Chapter 2 The E1200i System
The Force10 Networks E1200i system is a
Operating Overview
The E1200i system requires a Route Processor Module (RPM), at least one line card, and at least eight Switch Fabric Modules (SFMs) for packet processing. The RPM is the core for routing and control operations; all traffic destined to the E1200i terminates on the RPM. Routing table entries are built on the RPM and directed to the forwarding information tables on the line cards.
Software processes, such as Telnet, SNMP, CLI, Layer 2, and Layer 3 functions, are divided among three CPUs for redundancy and speed. Independent software images run on each CPU. Each CPU has its own memory, which isolates processes from each other, increasing reliability. Operating the E1200i system with redundant RPMs enables automatic
Line cards perform all data forwarding operations. Each line card has Force10 Networks proprietary ASICs — the flexible packet classification (FPC) ASIC and the Buffer and Traffic Manager (BTM) ASIC. The FPC accepts packets, feeds packets to input/output ports, handles packet classification (access lists, and Layer 2 and Layer 3 lookups), and
The internal flash memory device shipped with the RPM contains the boot ROM and runtime images. Each RPM accommodates an external flash memory card that can be used to copy and store system boot, software images, and configuration files. For information about using a flash card, refer to Appendix A, on page 75.
Installing and Maintaining the E1200i System | 13 |
