 6 Fabric-3, 4 3K AC

DS-C9706-V3K9

32 Gbps Fibre Channel SW SFP+, LC

DS-SFP-FC32G-SW

32 Gbps Fibre Channel LW SFP+, LC

DS-SFP-FC32G-LW

16 Gbps Fibre Channel SW SFP+, LC

DS-SFP-FC16G-SW

16 Gbps Fibre Channel LW SFP+, LC

DS-SFP-FC16G-LW

16 Gbps Fiber Channel ELW SFP+, LC

DS-SFP-FC16GELW

10 Gbps Fibre Channel SW SFP+, LC

DS-SFP-FC10G-SW

10 Gbps Fibre Channel LW SFP+, LC

DS-SFP-FC10G-LW

8 Gbps Fibre Channel SW SFP+, LC

DS-SFP-FC8G-SW

8 Gbps Fibre Channel LW SFP+, LC

DS-SFP-FC8G-LW

8 Gbps Fibre Channel Extended Reach SFP+, LC

DS-SFP-FC8G-ER

10GBASE-SR SFP Module

DS-SFP-10GE-SR, SFP‑10G-SR

10GBASE-LR SFP Module

DS-SFP-10GE-LR, SFP‑10G-LR

10GBASE-ER SFP Module

SFP-10G-ER

Power cord 250VAC 16A, Australia, source plug AU20S3

CAB-9K16A-AUS

Power cord 250VAC 16A, China, source plug GB16C

CAB-9K16A-CH

Power cord 250VAC 16A, Europe, source plug CEE 7/7

CAB-9K16A-EU

Power cord 250VAC 16A, international, source plug IEC 309

CAB-9K16A-INT

Power cord 250VAC 16A, Israel, source plug SI16S3

CAB-9K16A-ISR

Power cord 250VAC 16A, South Africa, source plug EL 208, SABS 164-1

CAB-9K16A-SA

Power cord 250VAC 16A, Switzerland, source plug SEV 5934-2 Type 23

CAB-9K16A-SW

Power cord 250VAC 16A, United States/Japan, source plug NEMA 6-20

CAB-9K16A-US1

Power cord 250VAC 16A, United States/Japan, source plug NEMA L6-20

CAB-9K16A-US2

Power Cord, 125VAC 20A NEMA 5-20 Plug, North America/Japan

CAB-9K20A-NA

Power Cord 250VAC 16A, Korea, Src Plug

CAB-9K16A-KOR

Power Cord 250VAC 16A, Argentina, Src Plug IR2073-C19

CAB-9K16A-ARG

Power Cord 250VAC 16A, Brazil, Src Plug EL224-C19

CAB-9K16A-BRZ

Cabinet Jumper Power Cord, 250 VAC 16A, C20-C19 Connectors

CAB-C19-CBN

MDS 9706 - Front Door Kit

DS-C9706-FD-MB

Licensed software

Enterprise package license for 1 MDS9700 switch

M97ENTK9

DCNM for SAN License for MDS 9700

DCNM-SAN-M97-K9

MDS 9700 Mainframe Package License for one MDS 9700 switch[3]

M97FIC1K9

L-D-M97S-AXK9

DCNM License for SAN Analytics on MDS9700 3 year

L5-D-M97S-AXK9

DCNM License for SAN Analytics on MDS9700 5 year

Spare component

MDS 9706 Chassis, Spare, No Power Supplies, Fans Included

DS-C9706=

MDS 9700 Series Supervisor-4

DS-X97-SF4-K9=

MDS 9706 Crossbar Switching Fabric-3 Module

DS-X9706-FAB3=

MDS 9700 3000W AC power supply

DS-CAC97-3KW=

MDS 9700 3000W DC power supply

DS-CDC97-3KW=

MDS 9706 FAN Tray

DS-C9706-FAN=

MDS 9700 48-port 64-Gbps FC module with 48x 32Gbps SW Optics, Spare

DS-X9748-3072-TK9=

MDS 9700 48-port 64-Gbps FC module with 48x64 Gbps SW Optics, Spare

DS-X9748-3072-VK9=

MDS 9700 48-Port 32-Gbps Fibre Channel Switching Module, Spare

DS-X9648-1536K9=

64 Gbps Fibre Channel SW SFP+, LC, Spare

DS-SFP-FC64G-SW=

32 Gbps Fibre Channel SW SFP+, LC

DS-SFP-FC32G-SW=

32 Gbps Fibre Channel LW SFP+, LC

DS-SFP-FC32G-LW=

Cisco MDS 9000 Family 24/10 SAN Extension Module, Spare

DS-X9334-K9=

16 Gbps Fibre Channel SW SFP+, LC

DS-SFP-FC16G-SW=

16 Gbps Fibre Channel LW SFP+, LC

DS-SFP-FC16G-LW=

16 Gbps Fiber Channel ELW SFP+, LC

DS-SFP-FC16GELW=

10 Gbps Fibre Channel SW SFP+, LC

DS-SFP-FC10G-SW=

10 Gbps Fibre Channel LW SFP+, LC

DS-SFP-FC10G-LW=

8 Gbps Fibre Channel SW SFP+, LC

DS-SFP-FC8G-SW=

8 Gbps Fibre Channel LW SFP+, LC

DS-SFP-FC8G-LW=

8 Gbps Fibre Channel Extended Reach SFP+, LC

DS-SFP-FC8G-ER=

10GBASE-SR SFP Module

DS-SFP-10GE-SR=, SFP‑10G-SR=

10GBASE-LR SFP Module

DS-SFP-10GE-LR=, SFP‑10G-LR=

10GBASE-ER SFP Module

SFP-10G-ER=

1470 nm CWDM 2/4/8-Gbps Fibre Channel SFP+

DS-CWDM8G1470=

1490 nm CWDM 2/4/8-Gbps Fibre Channel SFP+

DS-CWDM8G1490=

1510 nm CWDM 2/4/8-Gbps Fibre Channel SFP+

DS-CWDM8G1510=

1530 nm CWDM 2/4/8-Gbps Fibre Channel SFP+

DS-CWDM8G1530=

1550 nm CWDM 2/4/8-Gbps Fibre Channel SFP+

DS-CWDM8G1550=

1570 nm CWDM 2/4/8-Gbps Fibre Channel SFP+

DS-CWDM8G1570=

1590 nm CWDM 2/4/8-Gbps Fibre Channel SFP+

DS-CWDM8G1590=

1610 nm CWDM 2/4/8-Gbps Fibre Channel SFP+

DS-CWDM8G1610=

Cisco 10GBASE DWDM SFP+ Modules

DWDM-SFP10G-xx.xx=

Power cord 250VAC 16A, Australia, source plug AU20S3

CAB-9K16A-AUS=

Power cord 250VAC 16A, China, source plug GB16C

CAB-9K16A-CH=

Power cord 250VAC 16A, Europe, source plug CEE 7/7

CAB-9K16A-EU=

Power cord 250VAC 16A, international, source plug IEC 309

CAB-9K16A-INT=

Power cord 250VAC 16A, Israel, source plug SI16S3

CAB-9K16A-ISR=

Power cord 250VAC 16A, South Africa, source plug EL 208, SABS 164-1

CAB-9K16A-SA=

Power cord 250VAC 16A, Switzerland, source plug SEV 5934-2 Type 23

CAB-9K16A-SW=

Power cord 250VAC 16A, United States/Japan, source plug NEMA 6-20

CAB-9K16A-US1=

Power cord 250VAC 16A, United States/Japan, source plug NEMA L6-20

CAB-9K16A-US2=

Power Cord, 125VAC 20A NEMA 5-20 Plug, North America/Japan

CAB-9K20A-NA=

Power Cord 250VAC 16A, Korea, Src Plug

CAB-9K16A-KOR=

Power Cord 250VAC 16A, Argentina, Src Plug IR2073-C19

CAB-9K16A-ARG=

Power Cord 250VAC 16A, Brazil, Src Plug EL224-C19

CAB-9K16A-BRZ=

Cabinet Jumper Power Cord, 250 VAC 16A, C20-C19 Connectors

CAB-C19-CBN=

MDS 9706 - Front Door Kit

DS-C9706-FD-MB=

MDS 9706 - Rack Mount Kit

DS-C9706-RMK=

MDS 9706 - Bottom Support Kit

DS-C9706-BSK=

MDS 9706 - Cable Management and top LED kit

DS-C9706-CBTOP=

Licensed software spares

Enterprise package license for 1 MDS9700 switch

M97ENTK9=

E-delivery Enterprise package license for 1 MDS9700 switch

L-M97ENTK9=

DCNM for SAN License for MDS 9700

DCNM-SAN-M97-K9=

E-delivery DCNM for SAN Package Advanced Edition for MDS 9700

L-DCNM-S-M97-K9=

MDS 9700 Mainframe Package License for one MDS 9700 switch, Spare3

M97FIC1K9=

MDS 9700 Mainframe Package License for one MDS 9700 switch, Spare e-delivery3

L-M97FIC1K9=

L-D-M97S-AXK9=

DCNM License for SAN Analytics on MDS9700 3 year spare

L5-D-M97S-AXK9=

DCNM License for SAN Analytics on MDS9700 5 year spare

Cisco Services

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For more information

For detailed information about supported optics, see the Cisco MDS 9000 Family Pluggable Transceivers data sheet.

For more information about the Cisco MDS 9706, visit https://www.cisco.com/go/storage or contact your local account representative.

Document history

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[1] Upgrading to Fabric-3 requires use of new Supervisor-4 module running NX-OS 8.4.1 or later.
[2] FICON support available only with certain NX-OS versions, as noted separately

[3] The Mainframe license is required for pre-9.4.1a Cisco MDS NX-OS FICON Qualified releases. 9.4.1a onward Mainframe feature set is included in the base NX-OS software, and it doesn’t require a license.

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