Slingshot 4210

2Gb / 1Gb Open Fabric Switch

The Gadzoox® Networks Slingshot 4210 2Gb Open Fabric Fibre Channel Switch is a high-speed, standards-based, full-fabric switch designed to provide the performance, connectivity and availability needed by clusters today and tomorrow. At a compact half-rack wide, 1U high size, the value-leading Slingshot 4210 enables the cost-effective building of high availability clusters with separate, redundant paths between servers and storage devices. The Slingshot architecture, with 2Gb full-duplex connectivity at every port, provides the bandwidth needed to increase current application performance, and meet the needs of new, high performance applications. Support for standards allows Slingshot to optimize existing SAN environments, while also providing a smooth migration to the next generation of Fibre Channel products. Broad interoperability enables Slingshot to be the cornerstone of SAN solutions such as high-availability clusters, storage consolidation, and backup solutions designed to ensure 24x7 access to data and reduce expenses. The ease of installation and management, unmatched port density, and unprecedented price/performance result in a higher ROI compared to other fabric switches.

• Fast: Non-blocking 2 Gbps duplex communication at each port
• Flexible: Cluster-optimized performance, port count and form factor
• Compact: 10 ports in 1/2 rack width 1U height for maximum rack density
• Intelligent: Ports automatically configure to support 2 or 1 Gb, loop or fabric
• Great Value: Unprecedented value at less than $1000 per port.

Unprecedented Performance

The Slingshot 4210 allows 2Gb-capable systems to operate at full speed even though 1Gb devices are connected to the same switch, allowing you to deploy Slingshot in a 1Gb environment and have the infrastructure necessary for future 2Gb purchases (Figure 1).

Figure 1 - Mixed Speed Environment. Connect 2Gb (blue HBAs) or 1Gb (green HBAs) on a port-by-port basis.

Designed for HA Clusters

For clustering applications, a Slingshot 4210 ten-port switch allows you to support your configurations today, and scale to higher node requirements in the future, providing investment protection for both hardware devices and qualification support resources. Next-generation clustering applications will connect up to eight servers, requiring a ten port switch such as the Slingshot 4210 to attach storage to the server cluster (Figure 2).

Figure 2 - Slingshot 4210 meets connectivity needs of next generation software clustering up to 8 servers.

Industry-Leading Flexibility

Figure 3 - Two Slingshot 4210 Switches fit side by side in 1U to maintain 24x7 access to data even through service actions.

Figure 4 - Hot-swappable SFP (small form pluggable) GBIC connectors provide media flexibility and high port density.

Slingshot's fabric support, 2Gb bandwidth, and port density provide you flexibility in choosing the SAN topology to deploy. The port count and bandwidth may allow a single switch to meet your connectivity needs. As your needs grow, you can efficiently scale your infrastructure by connecting to a Slingshot 4218 or director-class switch. When connecting to another 4210 or a Slingshot 4218, you can dynamically control bandwidth of trunks connecting switches by selecting how many ports to connect. The self-healing trunks automatically reroute data in the rare occurrence of a path failure (Figure 5).

Figure 5 - Scale by connecting Slingshot 4210 to Slingshot 4218 switches through flexible, self-healing trunks.

Intelligent Management

Every Slingshot 4210 comes with Ventana SANtools FX software, allowing you to manage the switch and the fabric via a command line or web-based graphical interface. The intuitive GUI is easy to learn and use, reducing storage management expenses by providing drag-and-drop zoning, pop-up tips, and on-line help files. SANtools FX includes a visualization of the entire SAN to give a quick overview of the status of all switches, and provide a single view for managing the fabric.

Support for industry-standard MIBs enables SNMP-based applications to access switch information to more efficiently manage the entire SAN or IT infrastructure. Newer versions of software can be non-disruptively downloaded in-band or out-of-band.

Reliability and Serviceability

Technical Specifications