Intel(R) Corporation

Intel® Blade Server Switch Modules and Fibre Channel Expansion Cards
SBCEBFCESW, SBCEBFCSW, SBCEBFCSW4, SBCEFCSW, SBCEOPM, SBEFCM4, SBFCM

The products you are looking for are no longer manufactured by Intel. Additionally, Intel no longer provides interactive support for these products via telephone or e-mail, nor will Intel provide any future content updates or software updates to support new operating systems or improve compatibility with third party devices and software products.

THESE PRODUCT SUPPORT DOCUMENTS ARE PROVIDED FOR HISTORICAL REFERENCE ONLY AND ARE SUBJECT TO THE TERMS SET FORTH IN THE "TERMS OF USE" INFORMATION.

Information on currently available Intel products is available at www.intel.com and/or developer.intel.com


Identify your products
Product Discontinuance Announcements - Brocade_FC_2Gb_PDA
Intel is announcing the discontinuance of the Brocade* Enterprise SAN Switch Module and Brocade* Entry SAN Switch Module.

icon Brocade_FC_2Gb_PDA.pdf

Product Discontinuance Announcements - SBEFCM_PDA_Update
Intel is announcing the discontinuance of the Intel® Blade Server Fibre Channel Expansion Card SBFCM.

icon SBEFCM_PDA_Update.pdf

Product Discontinuance Announcements - SBCEFCSW_PDA
Intel is announcing the discontinuance of the Intel® Blade Server Fibre Channel Switch Module SBCEFCSW.

icon SBCEFCSW_PDA.pdf

Product Overview - Brocade* SAN Switch Modules
This is a product brief for the 2GB FC SAN switch module.

icon Brocade* SAN Switch Modules -PB304476.pdf

Product Overview - Qlogic* Switch modules
icon Qlogic* Switch modules - 310488.pdf

Software and drivers
Go to Brocade* Assist for downloads for SBCEBFCESW, SBCEBFCSW, SBCEBFCSW4
Go to QLOGIC* Assist for downloads for SBEFCM4
Firmware and utilities for SBCEFCSW and SBCEOPM

Technical specifications
Go to Brocade* Assist for manuals and downloads for SBCEBFCESW, SBCEBFCSW, SBCEBFCSW4
Product brief for SBCEBFCSW4, SBEFCM4

Installation and use
Licensing FAQ with Brocade* modules
Can I change my license to a different port?
The licensing is port-specific.  Should you have to change the port for any reason; for example, if you relocate a blade from slot 6 to slot 9, you can dynamically re-assign the port license with firmware 5.05a or later.

Can I move my license from one switch to another?
Licenses are also switch specific. If you plan to deploy two switches, please purchase two licenses; even if one of the switches is not currently in use.

What if I have to replace a switch through warranty?
For the 4Gb switch SBCEBFCSW4, please visit http://www.brocade.com*, click on "Partner Network", and register.  Once registered, select "For Technical Professionals" - "Tools" - "License Transfer Application", and follow the instructions to receive the transferred license via e-mail.

For the 2Gb switch SBCEBFCESW or SBCEBFCSW, please visit
https://www-912.ibm.com/FruLicenseRequestClient/index.jsp

Errors on Brocade* Fibrechannel SAN Switch Module
When configuring your Intel® Server Compute Blade for a diskless boot to a storage appliance, you may notice errors on boot and shutdown of the system.  These errors are generated by the Brocade* Fibre Channel SAN switch module and may look like this:

2006-05-16 11:39:31 Kernel.Warning 10.10.50.13 kernel: 0x298 (fabos): Switch: 0, Warning FW-ABOVE, 3, fcuportState005 (FCU Port 005 State Changes) is above high boundary. current value : 18 Change(s)/minute. (faulty):


These errors can be explained as follows:

"kernel: 0x298 (fabos):" = Fabos is the Fabric OS operating environment running on the switch and the version number is in hex signified by 0x.

"Switch: 0" = This is the switch with Domain ID 0

"Warning FW-ABOVE, 3" = This is a warning above a threshold that has been set with a severity level of 3. Levels range from 0 being critical to 4 being lowest.

"fcuportState005 (FCU Port 005 State Changes)" = This represents a state change on port 5

"is above high boundary. current value : 18 Change(s)/minute. (faulty)" = This means that 18 changes per minute are occurring and that is above the threshold value set.

These errors are no cause for concern if they happen at boot or shutdown of the system.  They represent the initialization or closure of the fibrechannel ports, the self test of the switch ASIC and state changes on the ports.  If the number of changes exceeds the thresholds configured on the fibrechannel switch, this is flagged by an entry "is above high boundary".

If you see such errors during the day to day operation of the blade server, or notice an impact on fibrechannel performance, please contact Intel Customer Support.


Brocade* Entry & Enterprise SAN Switch Module software license key upgrades
Production Code Production MM Description
ABRSWVL2FF 865968 Upgrades the Brocade Entry SAN Switch Module to Brocade Enterprise SAN Switch Module.

This option is applicable only to Brocade Entry SAN Switch Module. It allows “pay as you grow” software upgrade path to the full-fabirc capable Brocade Enterprise SAN Switch Module.
ABRSWISLTRK 865994 ISL Trunking software upgrade option for the Brocade Entry or Enterprise SAN Switch Modules.

This option optimizes Intel Blade Server performance and balances heavy traffic to ensure better performance for data-intensive applications.

It also improves availability in the event of an ISL failure.
ABRSWAPMON 865993 Advanced Performance monitoring software upgrade option for the Brocade Entry or Enterprise SAN Switch Modules. This option provides end-to-end visibility into SAN fabric for maintaining better SAN health, allows performance tuning and resource optimization, and simplifies capacity planning.
ABRSWPERBDL 865990 This is a software bundle option that combines both ISL Trunking & Advanced Performance Monitoring software keys (described above) in an economical package.
ABRSWEXFAB 865992 Brocade Extended Fabrics option extends the scalability, reliability & performance of of Fibre Channel SANs beyond 10KM. It allows to support full-performance disaster recovery applications over extended distances.
ABRSWREMSCH 865955 Brocade Remote Switch upgrade option allows remote connectivity of SAN fabrics over wide area networks, allowing to create one logical SAN that spans remote fabrics at unlimited distances.
ABRSWSFABOS 865991 Brocade Advanced Security upgrade option allows centralized, policy-based security management for simplified & consistent control of the switch.
ABRSWFABMGR 868639 Brocade Fabric Manager option is a SAN Management software for efficient provision, monitoring, and administration of multiple Brocade switches across multiple SAN fabrics.

Hardware maintenance and troubleshooting guide for SBFCM and SBCEFCSW
This Hardware Maintenance and Troubleshooting Guide contains information to help you solve problems yourself or to provide helpful information to a service technician.  Please refer the "HMM and TSG [PDF]" guide for more details.

icon  Hardware Maintenance and Troubleshooting Guide [PDF]

Installation and user’s guide for SBFCM
This Installation and User's Guide contains instructions for installing your Intel® Server FC Expansion Card SBFCM in the Intel® Server Compute Blade system. Please refer to the document for more details.

icon Installation and User's Guide [PDF]

This Installation and User's Guide contains instructions for installing your Intel® Server FC Expansion Card SBFCM in the Intel® Server Compute Blade system. This publication contains information about:
  • Installing and configuring the expansion card
  • Updating the BIOS code and device drivers of the expansion card

The Fibre Channel expansion card is a 2 Gb Fibre Channel device that has two configurable adapter ports. Communication signals are routed from the blade server through the Fibre Channel highspeed connector on the Expansion Card to switch-module bay 3 and bay 4 in the Intel® Server Chassis SBCE.  This provides a high-performance connection between the 64-bit PCI-X bus in the blade server and the two Fibre Channel Switch Modules in the SBCE unit.

icon User's Guide [PDF]

Other guides for SBCEFCSW
This is the Intel® Server Switch Module SBCEFCSW installation Guide.

icon Installation Guide [PDF]

Management and user's guide for SBCEFCSW
You can manage and configure your Intel® Blade Server Switch Module SBCEFCSW through a Telnet connection to the embedded command line interface (CLI) or by using the SAN Utility application. The SAN Utility provides an intuitive graphical user interface (GUI) that you can use to configure multiple Fibre Channel switch modules through other connected SAN devices from a single interface. The SAN Utility application is referred to throughout this publication as the SAN Utility. The Fibre Channel Switch Module is referred to throughout this publication as the switch module.

icon Manage and User Guide [PDF]

Intel® FC Switch Interoperability Guide
The Intel® Server Platform SB-HE Fibre Channel Switch Interoperability Guide provides the details needed to configure and deploy multi-vendor switched fabrics. Detailed switch configuration data and step-by-step configuration procedures are provided to merge Intel Server Switch Module SBCEFCSWs (Intel Fibre Channel Switch Modules) with Brocade, Cisco, IBM, INRANGE, McDATA, QLogic, and Sun Fibre Channel switched fabrics that comply with the second revision of the Fibre Channel switch standard (FC-SW-2). Please refer to the document" Interop_Guide [PDF]" for more information.

icon Intel® FC Switch Interoperability Guide [PDF]

Intel® FC Switch SAN Solutions Guide
The Intel® Server Platform SB-HE Fibre Channel SAN Solutions Guide provides you with solutions that incorporate the advanced features of the Intel Server Platform SB-HE. These solutions address the most common objectives of today's information technology (IT) departments. Today, efficiency and managing the bottom line are paramount to success. Refer to the SAN Solution Guide for more details.

icon SANSolutionGuide [PDF]

Installation and user's guide for SBCEOPM
This Installation Guide for the Intel® Optical Pass-thru Module SBCEOPM contains the following information:
  • Installing the Intel Optical Pass-thru Module
  • Connecting the Intel Optical Pass-thru Module to your existing network infrastructure.

For installation details, please see “Installing and removing an Intel® Optical Pass-thru Module SBCEOPM” on page 5.

Please refer to the document below for more details.

icon Installation and User's Guide [PDF]

Installation and user's guide for SBEFCM4, 4 Gbps
This Installation and User's Guide contains instructions for installing your Intel® Server Fibre Channel Expansion Card SBEFCM4 in the Intel® Server Compute Blade system. Please refer to the document for more details.

icon Installation and User's Guide [PDF]

Installation guide for Brocade* 4 Gb SAN Switch Module
This Installation Guide contains instructions and information about:

  • Setting up and installing or replacing the Brocade* 4Gb SAN Switch Module in an Intel® Blade Server Chassis
  • Configuring the switch module through the Telnet interface
  • Configuring the switch module through the Advanced Web Tools interface

    Please refer to the Installation Guide for more details.

icon Installation Guide [PDF]

Installation Guide for Brocade* Spare Fibre Channel Switch Module
This Installation Guide contains information about setting up and installing the Brocade* Spare Fibre Channel Switch Module and the Brocade* Entry/Enterprise SAN Switch Module into Intel® Blade Server chassis. Please refer to the Installation Guide for more details.

icon Installation Guide [PDF]

Frequently Asked Questions for SBEFCM4
1) Fibre Channel Overview
Fibre Channel technology is outlined in the SCSI-3 Fibre Channel Protocol (SCSI-FCP) standard.
Fibre Channel is a high-speed data transport technology used for mass storage and networking.
By adding fibre channel I/O-expansion cards to the blade servers, and fibre channel compatible I/O modules to the SBCE unit, you can attach the blade server to an external storage area network (SAN) through the external 4 Gbps (gigabits per second) optical ports on the I/O modules. The expansion card provides up to 8 Gb of bandwidth for full-duplex per port.

2) Features and Specifications
The 4 Gb Fibre Channel Expansion Card has the following features:

  • Compliance with U.S. and international safety and emissions standards
  • Support for direct memory access (DMA)
  • Support for bus mastering
  • Fast!UTIL basic input/output system (BIOS) utility program to customize the configuration
  • parameters on the Expansion Card and attached drives
  • Support for Fibre Channel protocol SCSI (FCP-SCSI) and Fibre Channel Internet protocol
  • (FCP-IP)
  • Support for point-to-point fabric connection (F-port fabric login)
  • Support for Fibre Channel service (classes 2 and 3)


The Fibre Channel Expansion Card has the following specifications:


 
3) What items are included in the Expansion Card Option package?
The Expansion Card option package includes the following items:

  •  Intel® Blade Server Fibre Channel Expansion Card SBEFCM4, 4 Gbps
  • Intel® Blade Server Fibre Channel Expansion Card SBEFCM4, 4 Gbps Resource CD

4) Host Adapter Settings
To access this option, select Host Adapter Settings. The default settings and the modifiable settings for the Fibre Channel Expansion Card are listed in Table 2 and are described in this section. The Fibre Channel Expansion Card is always point-to-point connected in a blade server with I/O module that supports fibre channel operation.


 Note: The loop reset delay, adapter hard loop ID, and hard loop ID settings are not applicable.

Host adapter BIOS: When this option is disabled, the read-only memory (ROM) BIOS code on the
Fibre Channel Expansion Card is disabled, freeing space in upper memory.
Frame size: This setting specifies the maximum frame length supported by the Fibre Channel
Expansion Card.
Spin up delay: When this option is enabled, the BIOS code waits up to 5 minutes to find the first
drive.
Connection options: This setting defines the type of connection (loop or point-to-point) or connection preference (see Table 3).



Fibre Channel tape support:
This setting is reserved for Fibre Channel tape support. The default is Enabled.
Data rate: This setting determines the data rate.

Note: The Fibre Channel Expansion Card settings and default values will vary, based on the
version of BIOS code installed for the expansion card.
There are specific Fibre Channel Expansion Card settings that you cannot modify. Table 5 describes these settings and gives examples.

Note: See the device driver installation instructions for the required operating system specific
modifications to the NVRAM.



BIOS address:
The BIOS address is the Fibre Channel Expansion Card I/O address where the
code is stored when you press Ctrl+Q. This is the address of the BIOS code in ROM shadow
memory.
BIOS revision: The BIOS revision is the revision number of the loaded BIOS code on the Fibre
Channel Expansion Card.
Adapter Serial Number: This number is for manufacturing use only. It does not correlate to
external labels or to the adapter port name of the Fibre Channel Expansion Card.
Interrupt level: The interrupt level is the interrupt that is used by the Fibre Channel Expansion
Card. The interrupt level can change when the operating system is installed.
Adapter port name: This is the worldwide port name of the Fibre Channel Expansion Card.

Compatibility
Can I flash my Intel® Blade Products with third party vendor firmware?
Manufacturers other than Intel may have firmware or software for Intel® Blade Products on offer, which may have a more recent date than the software available on the Intel® Download Center.

The use of such software has not been validated and may cause compatibility issues, which are not supported by Intel.  Only validated software should be used, which is available either from Intel's support website or by a dedicated link to the vendor from Intel's Software and Drivers Download page for the individual enterprise blades or components of the blade center.

Spares/Parts List and Configuration Guide
A reference guide to assist customers in ordering components to configure Intel® Enterprise Blade Server Family and all related components.

SPECIAL NOTE:  The description of the chassis refers to an included management module.  Please note that no management module is included by default.  This error will be fixed in a future release of the Configuration Guide.

icon Spares/Parts List and Configuration Guide [PDF]