Fabric Modules

Up to four switch fabric modules (or fabric modules) can be installed in each ExtremeSwitching X8 Series (formerly BlackDiamond X Series) chassis to provide the active switching fabric for the switch. The switch fabric supports N+1 redundancy. Three fabric modules are required to provide full switch fabric capacity. The fourth fabric module provides excess capacity for redundancy but is not required to maintain full line rate on the front-panel ports. Fabric modules are installed in dedicated slots at the back of the chassis, behind the fan trays.

1 = Inserter/extractor lever

BDXA-FM10T fabric modules provide a total switch fabric capacity of 10 Terabits per second, and BDXA-FM20T fabric modules provide 20 Terabits per second.

A switch fabric composed of BDXA-FM10T modules will provide full line rate for the BDXA-10G48X, BDXA-10G48T, BDXB-100G4X, and BDXA-40G12X I/O modules. For the BDXA-40G24X I/O module, a BDXA-FM20T switch fabric is required for full line rate on all ports. The BDXA-40G24X I/O module will not operate with a switch fabric composed of BDXA-FM10T modules.

All the fabric modules in a switch must be the same type; you cannot combine BDXA-FM10T modules and BDXA-FM20T modules.

Status LEDs for each fabric module are on the fan tray that is in front of that fabric module. The status LEDs for the fabric module are labeled Diag and Stat.

The following table describes the meanings of the fabric module LEDs.