Slingshot 4218

2Gb / 1Gb Open Fabric Switch

The Gadzoox Networks Slingshot 2Gb Open Fabric Fibre Channel Switch is a high-speed, standards-based, full-fabric switch designed to deliver the storage networking industry's highest levels of performance, flexibility, intelligence, and value. The Slingshot architecture, with 200MB/sec full-duplex connectivity at every port, provides the bandwidth needed to increase current application performance, meet the needs of new, high performance applications, and ensure that the storage network keeps pace with the explosive growth of data. Support for industry standards allows Slingshot to optimize existing SAN environments, while also allowing for a smooth migration to the next generation of Fibre Channel products. Broad interoperability enables Slingshot to be the cornerstone of SAN solutions such as storage consolidation, high-availability clusters, and backup solutions designed to reduce expenses and ensure 24x7 access to data. The ease of installation and management,unmatched port density, and unprecedented price/performance result in a significantly higher ROI compared to other fabric switches.

Click here to view the 4218HA (High-Availability) model

  • Fast: Non-blocking 2 Gbps duplex communication at each port
  • Flexible: Standards-based for broad interoperability
  • Compact: 18 ports in 1U - unparalleled rack density
  • Intelligent: Ports automatically configure to support 2 or 1 Gb, loop or fabric
  • Great Value: A 2 Gb fabric switch for less than today's 1 Gb fabric switches.

Unprecedented Performance

The non-blocking architecture of the Slingshot 4218 provides 200 MB/sec full-duplex connectivity on each of the 18 ports. You can now build a high-performance SAN with end-to-end 2b throughput, or flexibly increase bandwidth where you need it. The doubling of throughput compared to existing 1Gb switches allows IT professionals to keep up with the amazing growth in the amount of data that needs to be stored and accessed by an IT infrastructure that continues to increase its performance.

The Slingshot 4218 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. Even in a 1Gb environment, Slingshot brings the added benefit of enabling you to reduce the number of inter-switch links (ISLs) needed to meet bandwidth requirements, freeing up more ports to connect to servers and storage. (Figures 1 and 2).

Figure 1 - Building a mesh with a Slingshot 4218 2Gb open fabric switch (lower diagram) creates 60 user ports, compared to only 40 user ports using legacy 1Gb, 16-port switches (upper diagram).

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

Industry-leading Flexibility

The Slingshot 4218 supports the industry-standard open fabric protocol (FC-SW-2), which allows Slingshot to route data and share information with fabric switches from other vendors. To further protect your investment in existing Fibre Channel devices, Slingshot 4218 also supports Fibre Channel loop devices.

Slingshot 4218 has 18 ports in a single rack unit, the highest port density in the industry. You will save valuable rack space compared to other products with a single switch, and that savings will grow exponentially as the SAN fabric scales (Figure 3). Slingshot 4218 uses standards-based, hot-swappable small-form-pluggable (SFP) ports to give you the flexibility to choose media on a port-by-port basis (Figure 4).

Figure 3 - Two Slingshot 4218's stack to deliver 36 ports in 2U, compared to only 16 ports for other fabric switches.

Figure 4 - The Slingshot 4218 uses standards-based SFP (small-form-pluggable) GBIC-like connectors, which allow up to 18 ports in a single unit of height.

Slingshot's fabric support, 2Gb bandwidth, and high port density provide you flexibility in choosing the SAN topology to deploy. The high port count and bandwidth may allow a single switch to meet your connectivity needs. As your connectivity needs grow, you can efficiently scale your infrastructure in a mesh, mesh-tree, or core-and-edge topology. In such cases, the 2Gb speed of each port enables users to avoid over subscription across the SAN while minimizing the number of ports used for ISLs (Figure 5).
Figure 5 - Enterprise SAN with 2Gb switches at the core.

Highly Intelligent

In order to ease installation and management, Slingshot 4218 ports automatically configure to support 2Gb or 1Gb, fabric or loop devices. By addressing the connectivity needs of existing 1Gb and new 2Gb loop or fabric devices, the Slingshot 4218 provides the highest level of interoperability and investment protection. Load-sharing trunks allow the flexibility to make multiple connections between switches where higher bandwidth is required. If a connection fails, the self-healing trunking automatically routes all traffic over the surviving connections.

Advanced Management

Every Slingshot 4218 comes with Ventana SANtools FX software, allowing you to manage the switch and the fabric via a command line or web-based graphical interface. 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

The optional Redundant Power System (RPS) is a unique design that provides low-cost redundant power to multiple switches. A single, 1U-high RPS can contain one to three hot-swappable power supplies to support one to three Slingshot 4218 switches. In the unlikely event of a power failure in the switch, the power supply in the RPS automatically provides power to the switch and an alert is sent. The RPS can be added without disrupting the network, so there is no longer a need to specify high availability at the time you purchase a fabric switch.

Reliability is ensured by continuous monitoring of all mechanical and environmental components including ports, fans, power supplies, temperature and link status. Embedded port monitoring enables the switch to automatically partition failed ports out of the fabric and re-activate them when the problem clears. The switch includes redundant cooling capability in the event of a fan failure.

Technical Specifications

Fibre Channel Connectivity
  • 18 UNIVERSAL FIBRE CHANNEL PORTS; 2.1250 OR 1.0625 GBPS FULL-DUPLEX DATA RATE ON EACH PORT
  • SELF-HEALING, LOAD-SHARING TRUNKS
  • PROTOCOLS SUPPORTED: FC-AL, FC-AL-2, FC-FLA, FC-GS-2, FC-GS-3, FC-FG, FC-PH, FC-PH-2, FC-PH-3, FC-SW, FC-SW-2
  • FABRIC SERVICES: FC-SW-2 DISTRIBUTED NAME SERVER, REGISTERED STATE CHANGE NOTIFICATION (RSCN), FC-SW-2 ZONING
  • FABRIC PORT TYPE: SELF-CONFIGURING UNIVERSAL PORTS (F, FL, E)
  • MANAGEMENT ACCESS: ETHERNET RJ-45 10/100; SERIAL DB-9, ANSI TERMINAL
  • MANAGEMENT INTERFACE: TELNET, SNMP, TFTP, HTTP, SANTOOLS FX VIA 100BASE-T
  • MANAGEMENT STANDARDS: IETF FIBRE CHANNEL MANAGEMENT MIB, FABRIC ELEMENT MIB
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    Switch Operation
  • BANDWIDTH: 36GBPS NON-BLOCKING
  • SCALABILITY: FULL FABRIC, 239 SWITCHES
  • LATENCY: <2µSEC, CUT-THROUGH SWITCHING
  • MAX FRAME SIZE: 2112 BYTE
  • CLASSES OF SERVICE: CLASS 2, CLASS 3, CLASS F
  • MEDIA TYPE: SMALL-FORM PLUGGABLE (SFP) GBIC SHORT-WAVE LASER, UP TO 500M LONG-WAVE LASER COPPER HSSDC-2
  • DATA TRAFFIC TYPES: UNICAST, BROADCAST
  • OPTIONS: REDUNDANT POWER SUPPLY, SMALL-FORM PLUGGABLE GBICS, RACK MOUNT KIT
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    Physical Specifications
  • 1U, RACKMOUNTABLE
  • HEIGHT: 1.66IN/42MM; WIDTH: 17.2IN/437MM; DEPTH: 20.1IN/511MM
  • WEIGHT: 6.8 LBS (3.1KG)
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    Electrical Specifications
  • AC VOLTAGE: 100-240 VAC; AUTO-RANGING 50-60 HZ; AUTO-RANGING 2.5A AT 88 VAC-0.9A AT 240 VAC
  • POWER SUPPLY: (1) 165W, FIXED
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    Environmental Specifications
  • OPERATING TEMPERATURE: +10ēC TO +50ēC
  • STORAGE TEMPERATURE: -30ēC TO +60ēC
  • OPERATING HUMIDITY: 20% TO 80% NON-CONDENSING AT 40ēC
  • NON-OPERATING HUMIDITY: 10% TO 90% RH