The documentation set for this product strives to use bias-free language. For the purposes of this documentation set, bias-free is defined as language that does not imply discrimination based on age, disability, gender, racial identity, ethnic identity, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, and intersectionality. Exceptions may be present in the documentation due to language that is hardcoded in the user interfaces of the product software, language used based on RFP documentation, or language that is used by a referenced third-party product. Learn more about how Cisco is using Inclusive Language.
Cisco Unified Computing System overview
The Cisco Unified Computing System™ (Cisco UCS®) is a next-generation data center platform that unites computing, networking, storage access, and virtualization resources into a cohesive system designed to reduce Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) and increase business agility. The system integrates a low-latency, lossless 10 Gigabit Ethernet unified network fabric with enterprise-class, x86-architecture servers. The system is an integrated, scalable, multichassis platform in which all resources participate in a unified management domain (Figure 1).
The Cisco Unified Computing System is a Highly Available Cohesive Architecture
The Cisco UCS 6324 Fabric Interconnect Fabric Interconnect provides the management, LAN, and storage connectivity for the Cisco UCS 5108 Blade Server Chassis and direct-connect rack-mount servers. It provides the same full-featured Cisco UCS management capabilities and XML API as the full-scale Cisco UCS solution in addition to integrating with Cisco UCS Central Software and Cisco UCS Director (Figure 2).
The Cisco UCS 6324 Fabric Interconnect extends the Cisco UCS architecture into environments with requirements for smaller domains. Providing the same unified server and networking capabilities as in the full-scale Cisco UCS solution, the Cisco UCS 6324 Fabric Interconnect embeds the connectivity within the Cisco UCS 5108 Blade Server Chassis to provide a smaller domain of up to 20 servers (Figure 2).
Full Scale Cisco UCS 6324 Fabric Interconnect solution
From a networking perspective, the Cisco UCS 6324 Fabric Interconnect uses a cut-through architecture, supporting deterministic, low-latency, line-rate 10 Gigabit Ethernet on all ports, switching capacity of up to 500 Gbps, and 80-Gbps uplink bandwidth for each chassis, independent of packet size and enabled services. Sixteen 10-Gbps links connect to the servers, providing a 20-Gbps link from each Cisco UCS 6324 Fabric Interconnect to each server. The product family supports Cisco® low-latency, lossless 10 Gigabit Ethernet1 unified network fabric capabilities, which increase the reliability, efficiency, and scalability of Ethernet networks. The fabric interconnect supports multiple traffic classes over a lossless Ethernet fabric from the blade through the fabric interconnect. Significant TCO savings come from a Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE)-optimized server design in which Network Interface Cards (NICs), Host Bus Adapters (HBAs), cables, and switches can be consolidated.
Cisco UCS Management Architecture
Unified Fabric with FCoE: I/O consolidation
The Cisco UCS 6324 Fabric Interconnect is built to consolidate LAN and storage traffic onto a single unified fabric, eliminating the Capital Expenditures (CapEx) and Operating Expenses (OpEx) associated with multiple parallel networks, different types of adapter cards, switching infrastructure, and cabling within racks. The unified ports allow the fabric interconnect to support direct connections from Cisco UCS to Fibre Channel, FCoE, and Small Computer System Interface over IP (iSCSI) storage devices.
Cisco UCS Manager
The Cisco UCS 6324 Fabric Interconnect hosts and runs Cisco UCS Manager in a highly available configuration, enabling the fabric interconnects to fully manage all Cisco UCS elements. The Cisco UCS 6324 Fabric Interconnect Fabric Interconnects support out-of-band management through a dedicated 10/100/1000-Mbps Ethernet management port. Cisco UCS Manager typically is deployed in a clustered active-passive configuration on with two UCS 6324 Fabric Interconnects connected through the cluster interconnect built into the chassis.
Optimization for virtualization
For virtualized environments, the Cisco UCS 6324 Fabric Interconnect supports Cisco virtualization-aware networking and Cisco Data Center Virtual Machine Fabric Extender (VM-FEX) architecture. Cisco Data Center VM-FEX allows the fabric interconnects to provide policy-based virtual machine connectivity, with network properties moving with the virtual machine and a consistent operational model for both physical and virtual environments.
Cisco UCS 6324 Fabric Interconnect
The Cisco UCS 6324 Fabric Interconnect Fabric Interconnect (Figure 4) is a 10 Gigabit Ethernet, FCoE, and Fibre Channel switch offering up to 500-Gbps throughput and up to four unified ports and one scalability port.
Cisco UCS 6324 Fabric Interconnect
Table 1 summarizes the characteristics of the Cisco UCS 6324 Fabric Interconnect.
Table 1. Characteristics of Cisco UCS 6324 Fabric Interconnect2
Item |
Cisco UCS 6324 |
Description |
Fabric interconnect with 4 unified ports and 1 scalability port |
Form factor |
I/O module for Cisco UCS 5108 chassis |
Number of 1/10 Gbps and FCoE or FC SFP+ external ports |
4 |
Number of 40 Gbps or FCoE enhanced QSFP+ ports |
1 |
Licensing |
The QSFP+ port must be licensed with a port expansion in order to be put into service |
Server ports |
16 x 10GBASE-KR lanes |
Number of rack servers supported3 |
Single Cisco UCS 5108 Blade Server Chassis: 7 With second Cisco UCS 5108 Blade Server Chassis: 4 |
Throughput |
500 Gbps |
Fan modules4 |
|
Latency |
Less than a microsecond |
Quality-of-Service (QoS) hardware queues |
16 (8 each for unicast and multicast) |
Note: One SFP+ port must be used as an uplink.
Table 2 summarizes the features and benefits of the Cisco UCS 6324 Fabric Interconnect.
Table 2. Features and benefits
Feature |
Benefit |
Management by Cisco UCS Manager |
● Allows all elements connected to the interconnects to participate in a single, highly available management domain
|
Unified fabric |
● Decreases TCO by reducing the number of NICs, HBAs, switches, and cables needed
● Transparently encapsulates Fibre Channel packets into Ethernet
|
Performance |
● Provides high-speed, low-latency connectivity to the chassis
|
Lossless fabric |
● Provides a reliable, robust foundation for unifying LAN and SAN traffic on a single transport
|
Priority Flow Control (PFC) |
● Simplifies management of multiple traffic flows over a single network link
● Supports different classes of service, helping enable both lossless and classic Ethernet on the same fabric
|
Cisco Data Center VM-FEX technology |
● Helps enable a consistent operational model for both virtual and physical environments
● Provides the same level of network visibility for virtualized and nonvirtualized environments
● Improves diagnostic and troubleshooting capabilities in a virtual environment
● Simplifies network and security policy enforcement when migrating virtual machines from one host to another
|
SFP+ ports |
● Increases flexibility with a range of interconnect solutions, including copper Twinax cable for short runs and fiber for long runs
● Consumes less power per port than traditional solutions
● Helps enable cost-effective connections on fabric extenders with Cisco Fabric Extender Transceiver (FET) optics
|
SFP-compatible ports |
●
Allows all fixed SFP+ ports to be configured to operate in 1 Gigabit Ethernet mode with the transceiver options specified for use with the SFP-compatible ports listed in Table 3
|
Unified port transceivers
The Cisco UCS 6324 Fabric Interconnect supports a wide variety of 10 Gigabit Ethernet connectivity options using Cisco 10GBASE SFP+ modules. In addition, the four SFP+ uplink ports support 1 Gigabit Ethernet connectivity options using 1GBASE SFP modules. Alternatively, 2/4/8-Gbps Fibre Channel SFP+ interfaces are supported.
Table 3 lists the supported transceiver options.
Table 3. Cisco UCS 6324 Fabric interconnect transceiver support matrix
Product Name |
Description |
SFP 1-Gbps Transceivers |
|
GLC-TE |
1000BASE-T SFP transceiver module for category 5 copper wire |
GLC-LH-SM |
GE SFP, LC connector LX/LH transceiver (SMF) |
GLC-SX-MM |
GE SFP, LC connector SX transceiver (MMF) |
SFP+ 10-Gbps Transceivers |
|
SFP-10G-LR |
Cisco 10GBASE-LR SFP+ module for Single-Mode Fiber (SMF) |
SFP-10G-LR-S |
Cisco 10GBASE-LR SFP+ module for SMF |
SFP-10G-LR-X |
Cisco 10GBASE-LR SFP Module for extended temp range |
SFP-10G-SR |
Cisco 10GBASE-SR SFP+ Module for Multimode Fiber (MMF) |
SFP-10G-SR-S |
Cisco 10GBASE-SR SFP+ module for MMF (S-Class) |
SFP-10G-SR-X |
Cisco 10 Gigabit Ethernet - short range SFP+ module (MMF), extended temperature |
QSFP+ 40-Gbps Transceivers |
|
QSFP-40G-SR4 |
40GBASE-SR4 QSFP module (MMF at 100m) |
Fibre Channel Transceivers |
|
DS-SFP-FC4G-SW |
4-Gbps Fibre Channel shortwave, SFP, LC |
DS-SFP-FC4G-LW |
4-Gbps Fibre Channel longwave, SFP, LC |
DS-SFP-FC8G-SW |
8-Gbps Fibre Channel shortwave, SFP+, LC |
DS-SFP-FC8G-LW |
8-Gbps Fibre Channel longwave, SFP+, LC |
SFP+ 10-Gbps Copper Cables with Integrated Transceivers |
|
SFP-H10GB-CU1M |
10GBASE-CU SFP+ cable, 1m, passive |
SFP-H10GB-CU2M |
10GBASE-CU SFP+ cable, 2m, passive |
SFP-H10GB-CU3M |
10GBASE-CU SFP+ cable, 3m, passive |
SFP-H10GB-CU5M |
10GBASE-CU SFP+ cable, 5m, passive |
SFP-H10GB-ACU7M |
10GBASE-CU SFP+ cable, 7m, passive |
SFP-H10GB-ACU10M |
10GBASE-CU SFP+ cable, 10m, passive |
SFP-10G-AOC1M |
10GBASE-AOC SFP+ cable, 1m |
SFP-10G-AOC2M |
10GBASE-AOC SFP+ cable, 2m |
SFP-10G-AOC3M |
10GBASE-AOC SFP+ cable, 3m |
SFP-10G-AOC5M |
10GBASE-AOC SFP+ cable, 5m |
SFP-10G-AOC7M |
10GBASE-AOC SFP+ cable, 7m |
SFP-10G-AOC10M |
10GBASE-AOC SFP+ cable, 10m |
QSFP+ 40-Gbps Copper Cables with Integrated Transceivers |
|
QSFP-4SFP10G-CU1M |
Cisco 40GBASE-CR4 QSFP+ to 4 10GBASE-CU SFP+ passive direct-attach copper transceiver assembly, 1m |
QSFP-4SFP10G-CU3M |
Cisco 40GBASE-CR4 QSFP+ to 4 10GBASE-CU SFP+ passive direct-attach copper transceiver assembly, 3m |
QSFP-4SFP10G-CU5M |
Cisco 40GBASE-CR4 QSFP+ to 4 10GBASE-CU SFP+ passive direct-attach copper transceiver assembly, 5m |
QSFP-4x10G-AC7M |
Cisco 40GBASE-CR4 QSFP+ to 4 10GBASE-CU SFP+ direct-attach breakout cable, 7m, active |
QSFP-4x10G-AC10M |
Cisco 40GBASE-CR4 QSFP+ to 4 10GBASE-CU SFP+ direct-attach breakout cable, 10m, active |
QSFP-4x10G-AOC1M |
Cisco 40GBASE-AOC QSFP to 4 SFP+ active optical breakout cable, 1m |
QSFP-4x10G-AOC2M |
Cisco 40GBASE-AOC QSFP to 4 SFP+ active optical breakout cable, 2m |
QSFP-4x10G-AOC3M |
Cisco 40GBASE-AOC QSFP to 4 SFP+ active optical breakout cable, 3m |
QSFP-4x10G-AOC5M |
Cisco 40GBASE-AOC QSFP to 4 SFP+ active optical breakout cable, 5m |
QSFP-4x10G-AOC7M |
Cisco 40GBASE-AOC QSFP to 4 SFP+ active optical breakout cable, 7m |
QSFP-4x10G-AOC10M |
Cisco 40GBASE-AOC QSFP to 4 SFP+ active optical breakout cable, 10m |
Scalability port transceivers
The Cisco UCS 6324 Fabric Interconnect supports a QSFP+ port that provides connectivity for up to 4 Cisco UCS rack servers.
Cabling
Table 4 provides cabling specifications for the Cisco UCS 6324 Fabric Interconnect.
Table 4. Cabling specifications
Connector (Media) |
Cable |
Distance |
Power (Each Side) |
Transceiver Latency (Link) |
Standard |
SFP+ Copper (CU) |
Twinax |
1, 3, 5, 7, and 10m |
Approximately 0.1 watt (W) |
Approximately 0.1 microsecond |
SFF 8431 |
SFP+ Short Reach (SR) and MMF |
MM OM2 MM OM3 MM OM4 |
82 and 300m |
1W |
Approximately 0 microseconds |
IEEE 802.3ae |
QSFP+ Copper (CU) |
Twinax |
1, 3, 5, 7, and 10m |
1.5W |
Approximately 0.1 microsecond |
SFF 8635 |
Performance
● Cisco UCS 6324 Fabric Interconnect: Layer 2 hardware forwarding at 500 Gbps or 375 million packets per second (mpps)
● MAC address table entries: 20,000
● Low-latency cut-through design: Provides predictable, consistent traffic latency regardless of packet size, traffic pattern, or enabled features
Layer 2
● Layer 2 interconnect ports and VLAN trunks
● IEEE 802.1Q VLAN encapsulation
● Support for up to 512 VLANs and 32 Virtual SANs (VSANs) per interconnect
● Internet Group Management Protocol (IGMP) Versions 1, 2, and 3 snooping
● Link Aggregation Control Protocol (LACP): IEEE 802.3ad
● Advanced EtherChannel hashing based on Layer 2, 3, and 4 information
● Jumbo frames on all ports (up to 9216 bytes)
● Pause frames (IEEE 802.3x)
QoS
● Layer 2 IEEE 802.1p (Class of Service [CoS])
● CoS trust
● CoS-based egress queuing
● Egress port-based scheduling: Deficit Weighted Round-Robin (DWRR)
● 16 hardware queues (8 each for unicast and multicast)
High availability
● Two Cisco UCS 6324 Fabric Interconnect Fabric Interconnects can be clustered together within the chassis to provide a highly available interconnect system
● Firmware upgrades can be performed on each fabric interconnect independently, allowing server connectivity to be maintained while firmware upgrades are completed
Management
● Interconnect management using redundant 10/100/1000-Mbps management or console ports
● All management provided through Cisco UCS Manager; please refer to the Cisco UCS Manager data sheet for more information about management interfaces
Data Center Bridging 10 Gigabit Ethernet Unified Network Fabric
● IEEE 802.1QPFC (per-priority pause frame support)
● Data Center Bridging Exchange (DCBX) Protocol
● IEEE 802.1Qaz: Bandwidth management
Unified ports
● All 4 SFP+ ports configurable as 1/10 Gigabit Ethernet or 2/4/8-Gbps Fibre Channel
Industry standards
● IEEE 802.1p: CoS prioritization
● IEEE 802.1Q: VLAN tagging
● IEEE 802.3: Ethernet
● IEEE 802.3ad: LACP
● IEEE 802.3ae: 10 Gigabit Ethernet
● IEEE 802.1AB LLDP
● SFP+ support
● RMON
SFP+ optics
Cisco UCS products support 10 Gigabit Ethernet SFP+ copper Twinax cables for short distances and SFP+ optics for longer distances. SFP+ has several advantages compared to other 10 Gigabit Ethernet connectivity options:
● Small 10 Gigabit Ethernet form factor
● Optical interoperability with XENPAK, X2, and 10 Gigabit Small Form-Factor Pluggable (XFP) interface types
● Low power consumption
● Hot-swappable device
Cisco UCS 6324 Fabric Interconnect physical and environmental specifications
Table 5 summarizes the physical and environmental specifications for the Cisco UCS 6324 Fabric Interconnect.
Table 5. Physical and environmental specifications
Property |
Cisco UCS 6324 |
Physical (height x width x depth) |
7.64 x 1.36 x 7.2 in. (194 x 34.5 x 183 mm) |
Ambient Operating temperature |
32 to 95°F (0 to 35°C) |
Nonoperating temperature |
-40 to 158°F (-40 to 70°C) |
Humidity |
5 to 95% (noncondensing) |
Altitude |
0 to 10,000 ft (0 to 300m) |
Weight |
2.5 lb (1.134 kg) |
Regulatory Standards Compliance: Safety and EMC
Table 6 summarizes Cisco UCS 6324 Fabric Interconnect regulatory compliance.
Table 6. Regulatory standards compliance
Specification |
Description |
Regulatory compliance |
Products complies with CE Markings according to directives 2004/108/EC and 2006/95/EC |
Safety |
● UL 60950-1
● CAN/CSA-C22.2 No. 60950-1
● EN 60950-1
● IEC 60950-1
● AS/NZS 60950-1
● GB4943
|
EMC: Emissions |
● 47CFR Part 15 (CFR 47) Class A
● AS/NZS CISPR22 Class A
● CISPR22 Class A
● EN55022 Class A
● ICES003 Class A
● VCCI Class A
● EN61000-3-2
● EN61000-3-3
● KN22 Class A
● CNS13438 Class A
|
EMC: Immunity |
● EN50082-1
● EN61000-6-1
● EN55024
● CISPR24
● EN300386
● KN 61000-4 series
|
RoHS |
The product is RoHS 6-compliant |
Warranty information is provided at Cisco.com on the Product Warranties page.
Cisco environmental sustainability
Information about Cisco’s environmental sustainability policies and initiatives for our products, solutions, operations, and extended operations or supply chain is provided in the “Environment Sustainability” section of Cisco’s Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Report.
Reference links to information about key environmental sustainability topics (mentioned in the “Environment Sustainability” section of the CSR Report) are provided in the following table:
Sustainability topic |
Reference |
Information on product material content laws and regulations |
|
Information on electronic waste laws and regulations, including products, batteries, and packaging |
Cisco makes the packaging data available for informational purposes only. It may not reflect the most current legal developments, and Cisco does not represent, warrant, or guarantee that it is complete, accurate, or up to date. This information is subject to change without notice.
Cisco Unified Computing Services
Using a unified view of data center resources, Cisco and our industry-leading partners deliver services that accelerate your transition to a unified computing environment. Cisco Unified Computing Services helps you quickly deploy your data center resources and optimize ongoing operations to better meet your business needs. For more information about these and other Cisco Data Center Services, visit https://www.cisco.com/go/dcservices.
Cisco has significant experience in listening to customer requirements and providing solid technology innovation for the enterprise data center. Cisco delivers standards-based solutions backed by a broad partner ecosystem of industry leaders to provide end-to-end customer solutions. Unified computing elevates the traditional product classification of network, server, storage, operating systems, and applications to a vision that encompasses the whole data center. Cisco, as one of the largest technology providers in the world, has the resources, expertise, and customer focus to deliver on this vision.
Flexible payment solutions to help you achieve your objectives
Cisco Capital makes it easier to get the right technology to achieve your objectives, enable business transformation and help you stay competitive. We can help you reduce the total cost of ownership, conserve capital, and accelerate growth. In more than 100 countries, our flexible payment solutions can help you acquire hardware, software, services and complementary third-party equipment in easy, predictable payments. Learn more.
For more information about the Cisco UCS 6324 Fabric Interconnect, visit https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/products/servers-unified-computing/ucs-mini/index.html or contact your local account representative.