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Transceiver Options for

Brocade 5100 Switch

Nowadays, many small and medium business and organizations such as local government, campus
and some agencies etc., require fast and frequent access to database the files. A storage Area
Network (SAN) with Fibre Channel (FC) switching technology (Figure 1) offers the speed and
reliability for them. Brocade 5100 switch is an ideal Fibre Channel switch used for those
organizations and can meet a variety of SAN environments.

Figure 1. Brocade 5100 in Storage Area Network

Brief Introduction to Brocade 5100

The

Brocade 5100 is a 1U Enterprise class Fibre Channel switch which combines 1, 2, 4, and 8 Gbps
Fibre Channel technology in configurations of 24, 32 or up to 40 ports, getting an overall bandwidth
of 320 Gbps. It is very flexible to users since it enables organizations to use 4Gbps SFPs today and
upgrade to 8Gbps SFPs when required. By utilizing the sixth-generation ASIC (Application Specific
Integrated Circuit) technology featuring five 8-port groups, it can reduce congestion and increase
bandwidth. Because an ISL (Inter-Switch Link) trunk can supply up to 64 Gbps of balanced data
throughput within these groups. In addition, enhanced Brocade ISL Trunking also utilizes ISLs more
efficiently to preserve the number of usable switch ports. As shown in Figure 2, the port side of the
Brocade 5100 includes the system status and power LED, console port, Ethernet port and LEDs, USB
Fiberstore (FS.COM) | Transceiver Options for Brocade 5100 Switch

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port, and FC ports and the corresponding port status LEDs. And the FC ports are numbered from left
to right, in eight-port groups from 0 to 39, as illustrated in Figure 3.

Figure 2. Port Side of the Brocade 5100

Figure 3. Port Group Configuration for the Brocade 5100

Brocade 5100 ISL Trunking

As mentioned above, the Brocade 5100 can benefit from the trunking features which optimizes the
use of bandwidth by allowing a group of ISL to merge into a single logical link. As we know, when ISL
configured, there are certain issues like congestion. The congestion of Fibre channel links will
eventually lead to performance issue and severe production impact. In this case, ISL trunking is an
ideal solution to solve this issue.

As Figure 4 shown, when two switches get connected, there is a ISL link and the network traffic
starts to flow through this link to the other switch. Without trunking, the congestion caused in the
ISL which resulted in frames loss and bandwidth waste.

Using ISL trunking configurations, shown as Figure 5 (a), at 2Gbps speeds, the trunking delivers ISL
throughput of up to 8 Gbps, avoiding the ISL congestion at the same time. In the same way, using 4
Gbps with 8 trunks can reach up to 32 Gbps, as Figure 5 (b) displayed.

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Figure 4. ISL Without Trunking

Figure 5. ISL With Trunking

Transceiver Options for Brocade 5100

Cable runs require transceivers at each end in SAN. In the SAN with Brocade Fibre Channel switches,
Fibre Channel transceivers are used. Since the Brocade 5100 can support 1/2/4/8Gbps Fibre
Channel, the transceiver options for Brocade 5100 are available in 1G, 2G, 4G and 8G Fibre Channel
transceiver modules. Among these options, the transceivers with the data rate of 2, 4 and 8 Gbps
are most commonly used in todays Fibre Channel deployment. In addition, you can select either
single-mode or multimode implementations by using the corresponding optics.

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The following table shows the 2/4/8G transceiver modules that are available in FS.COM. With strict
coding technology and test assurance, these transceiver modules are highly compatible with
Brocade and can achieve high performance in your Brocade 5100 switch in a cost-saving manner.

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Contact Us
Manufacturing R & D (China)

North America (United States)

Eastern Side, Second Floor, Science &

Technology Park, No.6, Keyuan Road,
Nanshan District, Shenzhen 518057,
China
Tel: +86 (755) 8300 3611
Fax: +86 (755) 8326 9395
Email: sales@fs.com

331 Andover Park East Ste330, Tukwila,

WA 98188,United States
Tel: +1-425-226-2035
Fax: +1-253-246-7881
Email: sales@fs.com

APAC Office (Hong Kong)

London Office (United Kingdom)

1220 Tung Chun Commercial Centre,

438-444 Shanghai Street, Kowloon,
Hong Kong
Tel: +852 81763606
Fax: +852 81763606
Email: sales@fs.com

Third Floor 207 Regent Street, London,

W1B 3HH, United Kingdom
Tel: +44 2081441980

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Notice: This document is for informational purposes only and does not set forth any warranty, expressed or
implied, concerning any equipment, equipment features, or service offered or to be offered by Fiberstore.
Fiberstore reserves the right to make changes to this document at any time, without notice, and assumes no
responsibility for its use. This information document describes features that may not be currently available.
Contact a Fiberstore sales team for information on feature and product availability.

Fiberstore (FS.COM) | Transceiver Options for Brocade 5100 Switch