The Sun Blade 8000 Series provides flexible I/O connectivity through a combination of Network Express Modules (NEMs) and PCIe ExpressModules (EMs). A brief discussion about these modules and the benefits they provide follows
Network Express Module I/O Connectivity
ExpressModule I/O Connectivity
The NEMs are intended to provide bulk I/O connectivity for all 10 Sun Blade Server Modules within the system chassis. Each server module has an independent PCI Express interface to each of the four NEM slots. Each NEM implements the equivalent functionality of 10 PCI Express adapters. For example, the Gigabit Ethernet (GbE) NEM provides the equivalent of 10 dual-port GbE NICs. Each GbE NEM provides twenty 10/100/1000 BASE-T Gigabit Ethernet RJ-45 interfaces, two dedicated to each blade. The NEMs are hot-pluggable devices, allowing system administrators to easily add or remove NEMs, as needed, without powering down the system. Furthermore, since the NEMs interface to the blades via PCI Express, there is no blade-based I/O component that needs to be added when a new NEM is installed. Today, the following NEMs are offered with the Sun Blade 8000 and 8000 P Modular Systems:
Sun 20-Port GbE NEM
Sun StorageTek 4Gb FC NEM
Sun 10-Port 4x DDR IB NEM
The EMs are designed to offer independent, dedicated I/O functions configurable on a per blade basis. The EM format is a standard developed by the PCI-SIG standards organization. The Sun Blade 8000 Chassis midplane implements PCI Express connectivity between the EMs and blades, and assigns two EMs to each blade. The EMs are fully hot-pluggable, allowing system administrators to easily replace EMs. Like the NEMs, EMs can be installed in a live system without any modification to the connected blade. Today, the following EMs are offered with the Sun Blade 8000 Modular System:
Sun PCIe Dual-Port FC EM (4-Gbps)
Sun PCIe Dual-Port GbE UTP EM (1-Gbps)
Sun PCIe Dual Port GbE MMF EM (1-Gbps)
Sun PCIe Dual-Port InfiniBand HCA EM (10-Gbps)
Sun StorageTek 4Gb FC Dual-Port ExpressModule from Emulex
Sun x8 Express Dual 10-Gibabit Ethernet Fiber XFP EM
All I/O modules support connectivity to the following three types of networks:
Local area networks (LANs)
Storage area networks (SANs)
High-bandwidth low-latency networks used in clustering
For the latest availability of EMs and NEMs, see the Sun Blade 8000 Series Product Notes at http://www.sun.com/products-n-solutions/hardware/docs/Servers/blade_servers/blade_8000_modular/.