Dell PowerConnect

PowerConnect is a Dell series of network switches. The PowerConnect "classic" switches are based on Broadcom or Marvell Technology Group fabric and firmware. Dell also offers the PowerConnect J-series which are Juniper Networks switches and the PowerConnect B-series which are Dell-branded Brocade switches. Dell acquired Force10 Networks in 2011 to expand its data center switch products.^[1] Dell also offers the PowerConnect M-series which are switches for the M1000e blade-server enclosure and the PowerConnect W-series which is a Wi-Fi platform based on Aruba Networks switches.

Product line

The Dell PowerConnect line is marketed for business computer networking. They connect computers and servers in small to medium-sized networks using Ethernet. The brand name was first announced in July 2001, as traditional personal computer sales were declining.^[2] By September 2002 Cisco Systems cancelled a reseller agreement with Dell.^[3] Previously under storage business general manager Darren Thomas, in September 2010 Dario Zamarian was named to head networking platforms within Dell.^[4]

PowerConnect switches are available in pre-configured unmanaged models as well as more expensive managed models.

PowerConnect 2200 and 2300 series

Models 2216 and 2224 were unmanaged, 10/100 Mbit/s Ethernet over twisted pair switches, with 16 and 24 ports each, respectively. They were discontinued.^[when?] The PowerConnect 2324 was similar to 2224, but includes 2 Gigabit Ethernet ports for uplink or server purposes.

PowerConnect 2600 series

The PowerConnect 2600 series included the 2608, 2616 and 2624. They are un-managed Gigabit Ethernet workgroup switches with all ports at 10/100/1000. The 2624 model features an SFP port for fiber uplinks.

PowerConnect 2708, 2716, 2724, and 2748

Dual-mode unmanaged or Web managed all-Gigabit workgroup switches (10/100/1000). Eight, 16, 24, or 48 ports respectively. On the 2724, the last two ports may be used as normal twisted-pair ports or, with small form-factor pluggable transceiver (SFP) modules, for fiber-optic connectivity. The 2748 has 4 of these "combo" ports. Unlike the rest of the 2700 series, the 2708 does not support Jumbo Frames. Switches ship in a plug-n-play un-managed mode and can be managed via a graphical user interface.

PowerConnect 3400 series

PowerConnect 3424, 3424P, 3448, and 3448P were fully managed 10/100 switches with gigabit uplinks. All have four Gigabit ports, two copper and two SFP modular, all of which may be used at once. The 3424 and 3424P have 24 10/100 ports, the 3448 and 3448P have 48. The 3424P and 3448P provide power over Ethernet on all 10/100 ports (PowerConnect 3448P requires EPS-470 for full 15.4W on all ports simultaneously). The switches are stackable using the copper Gigabit ports. They were discontinued.^[when?]

PowerConnect 3500 series

PowerConnect 3524(P) and 3548(P) are managed 10/100 switches with gigabit uplinks and Power over Ethernet options for [applications such as Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), denoted on the models denoted with a "P" on the end of the part number. All switches in this family support resilient stacking and have management and security capabilities.

PowerConnect 5300 series

The PowerConnect 5316M was similar in software and function to other 53xx series switches but physically designed to fit one of the four IO bays in the 1855/1955 blade chassis. 16 ports, 10 of which are allocated to the 10 blade slots in the chassis, 6 are accessible via the back panel of the switch. It was discontinued.^[when?]

The PowerConnect 5324 was a 24 port, all-Gigabit, fully managed switch. The last 4 ports are SFP capable. Generally very similar to the 3400 series. It was discontinued.^[when?]

PowerConnect 5400 series

The 5400 series switches are end of development^[when?] and were replaced by the 5524 and 5548 switches. PowerConnect 5400 series are based on integrated circuits from Marvell Technology Group. 5400 series switches have 24 or 48 ports, all-Gigabit, and are fully managed. They are marketed for data centers or as edge-switches in wiring closets connecting office-workplaces to the LAN including their VoIP phone via Power over Ethernet (PoE). The last 4 ports on the switch are combo-ports: either you use the standard copper-ports or you use the SFP slots for 1Gbit/s SFPs. The front of the switch has 24/48 RJ-45 copper-interfaces and 4 open SFP slots.

The -P models support PoE) on all Gigabit Ethernet ports, but an external additional power supply is used to connect over 24 PoE devices on the 5448-P switch. The 5400 series switches support:^[5]

• VoIP optimization and auto-configuration
• iSCSI optimization and auto-configuration
• IEEE 802.1X (Dot1x) port-authentication
• IEEE 802.1Q (Dot1q) VLANs, trunking and -tagging.

PowerConnect 5500 series

PowerConnect 5500 series switches, the successor of the 5400 series, are based on Marvell technology. They offer 24 or 48 Gigabit Ethernet ports with (-P series) or without PoE. Where the 5400 series has 4 ports for SFP tranceivers on the front and the option to place 2 stacking or 10 Gigabit ports on the back, the 5500 series have these interfaces built in and on the front: there are two stacking ports with HDMI connectors and two SFP+ slots for 10 Gigabit Ethernet links.

The -P models have Gigabit Ethernet ports that are PoE capable, but connecting more than 24 ports with PoE requires the MPS-600 external power-supply together with the built-in AC power-supply. Using the MPS-600 makes the power supply redundant (although you can only power up to 24 PoE devices when one of the two power-supplies fail.). For redundant power supply on the non-PoE devices you can use the RPS-series redundant power supply in combination with the built-in supply.

The 5500 series are stackable to combine several 5500-series switches into one virtual switch. The 5500 series uses standard HDMI cables (specification 1.3a category 2 or better) to stack with a total bandwidth of 40 Gbit/s per switch. All 5500 series models can be combined in a single stack.^[6]

The 5500 series switches are mainly designed to be pure layer 2 switches but it has some very basic layer 3 capabilities. Other standard features are enhanced VOIP support where the switch automatically recognizes connected VOIP devices and ocnfigure VOIP quality of service and a VOIP-VLAN. This feature will only work optimal in small VOIP networks. There is also iSCSI optimization and auto-configuration. The switch also supports IEEE 802.1X (Dot1x) port-authetication.^[7]

PowerConnect 6024

The PowerConnect 6024 with 24 Gigabit Ethernet over twisted pair ports was annonced in early 2004.^[8]

The PowerConnect 6024F was a 24 port, layer 3, all-Gigabit, fiber-optimized switch. It had 24 SFP ports, eight of which doubled as copper ports. This switch was capable of routing, with static routes, Routing Information Protocol (RIP), and Open Shortest Path First (OSPF). It was replaced by the PowerConnect 6224/6248 models^[when?]

PowerConnect 6200 series

The 6224 and 6248 switch was introduced in early 2007 as the logical follow-up of the 6024 switch. It had 24 resp. 48 Gigabit Ethernet ports and four ports for 10 Gigabit Ethernet or stacking by inserting the specific add-on modules in the back of the switch.^[9]

Many of the Dell PowerConnect offer 'combi' ports where the last 4 ports on the switch are either copper (UTP/RJ-45) or fibre (SFP) ports: for example the PC6224 offers 20 'copper only' interfaces while ports 21-24 can be found twice on the front of the switch: as standard UTP ports and also as SFP slots, but you can only use one of them: by default the UTP port is enabled but when you insert a SFP module in port 21-24 it switches over to fibre mode and the UTP link goes down. Any combo ports are always the highest 4 standard ports (21-24 on the PCxx24 models and 45-48 on PCxx48 models)

Features include 24/48 ports, Layer 3 routing, all-gigabit, fully managed (web+cli), stackable switch with up to 4 10Gb ports. High availability routing, edge connectivity, traffic aggregation and VOIP applications all supported in the 62xx series. Flexible, high-speed stacking, fiber support, and MS NSP Certification included.

The 6224 (P and F) and 6248P series switches are end of development: new firmware versions will only repair bugs, no new features are being developed for these switches.^[when?] While other PowerConnect switches based on Broadcom hardware have firmware versions 4.x, the 6200 series continue to run on version 3.x and features introduced in the 4.x firmware are not available for the 6200 series switches.^[10][11](note: this does NOT apply to the PCM 6220 blade-switch)

PowerConnect 7000 series

The PowerConnect 7024 and 7048 were introduced April 1, 2011. They had the same ports as the 6224/6248, QoS features for iSCSI, and incorporate 802.3az Energy Efficient Ethernet. A variant with reversible air flow is available for top of rack data center applications. The 6000 series remained on the market.^[12]

Powerconnect 8000 series

The PowerConnect 8024 and 8024F are rack-mounted switches offering 10 Gigabit Ethernet on copper or optical fiber using enhanced small form-factor pluggable transceiver (SFP+) modules on the 8024F. On the 8024 the last 4 ports (21-24) are combo-ports with the option to use the 4 SFP+ slots to use fiber optic connections for longer-distance uplinks to core switches. On the 8024F the 4 combo ports offer 10GBASE-T copper-ports.

The 8024 can be used as pure Data Link Layer/Layer2 switch or as Network Layer/Layer3 switch. These switches were introduced in early 2010, in the same single rack unit (1U) size.^[13]

The 8024/8024F is marketed as a high-performance data center switch.^[14]

M-series

See also: Dell M1000e switches

The PowerConnect M-series switches are classic Ethernet switches based on Broadcom fabric for use in the blade server enclosure M1000e.

All M-series switches offer a combination of internal interfaces and external interfaces. The internal interfaces connect to the mezzanine card of the blade-servers in the M1000e enclosure. These internal interfaces can be one or 10 Gbit/s. The M6220 offers a total of 20 interfaces: 16 internal 1 Gbit/s interfaces and 4 external 1 Gbit/s ports. Optionally two extension-modules can be installed that offers 10 Gbit/s ethernet or stacking-interfaces to stack multiple M6220 switches together as one virtual switch.^[15] The M6348 has 32 internal ports (2 per blade) and 16 external 1 Gbit/s ports. The M6348 can be stacked via CX4 modules and/or create 10 Gbit/s SFP+ uplinks.^[16] The M8000 series offer 10Gb on all interfaces: the M8024-k has 16 internal 10Gb ports, 4 SFP+ slots and the option to install a FlexIO module that can offer 4 SFP+ ports, 3 CX-4 or 2 10GBaseT copper interfaces.^[15] The M8024-k was announced in May 2011.^[17]

Also under the M-series name Dell offers the Brocade Communications Systems M5424 Fibre Channel switch and the M8424 Fibre Channel over Ethernet switch.^[18]

Other switches and I/O modules for the M1000e blade-enclosure are the Cisco Systems 3032 and 3130 switches and several pass-through modules that bring the internal interfaces from the midplane to the exterior to connect these server-NIC's to external switches^[19][20]

B-, J- and W-series

The B-series, J-series and W-series are Dell branded versions of switches from Brocade Communications Systems, Juniper Networks and Aruba Networks respectively.^[21]

Due to the aquisition of Force10 te available PowerConnect-J series and PowerConnect B-series are reduced: only product lines for which there is NO alternative (yet) from Force10 are still available as OEM PowerConnect switch. Examples of still available products are the Juniper security products (SRX series)^[22] and the Brocade FCoE and pure Fibre Channel switches.

The normal (datacenter)ethernet switches from Juniper and Brocade are being replaced by Dell Force10 models^[23] ``

Force10

In July 2011 Dell announced the acquisition of Force10 Networks, another company that designed and marketed Ethernet switches.^[24] The deal completed on August 26, 2011.^[1] This led to speculation that relationships with other vendors such as Cisco and Brocade would change because they overlap the data center market.^[24] In September 2011 Dell announced plans to expand the staff from Force10 in San Jose, California and Chennai, India.^[25]

References

1. ^ ^{a b} "Dell Completes Acquisition of Data Center Networking Leader Force10 Networks". News release (Dell). August 26, 2011. http://content.dell.com/us/en/corp/d/secure/2011-08-26-dell-acquisition-datacenter-force10-networks.aspx. Retrieved October 7, 2011. 
2. ^ John G. Spooner (July 18, 2001). "Dell to sell network switches". CNET news. http://news.cnet.com/2100-1001-270124.html. Retrieved August 16, 2011. 
3. ^ John Leyden (September 9, 2002). "Cisco expels Dell from reseller fold: Get your Routers off my Lawn". The Register. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2002/09/09/cisco_expels_dell_from_reseller/. Retrieved August 15, 2011. 
4. ^ Chris Mellor (September 24, 2010). "Dell getting serious about networking: Recruits network body builder". The Register. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/09/24/dell_zamarian/. Retrieved August 15, 2011. 
5. ^ "PowerConnect 5448 Switch". Product page. Dell. http://www.dell.com/content/products/productdetails.aspx/pwcnt_5448. Retrieved October 7, 2011. 
6. ^ Dell PowerConnect 5500 Series System User Guide. Dell. December 6, 2010. http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/network/pc5548/en/UG/PDF/en_ug.pdf. Retrieved October 7, 2011. 
7. ^ Dell website PC5548 series tech-specs, visted 25 June 2011
8. ^ John Bass (March 8, 2004). "Dell's PowerConnect 6024: Dell hits the price/performance mark with new Gigabit Ethernet switch". Network World. http://www.networkworld.com/reviews/2004/0308rev.html. Retrieved October 7, 2011. 
9. ^ Paul Venezia (February 12, 2007). "Dell Connects on Price, Performance". InfoWorld: p. 44. http://books.google.com/books?id=wzcEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA44. Retrieved October 7, 2011. 
10. ^ "Drivers & Downloads for PowerConnect 6224". http://support.dell.com/support/downloads/driverslist.aspx?s=biz&SystemID=PWC_6224&os=WNET&osl=en. Retrieved October 7, 2011. 
11. ^ "Drivers & Downloads for PowerConnect 7024 (24 Port Switch)". http://support.dell.com/support/downloads/driverslist.aspx?s=biz&SystemID=PWC_7024&os=WNET&osl=en. Retrieved October 7, 2011. 
12. ^ Stephen Lawson (March 31, 2011). "Dell updates PowerConnect switches but keeps earlier line". ComputerWorld. IDG. http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9215416/Dell_updates_PowerConnect_switches_but_keeps_earlier_line. Retrieved October 7, 2011. 
13. ^ Paul Venezia (February 25, 2010). "InfoWorld review: Dell PowerConnect 8024F hits 10G paydirt". InfoWorld. http://www.infoworld.com/d/networking/infoworld-review-dell-powerconnect-8024f-hits-10g-paydirt-857. Retrieved October 7, 2011. 
14. ^ "PowerConnect 8024 Ethernet Switch: 10Gb 1U high density switch". Dell website. http://www.dell.com/us/enterprise/p/powerconnect-8024/pd. Retrieved October 7, 2011. 
15. ^ ^{a b} Dell M-series IO guide, visited 31 July 2011
16. ^ Dell Specsheet on M6348 series, downloaded 31 July 2011
17. ^ Jim Duffy (May 9, 2011). "Dell extends data center line for virtualization: Dell rolls out switches, servers and storage for IT migrations". Network World. http://www.networkworld.com/news/2011/050911-interop-dell-powerconnect.html. Retrieved October 7, 2011. 
18. ^ Dell website M8424 switch, visited 31 July 2011
19. ^ Dell website on Catalyst 3130G, visited 31 July 2011
20. ^ Dell passthrough modules, visited 31 July 2011
21. ^ Timothy Prickett Morgan (May 9, 2011). "Dell fashions (more of) its own network switches: With a little help from Brocade and Aruba". The Register. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/05/09/dell_powerconnect_switches/. Retrieved August 15, 2011. 
22. ^ Dell sales-page on PowerConnect J-SRX series, visited 11-11-2011
23. ^ Dell website on Dell Force10 Data Center Switching delivery program, visited 11-11-2011
24. ^ ^{a b} Agam Shah (July 20, 2011). "Dell fills data center technology stack with Force10". ComputerWorld. IDG. http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9218545/Dell_fills_data_center_technology_stack_with_Force10. Retrieved August 8, 2011. 
25. ^ John Ribeiro (September 15, 2011). "Dell plans to double Force 10 Networks team". ComputerWorld. IDG. http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9220030/Dell_plans_to_double_Force_10_Networks_team. Retrieved October 7, 2011. 

External links

• Networking on the Dell official website