Data Sheet
© 2009 Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. This document is Cisco Public Information.
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Figure 7. Sample Top-of-Rack Deployment Scenario Supporting Up to 576 Servers with a Single Pair of Access-Layer Switches
and No Oversubscription at the Rack Level
Unified Fabric with FCoE: I/O Consolidation
The Cisco Nexus 5000 Series consolidates multiple networks--LAN, SAN, and server cluster--on a single unified
fabric, saving the capital and operating expenses associated with deployment of multiple parallel networks, switching
infrastructure, and cabling. The Cisco Nexus 5000 Series Switches are compatible with third-party I/O CNAs that
present separate Ethernet NICs and Fibre Channel HBAs to the server operating system. This approach allows
existing drivers and Fibre Channel management software to work transparently with FCoE. Upstream, two different
expansion modules support direct connections from the Cisco Nexus 5000 Series to existing native Fibre Channel
SANs (Figure 8).