Sun Microsystems SG-XPCIE20FC-NEM-Z manual Network Express Module Overview

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Network Express Module Overview

This chapter provides a basic overview of the Sun StorageTek™ 4 Gb Fibre Channel (FC) Network Express Module (NEM) Host Bus Adapter (HBA). This chapter also describes the various operating systems, host platforms, storage, and infrastructure configurations that support the NEM. This chapter contains the following topics:

■“NEM Features and Specifications” on page 1

■“Operating System Requirements” on page 4

■“System Interoperability” on page 4

NEM Features and Specifications

The Sun StorageTek 4 Gb FC NEM 20-Port HBA consists of a 20-port NEM bus expansion board that interfaces a FC optical media bus. The NEM provides closed chassis adapter installation, removal, integrated hot-plug, and protection from electrostatic discharge (ESD) handling damage.

The 20-port NEM consists of ten independent HBAs. Each HBA has two FC ports which provide exclusive connections to a single blade. The ports of each HBA cannot be shared with any other blade in the chassis.

The NEM supports 20 independent FC buses operating at 4.25 Gbits/sec. It is also backward compatible with 2.125-Gbit/sec and 1.0625-Gbit/sec devices. Small-Form Factor (SFF) optical transceivers are used to connect to the external FC buses.

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