To make you more familiar with the concepts of network switching and to get acquainted with the reputable vendors of network switches, we have prepared a number of blogs as a series, the different parts of which are as follows:

In this series of blogs you will come across a variety of terms, abbreviations, concepts, and technologies. We have tried to explain the general concepts and terms as much as possible in the first three parts of this series. In the following sections, we assume that you have read these two sections and therefore we will not re-explain these concepts and terms in the following sections. Of course, each vendor also has a number of specific terms and concepts that are explained in blogs related to the same vendor’s products.

Last note, all the content as well as the images used in this series of blogs are taken from the official websites of the reviewed vendors (Cisco, Microtik, HP and Dell).


 

 

Part 11- Dell Switches: PowerSwitch Data Center Switches, and PowerEdge M-Series Blade Switches

 

PowerSwitch Data Center Switches

This category currently includes S series, and Z series switches, i.e. the following series:

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ITperfection, network switching, dell switches, PowerSwitch, PowerSwitch S Series 25-100GbE

This series switch is optimized for the open networking era. These switches have High density for 25/40/50/100GbE deployments in top-of-rack, middle-of-row, and end-of-row deployments.

Other Features:

  • Support for OpenFlow v1.3
  • Support for VXLAN Layer 2 Gateway
  • Third-party OS support

This series includes the following models:

  • Dell EMC PowerSwitch S5048F-ON: It has 48 ports of 25GbE, and 6 ports of 100GbE or 72 ports of 25GbE, and ONIE for zero-touch installation of alternate network operating systems. This switch is innovative open networking multi-rate 25GbE ToR (Top of Rack) data center switch.
  • Dell EMC PowerSwitch S5148F-ON: It has 48 ports of 25GbE, and 6 ports of 100GbE or 72 ports of 25GbE, and ONIE for zero-touch installation of alternate network operating systems.
  • Dell EMC PowerSwitch S5248F-ON: This switch is innovative with ToR data, and it has 48 x 25GbE SFP28 ports, and 4 x 100GbE QSFP28 ports, and 2 x 100GbE QFSP28-DD ports.
  • Dell EMC PowerSwitch S5296F-ON: This switch has double the amount of direct 25GbE ports, and also it has 96 x 25GbE SFP28 ports, and 8 x 100GbE QSFP28 ports.
  • Dell EMC PowerSwitch S5232F-ON: It has 32 x 100GbE QSFP28 ports.
  • Dell EMC PowerSwitch S6100-ON: It has flexible multi-rate port technology (10/25/40/50/100GbE) with the QFSP+, QFSP28 and QSFP28/CXP modules.
  • Dell EMC PowerSwitch S5224F-ON: This model is a ToR switch, and it has 24 x 25GbE SFP28 ports, and 4 x 100GbE QSFP28 ports.
  • Dell EMC PowerSwitch S5212F-ON: This model is a ToR switch, and it 12 x 25GbE SFP28 ports, and 3 x 100GbE QFSP28 ports.

On this page of the official Dell website, you can read complete information about this series of switches.

 

ITperfection, network switching, dell switches, PowerSwitch, PowerSwitch Z-Series Core and Aggregation Switches

This series switches are flexible solutions supporting 10/25/40/50/100GbE throughput. Dell Networking Z-Series of core/aggregation switches provide optimal flexibility, performance, density and power efficiency. With this series switches supports data centers of virtually any size, with up to over 100,000 servers.

This series has Multi-rate options including 10, 25, 40, 50, or 100GbE Ethernet ports Up to 12.8Tbps throughput performance with the Z9264F-ON and up to 25.6Tbps with the Z9332F-ON

This series includes the following models:

  • Dell EMC Power Switch Z9100-ON Multi-rate Fabric Switch: These switches are Multi-rate switch offering 10/25/40/50/100GbE options, and have high density with up to 32 ports of 100GbE.
  • Dell EMC Power Switch Z9264F-ON Multi-rate Fabric Switch: It has 64 ports of 100GbE QSFP28 or up to 128 ports of 10/25/40/50GbE ports using breakout cables.
  • Dell EMC PowerSwitch Z9332F-ON: This 400GbE switch was designed with up to 32 ports of 400GbE or up to 128 ports of 100GbE using breakout cables. At result, this switch has Multi-rate capabilities to meet emerging rack connectivity for 25/50/100/200GbE ports.

On this page of the official Dell website, you can read complete information about this series of switches.

 

ITperfection, network switching, dell switches, PowerSwitch,PowerSwitch S Series 10GbE

This series delivers low latency, superb performance and high density with hardware and software redundancy. Also, this series can creates a two-tier 1/20/40/100GbE data center network architecture. Finally, the S4148U-ON has Fibre Channel ports for connections to Storage Area Networks (SAN), including DCB.

This series includes the following models:

  • Dell EMC Networking S4048-ON: It has 48 x 10GbE SFP+, and 6 x 40GbE ports (or 72 x 10GbE ports in breakout mode), and up to 720Gbps performance.
  • Dell EMC PowerSwitch S4048T-ON: It supports 48 x 10GBase-T ports, and 6 x 40GbE ports.
  • Dell EMC Networking S4112F-ON: It has 12 x 10GbE ports and 3 x 100GbE ports (or 12 x 10GbE and 12 x 25GbE ports in breakout mode).
  • Dell EMC Networking S4112T-ON: It has 12 x 10GBase-T ports, and 3 x 100GbE ports (or 12 x 10GBase-T and 12 x 25GbE ports in breakout mode).
  • Dell EMC PowerSwitch S4128F-ON: It has 28 x 10GbE SFP+ ports, and 2 x 100GbE QSFP28 ports.
  • Dell EMC PowerSwitch S4148F-ON: It has 48 x 10GbE SFP+ ports, 2 x 40GbE QSFP+ ports, and 4 x 100GbE QSFP28 ports.
  • Dell EMC Networking S4128T-ON: It has 28 x 10GBase-T ports, 2 x 40GbE QSFP+ ports, and 2 x 100GbE QFSP28 ports.
  • Dell EMC Networking S4148T-ON: It has 48 x 10GBase-T ports, 2 x 40GbE QFSP+ ports, and 4 x 100GbE QFSP28 ports.
  • Dell EMC PowerSwitch S4148FE: It has 48 x 10GbE SFP+ ports, and 2 x 40GbE QSFP+ ports, and 4 x 100GbE QSFP28 ports.
  • Dell EMC Networking S4148U: It has 24 x 10GbE SFP+ ports, and 24 x unified SFP+/SFP28 ports (1/10GbE or FC8/16), and 2 x 40GbE QSFP+ ports, and 4 x unified QSFP28 ports (10/25/40/50/100GbE or FC8/16/32).
  • Dell EMC PowerSwitch S4248FBL-ON: It has 40 x 10GbE SFP+ ports, and 2 x 40GbE QFSP+ ports, and 6 x 100GbE QSFP28 ports.

On this page of the official Dell website, you can read complete information about this series of switches.

 

ITperfection, network switching, dell switches, PowerSwitch, PowerSwitch S Series 1GbE

This series has designed for reliable server aggregation and cost-effective deployment, and it delivers low latency, superb performance and high density with hardware and software redundancy. PowerSwitch S series 1GbE offers active fabric designs using S- or Z-Series core switches to create a two-tier, 1/10/40 GbE data center network architecture.

Stacking attributes of this series are:

  • Integrated rear mini-SAS stacking ports: 2x 21Gbps
  • Maximum stacking distance (meters): 3
  • Maximum stacking speed (full-duplex): 84Gbps

This series includes the following models:

  • Dell EMC PowerSwitch S3148P: It has 48 RJ45 10/100/1000Mb auto-sensing PoE+ ports, and two integrated 10GbE SFP+ ports, and two GbE combo media ports for copper or fiber flexibility, and two dedicated rear stacking ports, and Dual hot-swap power supply bays (optional power supply available).
  • Dell EMC PowerSwitch S3148: It has 48 RJ45 10/100/1000Mb auto-sensing ports, and two integrated 10GbE SFP+ ports, and two GbE combo media ports for copper or fiber flexibility, and two dedicated rear stacking ports, and Dual hot-swap power supply bays (optional power supply available).
  • Dell EMC PowerSwitch S3124P: It has 24 RJ45 10/100/1000Mb auto-sensing PoE+ ports, and two integrated 10GbE SFP+ ports, and two GbE combo media ports for copper or fiber flexibility, and two dedicated rear stacking ports, and Dual hot-swap power supply bays (optional power supply available).
  • Dell EMC PowerSwitch S3124F: It has 24 SFP 1000Mb auto-sensing ports, and two integrated 10GbE SFP+ ports, and two GbE combo media ports for copper or fiber flexibility, and two dedicated rear stacking ports, and Dual hot-swap power supply bays (optional power supply available).
  • Dell EMC PowerSwitch S3124: It has 24 RJ45 10/100/1000Mb auto-sensing ports, and two integrated 10GbE SFP+ ports, and two GbE combo media ports for copper or fiber flexibility, and two dedicated rear stacking ports, and Dual hot-swap power supply bays (optional power supply available).
  • Dell EMC PowerSwitch S3048-ON: It has 48 x 1GbE, and 4 x 10GbE ports, and up to 260Gbps performance.

On this page of the official Dell website, you can read complete information about this series of switches.

 

 

PowerEdge M-Series Blade Switches 

Dell M-Series Converged Networking Interconnects – M1000e Server. This category of Dell switches includes two series switches:

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ITperfection, network switching, dell switches, PowerSwitch,PowerEge, 1 or 10 GB Ethernet Blade Switches

This series includes the following models:

Dell Networking 1Gb Basic Switch: This switch is an advanced layer 3 modular stacking for PowerEdge M1000e enclosures. This 20-port (16 internal, 4 external) Gigabit Ethernet Layer 3 switch is stackable and offers optional 10 Gigabit Ethernet uplinks and supports the IPv6. In these switches, administrators to map internal ports to external ports without involving STP, VLANs, or LACP groups. High performance stacking is supported for up to twelve systems. With each switch supporting up to 128 Gbps in switch capacity, the customer can have over 1.5 Terabits of capacity in a single stack of 12 switches.

This switch is ideal for blade server applications such as Layer 3 routing, High Performance Cluster Computing (HPCC), and iSCSI storage.

Key Features:

  • Switch Fabric Capacity 128 Gb/s
  • Forwarding Rate 95 Mpps
  • Up to 8,000 MAC Addresses

On this page of the official Dell website, you can read complete information about this switch.

Dell Networking M6348 Ethernet Blade Switch: This switch is one of the most advanced blade switch offerings from Dell™, with advanced core switching capabilities for today’s data center. This 48-port GbE Layer 3 switch supports stacking, offers integrated 10 Gigabit uplink ports and is IP version 6 (IPv6)-certified.

The Dell Networking M6348 has four integrated ports of 10 GbE. Two CX4 ports are also available as 10GbE connections or can alternatively be used to stack up to 12 M6348 switches

High-performance stacking is supported for up to 12 systems. Up to 192 non redundant servers can be connected in a stack of 12 M6348 series blade switches to provide the maximum density, flexibility and manageability.

This switch has advanced features such as server virtualization, Voice VoIP, Layer 3 routing, HPCC and iSCSI storage.

Other Features:

  • Switch Fabric Capacity 184 Gb/s
  • Forwarding Rate up to 160 Mpps
  • Up to 32K MAC Addresses

On this page of the official Dell website, you can read complete information about this switch.

 

ITperfection, network switching, dell switches, PowerSwitch,PowerEge, 10 or 40 GB Ethernet Blade Switches

This series includes the following models:

Dell Networking MXL 10/40GbE blade switch: This switch helps ensure high-speed support for the growing number of required virtual machines (VMs) per physical server with standards-based 10/40GbE connectivity. Also, it helps reduce cost and complexity by simplifying management using the Dell Networking MXL 10/40GbE switch.

Other Features:

  • MAC addresses: 128K
  • Switch fabric capacity: 1.28 Tbps (full-duplex)
  • Forwarding capacity: 960 Mpps
  • Link aggregation: Up to 16 Members per group, 128 LAG groups

On this page of the official Dell website, you can read complete information about this switch.

Dell Networking 10Gb Basic Switch: This switch is ideal for Unified fabric deployments, such as converged Ethernet environments supporting virtualization, iSCSI storage and 10Gb traffic aggregation.

The M8024-k also supports GbE connections, to both the server and the local area network (LAN).

This switch is also an FCoE transit switch that can be attached to an external converged data center network to extend an available FCoE fabric.

This switch has maximum 24 10GbE ports. These ports include 16 internal 1/10GbE ports, and four integrated external 1/10GbE.

Other Features:

  • Switch Fabric Capacity 480 Gbps aggregate bandwidth (bi-directional)
  • Forwarding Rate 357 Mpps
  • Up to 16K MAC Addresses

On this page of the official Dell website, you can read complete information about this switch.

 

ITperfection, network switching, dell switches, PowerSwitch,PowerEge, Fibre Channel Blade Switches

This series of switches currently includes only one switch called Brocade M6505 Fibre Channel Switch.

Brocade M6505 Fibre Channel Switch:  With This switch, we can Add 16 Gbps Fibre Channel connectivity across servers, storage and SAN as needed, without increasing our data center footprint. At result, we can protect our SAN and Server investments with flexible speed options and scalable growth.

We can deploy the M6505 as a Brocade Access Gateway or as a full-fabric switch.

  • Access Gateway mode: This mode utilizes N_Port ID Virtualization (NPIV) switch standards to present physical and virtual servers directly to the core of SAN fabrics. This makes the Access Gateway transparent to the SAN fabric, greatly reducing management of the network edge.
  • Dynamic Ports on Demand (POD): The Dynamic POD feature assigns port licenses based on our connectivity choices. Any port on the switch can claim a free assignment from the pool of available POD licenses.

On this page of the official Dell website, you can read complete information about this switch.

 

 

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Source: In preparing this blog, we have tried to use the documents and content available on the Dell official website, namely the website dell.com. All information is based on the contents of this website.

 

 

Read other blogs related to this series: