network switches

FI-SX800-AC - 24x RJ45, 10/100/1000 Mbps, 31000g, Black High-Performance, Non-Stop Networking for Mission-Critical Enterprise Applications and Services

HIGHLIGHTS

- Industry-leading price-performance value for campus aggregation and core switching, providing a scalable, secure, low-latency, and fault-tolerant infrastructure for 1 GbE and 10 GbE enterprise deployments;

- High-performance non-blocking architecture with 8- and 16-slot chassis providing up to 36 wire-speed 10 GbE and 384 wire-speed 1 GbE ports in a single chassis supporting IPv4/IPv6-capable Layer2/3 switching and routing;

- High-availability design with redundant and hot-pluggable management modules (with hitless failover), switch fabrics, power supplies, fans, stateful OSPF redundancy, graceful BGP and OSFP restarts, and hitless (in-service) software upgrades;

- Embedded sFlow per port to support scalable hardware-based traffic monitoring across all switch ports without compromising performance;

- One year of free Brocade Technical Support and the Brocade Assurance Limited Lifetime Warranty, providing direct access to Brocade expertise and resources on a 24×7 basis.

As organizations strive for a competitive advantage, their network infrastructures must be resilient, secure, and highly efficient. As requirements to protect, optimize, and grow the enterprise have
extended from basic connectivity to a much higher level of intelligent servicebased infrastructures, the network has evolved to provide even greater value. The Brocade® FastIron® SX Series of Layer 2/3 switches provides a superior scalable foundation for improved operational efficiency and faster response to business opportunities today and into the future. The FastIron SX Series extends control from the network edge to the backbone with intelligent network services, including superior Quality of Service (QoS), predictable performance, advanced security, comprehensive
management, and integrated resiliency. In addition, the FastIron SX Series offers compatibility with a common operating system, and a shared interface and power supply modules reduce the cost of ownership by minimizing operational expenses and improving Return on Investment (ROI).

The FastIron SX Series has an extensive feature set, making it well suited for real-time collaborative applications, IP telephony, IP video, e-learning, and wireless LANs. The FastIron SX Series delivers wire-speed performance and ultra low latency, which are ideal for converged network applications such as VoIP and video conferencing. These platforms present the industry’s
most scalable and resilient PoE design, with a robust feature set to secure and simplify the deployment of an edge-to-core converged network. In addition, the FastIron SX Series supports high-density 10 Gigabit Ethernet (GbE) capabilities for enterprise backbone deployments.

CONFIGURATION ALTERNATIVES
The FastIron SX Series is optimized for flexibility with upgradeability for PoE/PoE+, 10 GbE, and redundant management, switch fabrics, and power. Available in three chassis models, the scalable FastIron SX Series helps enterprises and service providers reduce costs and gain the operational benefits of a common operating system, a shared interface, and common power supply modules. The FastIron SX Series includes the following switch models.

FastIron SuperX switches:

- Eight interface slots;
- Up to 192 Class 3 PoE ports;
- N+1 system power redundancy;
- N+1 PoE power redundancy;
- One-year hardware warranty and 90-day limited software warranty;
- FastIron SX 800 switches;
- Eight interface slots;
- Up to 192 Class 3 PoE or PoE+;
- (802.3at-compliant) ports;
- N+1 system power redundancy;
- N+1 PoE power redundancy;
- Management redundancy;
- Fabric redundancy;
- Brocade Assurance™ Limited;
- Lifetime Warranty;
- FastIron SX 1600 switches;
- Sixteen interface slots;
- Up to 384 Class 3 PoE or PoE+ (802.3at-compliant) ports;
- Up to 36 10 GbE ports;
- Up to N+3 system power redundancy;
- Up to N+3 PoE power redundancy;
- Management redundancy;
- Fabric redundancy;
- Brocade Assurance Limited;
- Lifetime Warranty.

FUTURE-PROOFING THE NETWORK WITH IPv6
Migration to IPv6 is inevitable, but by starting with the deployment of IPv6-capable hardware, organizations can make the transition more controlled and less disruptive to the network. Japan and Europe are aggressively deploying IPv6, and deployment in North America is on the rise. In fact, some government agencies are mandating the purchase of IPv6-capable switches and routers. Therefore, it is important that enterprises and service providers plan to deploy IPv6-capable devices to capitalize on this inevitable change.

Combined with Brocade BigIron® RX Series and Brocade MLX Router solutions, the IPv6-capable FastIron SX Series provides the industry’s most complete end-to-end IPv6 solution. Organizations can deploy zthe switches knowing they are IPv6- capable hardware today, and that future separately priced software upgrades will support IPv6 routing and advanced IPv6 features tomorrow.

The new IPv6-capable FastIron SX Series enables organizations to future-proof the network to support IPv6. These high-performance, IPv6-ready platforms deliver security, convergence, and complete IPv4/IPv6 visibility using embedded sFlow for a robust edge-to-core IPv6 solution.

PRIMARY FEATURES AND BENEFITS
The FastIron SX Series provides a wide range of business advantages, as described in the following sections. High-Quality and Reliable Network Convergence The FastIron SX Series provides a scalable, secure, low-latency, and fault-tolerant infrastructure for cost-effective integration of VoIP, video, wireless access, and high-performance data onto a common network. The system architecture features a scalable and resilient PoE design and a low-latency, cell-based switch fabric with intelligent traffic management to help ensure reliable and high-quality VoIP service.

A rich suite of security features—including policy-based access control, IP source guard, dynamic ARP inspection, and DHCP snooping—work in unison to control network access and shield the network from internal and external threats. The FastIron SX Series establishes a new class of convergence-ready solutions, enabling organizations to implement a secure, reliable, scalable, and high-quality infrastructure for total network convergence.

Resilient Power Distribution and Consumption in Support of Green Initiatives
The FastIron SX Series features a unique power distribution design for the system and PoE power. The chassis are designed with independent systems and PoE power subsystems. This design achieves optimal power operation and configuration, reducing the amount of equipment and ongoing costs compared to modular systems that use a common power supply for both the systems and the PoE equipment. In the FastIron SX Series, the power consumption of a line module’s PoE circuitry does not impact the system power. Similarly, the power consumption of the line modules, switch modules, and management modules does not impact the PoE power.

Power consumption for the system and PoE are calculated, provisioned, and managed independently of one another. As more PoE devices are added to a switch, a simple power budget calculation determines whether another PoE power supply needs to be added to the switch. The system power distribution and the PoE power distribution subsystems are each designed for M+N load-sharing operation. This dual-distribution power design simplifies the power configuration of the system while enhancing system reliability.

The chassis can be configured for a wide range of power environments, including 110 V/220 V AC power, -48 V DC power, and mixed AC/DC power configurations. To scale PoE configurations, PoE power supplies are available in two ratings—1250 W and 2500 W. When configured with four 2500 W PoE supplies, the FastIron SX 1600 supports up to 384 10/100/1000 Mbps Class 3 PoE or 802.3at PoE+ ports and still maintains N+1 power redundancy. This resiliency is unmatched in the industry.

Intelligent and Scalable Power over Ethernet (PoE/PoE+)
PoE is a key enabler of applications such as VoIP, IEEE 802.11 wireless LANs, and IP video. The FastIron SX Series is a third-generation PoE-capable switch family and incorporates the latest advances in PoE/PoE+ provisioning and system design to provide scalable and intelligent PoE capabilities. The PoE power distribution subsystem is independent of the system power, eliminating system disruption in the event of PoE over-subscription or a PoE power failure. Organizations have the choice of purchasing PoE/PoE+ ready line modules or upgrading 10/100/1000 Mbps line modules when needed with field-installable PoE daughter modules. PoE power per port can be manually or dynamically configured.

Dynamic configuration is supported using standards-based auto-discovery or legacy Layer 2 discovery protocols. Port priorities are also configurable and are used to prioritize PoE power in over-subscribed configurations.

Advanced QoS and Low Latency for Enterprise Convergence
The FastIron SX Series offers superior QoS features that enable organizations to prioritize high-priority and delay-sensitive services throughout the network. The switches can classify, re-classify, police, mark, and re-mark an Ethernet frame or an IP packet prior to delivery. This flexibility lets organizations discriminate among various traffic flows and enforce packet-scheduling policies based on Layer 2 and Layer 3 QoS fields.

Once classified, the traffic is queued and scheduled for delivery. Three configurable queuing options provide flexible control over how the system services the queues. Weighted Round Robin (WRR) queuing applies user-configured weighting for servicing multiple queues, ensuring that even low-priority queues are not starved for bandwidth. With Strict Priority (SP) queuing, queues are serviced in priority order to ensure that the highest-priority traffic is serviced ahead of lower-priority queues. Combined SP and WRR queuing ensures that packets in the SP queue are serviced ahead of the WRR queues. Combined queuing is often used in VoIP networks where the VoIP traffic is assigned to the SP queue and data traffic is assigned to the WRR queues.

In addition, the switch management modules are available with integrated 1 GbE or 10 GbE ports. These modules provide cost-effective system configurations supporting high-capacity connections to upstream switches. The management modules utilize high-performance system processors with high-capacity memory for scalable networking up to a routing capacity of one million BGP routes and
20 BGP peers.

The FastIron SX Series utilizes an advanced cell-based switch fabric with internal flow control, ensuring very low latency and jitter performance for converged applications.

Ease of Use: Plug and Play
The FastIron SX Series supports the IEEE 802.1AB LLDP and ANSI TIA 1057 LLDP-MED standards, enabling organizations to build open convergence, advanced multivendor networks. LLDP greatly simplifies and enhances network management, asset management, and network troubleshooting. For example, it enables discovery of accurate physical network topologies, including those that have multiple VLANs where all subnets might not be known.

LLDP-MED addresses the unique needs that voice and video demand in a converged network by advertising media and IP telephony-specific messages that can be exchanged between the network and the endpoint devices. LLDP-MED provides exceptional interoperability, IP telephony troubleshooting, and automatic deployment of policies, inventory management, advanced PoE power negotiation, and E911 location/emergency call service. These sophisticated features make converged network services easier to install, manage, and upgrade, and they significantly reduce operations costs.

Flexible Bandwidth Management
The FastIron SX Series supports a rich set of bandwidth management features, allowing granular control of bandwidth utilization. On ingress, extended ACLs can be used in combination with traffic policies to control bandwidth by user, by application, and by VLAN. On egress, outbound rate limiting can control bandwidth per port and per priority queue. These features allow fine-grained control of bandwidth utilization based on a wide range of application and user criteria.

A Complete Solution for Multicast and Broadcast Video
The use of video applications in the workplace requires support for scalable multicast services from the edge to the core. IGMP and PIM snooping improves bandwidth utilization in Layer 2 networks by restricting multicast flows to only those switch ports that have multicast receivers. In Layer 3 networks, support for IGMP (v1, v2, and v3), IGMP Proxy, PIM-SM, PIM-SSM, and PIM-DM multicast routing optimizes traffic routing and network utilization for multicast applications.

The Advanced Full Layer 2/Layer 3 Wire-Speed IP Routing Solution
The Advanced IronWare operating system supports a full complement of unicast and multicast routing protocols, enabling users to build fully featured Layer 2/Layer 3 networks. Supported routing protocols include RIPv1/v2, OSPF, PIM-SM/DM, BGP, and Equal Cost Multi-Path (ECMP) for improved network performance. M2, M3, and M4 management modules can support routing table capacity of up to one million BGP routes and 20 BGP peers. The FastIron SX Series can be upgraded with Advanced IronWare routing software (a Layer 3 upgrade).

To achieve wire-speed Layer 3 performance, the FastIron SX Series supports Brocade Direct Routing (BDR), in which the Forwarding Information Base (FIB) is maintained in local memory on the line modules. The hardware forwarding tables are dynamically populated by system management with as many as 256,000 routes..

Comprehensive Security Suite
The FastIron SX Series supports a powerful set of network management solutions to help protect the switch. Multilevel-access security on the console and a secure Web management interface prevent unauthorized users from accessing or changing the switch configuration. Using Terminal Access Controller Access Control Systems (TACACS/TACACS+) and RADIUS authentication, organizations can enable considerable centralized control and restrict unauthorized users from altering network configurations.

The FastIron SX Series includes Secure Shell (SSHv2), Secure Copy, and SNMPv3 to restrict and encrypt communications to the management interface and system, thereby ensuring highly secure network management access. For an added level of protection, network managers can use ACLs to control which ports and interfaces have TELNET, Web, and/or SNMP access.

Controlling network access is a top priority for network operators. FastIron SX switches support a flexible suite of access control capabilities in the IronShield product, including multi-host IEEE 802.1x and MAC authentication schemes. Upon successful user or device authentication, the switches will apply the appropriate access policy for the user. The access policy may define the assigned VLAN, QoS, and ACL to be applied to the user’s traffic.

Organizations can also specify an action in case the MAC or 802.1x authentication times out. Because of its standards-based design, this solution can be augmented with access control software and external appliances for enhanced access control operation. For example, an external NAC appliance and/or software can be used in combination with the FastIron SX Series, providing host posture verification and remediation. This design allows organizations the flexibility to build best-of-breed solutions for their access control infrastructure and not be locked into a single offering.

Once the user is permitted access to the network, protecting the user’s identity and controlling where the user connects becomes a priority. To prevent “user identity theft” (spoofing), the FastIron SX Series supports DHCP snooping, Dynamic ARP inspection, and IP source guard. These features work together to deny spoofing attempts and to defeat man-in-the-middle attacks. To control where users connect, the switches support private VLANs, quarantine VLANs, policy-based routing, and extended ACLs, all of which can be used to control a user’s access to the network.
In addition, the FastIron SX Series features embedded hardware-based sFlow packet sampling, which provides system-wide

traffic monitoring for accounting, troubleshooting, and intrusion detection. Using Brocade Network Advisor to process sFlow data from the switches, Brocade IronShield 360 provides closed-loop threat detection and response. sFlow packet samples are scanned for known threat signatures. Upon a positive match, Brocade Network Advisor can automatically send a control command to the switches to throttle or disable the port on which the threat has been detected. This advanced security capability provides a network-wide security umbrella without the added complexity and cost of ancillary sensors.

Resilient Design to Improve Business Continuity
The FastIron SX Series is built for high-value environments. Featuring redundant management modules, redundant fans, redundant load-sharing switch fabrics, and redundant power supply modules, the FastIron SX 800 and FastIron SX 1600 switches are designed for maximum system availability and non-stop networking. Switch fabric failover preserves network connectivity in the event of a switch module failure. Hitless failover provides automatic management failover from the active management module to the standby module without interrupting traffic forwarding in the event of a management module failure.

In the event of a topology change due to a port or facility failure, Layer 1 and Layer 2 protocols—such as Protected Link, Metro Ring Protocol (MRP), IEEE 802.3ad, UDLD, VSRP, and Rapid Spanning Tree Protocol—will restore service in sub-second time (tens to hundreds of milliseconds, depending on the protocol), protecting users from costly service disruption. Enhanced spanning tree features such as Root Guard and BPDU Guard prevent rogue hijacking of spanning tree root and maintain a contention and loop-free environment, especially during dynamic network deployments.

These high-availability capabilities enable deployment of a highly reliable network infrastructure that is resilient to, and tolerant of, network and equipment failures.

Future-Proofing the Network through IPv6-Capable Hardware
Networks are in the early stages of large-scale IPv6 production deployment. However, few IPv6-innovative applications are currently available. Although the success of IPv6 will ultimately depend on the new applications that run over IPv6, a key part of the IPv6 design is the ability to integrate into and coexist with existing IPv4 switches within the network and across networks during the steady migration from IPv4 to IPv6.

The FastIron SX Series’ IPv6-capable management and interface modules, commencing with software release FSX 04.0.01, support an easy migration path by interworking between IPv4 and IPv6 switches with the existing network or across networks. Organizations can choose which sites are upgraded with IPv6-capable modules, preparing the network for future IPv6 applications.
Designed for medium to large enterprise backbones, the IPv6-capable FastIron SX Series includes modular switches that provide a complete, end-to-end enterprise LAN solution, ranging from the wiring closet to the LAN backbone.

Benefits of the IPv6-capable modules include:
- The IPv6-capable FastIron SX Series management modules are non-blocking, with a built-in switch fabric module and 12 combination Gigabit Ethernet copper or fiber ports that provide connectivity to existing management networks;

- The IPv6-capable FastIron SX 800 and FastIron SX 1600 management modules have a console port and a 10/100/1000 Mbps port for out-of-band management. The management modules optionally support 2-port 10 GbE ports or 8-port 1 GbE fiber and copper ports;
- The IPv6-capable FastIron SX 800 and FastIron SX 1600 management modules are interchangeable between devices;
- Redundant management modules on the IPv6-capable FastIron SX 800 and FastIron SX 1600 provide 100 percent redundancy;
- The crossbar (xbar) architecture enables the management module to switch 30 Gbps between each interface module and within the management module;
- The IPv6-capable interface modules and power supplies are interchangeable among FastIron SX Series switches;
- The IPv6-capable FastIron SX 800 and FastIron SX 1600 management, switch fabric, and interface modules are hot-swappable, which means a module can be removed and replaced while the chassis is powered on and running;

Software Key License Activation

To simplify feature upgrades and deployments, a key-based license activation technology for FastIron SX Series switches is available to unlock optional features and software functionality, complementing the alternative EEPROM-based licensing mechanism. This process eliminates the need to physically access the switch, greatly reducing the amount of time required to activate optional features. This capability enables organizations to use software keys to activate optional features on existing switches without removing the management module.

BROCADE NETWORK MANAGEMENT SUITE
Managing enterprise campus networks continues to become more complex, due to the growth in enterprise applications and services that rely on campus networks. Services such as Internet, e-mail, video conferencing, real-time collaboration, and distance learning all have specific configuration and management requirements. At the same time, organizations face increasing demand to provide uninterrupted services for high-quality voice, data, and multimedia applications.
To reduce complexity and time spent managing these environments, the easy-to-use Brocade Network Advisor discovers, manages, and deploys configurations to campus LAN switches and groups of IP devices. By using the Brocade Network Advisor Device Configuration Manager tool, organizations can configure VLANs within the network or execute CLI commands on specific IP devices or groups of IP devices. sFlow-based proactive monitoring is ideal for performing network-wide troubleshooting, generating traffic reports, and gaining visibility into network activity from the edge to the core. Moreover, Brocade Network Advisor centralizes management of the entire family of Brocade FastIron enterprise LAN switches.

BROCADE GLOBAL SERVICES
To help organizations get the most value from their technology investments, Brocade Global Services offers a variety of services with comprehensive hardware and 24×7 software support, including software fixes and new releases. Organizations can also utilize Brocade Professional Services to implement and validate the functionality of Brocade products. Leveraging the Brocade Network Monitoring Service (NMS), organizations can maximize the availability and performance of their critical application environments while reducing infrastructure cost and complexity.

ONE YEAR OF FREE TECHNICAL SUPPORT
To further improve service levels and operational efficiency, Brocade includes one year of free technical support on the FastIron SX 800 and FastIron SX 1600, providing access to software fixes and direct access to the Brocade Technical Assistance Center and resources on a 24×7 basis. The one-year free support term begins when the chassis ships from the factory. While product registration is not required, it is recommended to help ensure timely product support, updates, and other benefits.

WARRANTY
The FastIron SX 800 and the FastIron SX 1600 are covered by the Brocade Assurance Limited Lifetime Warranty for as long as the original purchaser continues to own and use the product. The warranty covers the product hardware, including internal power supplies and internal fans, as well as software defect repairs. To streamline the product replacement process, qualified customers can directly access the Brocade Knowledge Portal to initiate advanced replacement on registered products.

MAXIMIZING INVESTMENTS
To help optimize technology investments, Brocade and its partners offer complete solutions that include education, support, and services. For more information, contact a Brocade sales partner or visit www.brocade.com.