About I/O Modules

The Sun Blade 8000 Series systems provide flexible I/O connectivity using a combination of Network Express Modules (NEMs) and PCI Express ExpressModules (EMs are supported in the Sun Blade 8000 Chassis only). These hot-pluggable, customer-replaceable I/O modules are independent of the Sun Blade Server Modules (blades), which provides greater flexibility of the I/O configuration. For information about hot-plugging the I/O modules, see Replace Network Express Module and Replace ExpressModule (Sun Blade 8000 Chassis).

This topic includes the following sections:

Refer to the Sun Blade 8000 Series Product Notes for the latest updates about new EMs and NEMs that are available for the system.

Note

Some operating systems, and some PCIe ExpressModules (EMs) and Network Express Modules (NEMs) do not support a hot-plug operation. Check your operating system documentation, the I/O module documentation, and the Sun Blade 8000 Series Product Notes to verify the hot-plug support.

Network Express Modules

The NEMs provide aggregated, or "bulk," I/O connectivity for all 10 blades within the chassis. Each blade has an independent PCI Express interface to each of the NEM slots. Each NEM implements the equivalent functionality of 10 PCI Express adapters. For example, the Gigabit Ethernet NEM provides the equivalent of 10 dual-port Gigabit Ethernet NICs. This x4 interface to the blade supports 2 Gbytes per second bandwidth in each direction per blade. Each Gigabit Ethernet NEM provides 20, 10/100/1000BASE-T Gigabit Ethernet RJ-45 ports on the front panel, with two ports dedicated to each blade.

Also on the front panel are the green OK indicator, amber Service Action Required indicator, blue Ready-to-Remove indicator, white Locator indicator, and an Attention button and Locator button. For the location and a description of these indicators, see About I/O Module Indicators, Buttons, and Ports.

The NEMs are designed in a Sun proprietary form factor. In addition, 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.

The following NEMs are the first NEMs available for the Sun Blade 8000 Series systems:

  • Sun 20-Port Gigabit Ethernet NEM

  • Sun StorageTek 4Gb Fibre Channel NEM

  • Sun 10-Port 4x DDR InfiniBand PCIe NEM

ExpressModules

The EMs are supported in the Sun Blade 8000 Chassis only. The EMs provide independent, dedicated I/O functions that are configurable on a per-blade basis. The EMs are designed in an industry-standard form factor, giving you more I/O options and no vendor lock-in. The chassis midplane provides PCI Express connectivity between the EMs and the blades, and assigns two EMs to each blade for a total of 20 EMs per chassis. The EMs provide 4 Gbytes per second I/O per module.

The EMs are fully hot-pluggable for easy installation and removal without affecting other system operations. Like the NEMs, the EMs can be installed in a powered-on system without any modification to the connected blade. On the front panel of the EM are the green Power LED, amber Attention LED, and an Attention button. For the location and a description of these indicators, see About I/O Module Indicators, Buttons, and Ports.

The following EMs are the first EMs that are available for the Sun Blade 8000 Chassis:

  • 4-Gbps, Sun PCIe Dual-Port Fibre Channel (FC) EM

  • 1-Gbps, Sun PCIe Dual-Port Gigabit Ethernet UTP EM

  • 1-Gbps, Sun PCIe Dual-Port Gigabit Ethernet MMF EM

  • 10-Gbps, Sun Dual-Port 4x InfiniBand HCA EM

  • Sun StorageTek 4Gb FC Dual-Port EM HBA From Emulex

  • Sun Dual 10GbE XFP PCIe EM

I/O Configurations

You can combine different types of I/O modules within the chassis. For example, in the Sun Blade 8000 Chassis, you can configure one blade with a redundant pair of Fibre Channel EMs, another blade with a single InfiniBand EM, along with a Gigabit NEM that provides homogeneous I/O functions to all the blades in the chassis.

You can easily change the I/O module configuration in the Sun Blade 8000 Series by preparing the system OS for component removal and then simply swapping out any EM or NEM. No further configuration is needed since the blades do not have I/O-specific circuitry.

You can install up to 20 EMs (Ethernet, InfiniBand, and/or Fibre Channel) and up to four 20-port NEMs in the Sun Blade 8000 Chassis. In the Sun Blade 8000 P Chassis, you can install up to two NEMs. All I/O modules can be used to provide connectivity to the following three types of networks:

  • Local area networks

  • Storage area networks

  • High-bandwidth, low-latency networks used in clustering