Cisco VIC 1225 CNA Connectivity Options for 10G Upgrade

[Reuben Farrelly]

I've currently got an opportunity to upgrade a C220M3 UCS server from the standard Intel 1G LOM's to 10G and I'm looking at various ways to achieve this.  This is for a standalone UCS server running VMware.

At the present time in this environment there isn't a 10G uplink switch port that can be used to connect a 10G UCS port to, so I'm looking at ways to at least complete the 10G hardware upgrade on the UCS side and have that component completed, while having a transition period of 1G connectivity in the short term.

It seems the VIC 1225 is the obvious choice for this, as price wise it's reasonable and it's fully featured, even if we only need the 10G ethernet (no FCoE in the short term).

One option I was looking at was to use the 1225T model, as this supports 10BaseT backwards compatible with 1000BaseT.  However while it's an easy choice on the UCS, Cisco don't seem to have any 10G copper modules on the switch side, except in specific models in the Nexus family.  This limits our switching options in the future (this rules out the use of 4500-X's or 3850s for example).

10G fibre is an option, as is Twinax, however this brings me to my next few questions.

1. It appears that based on the C220M3 spec sheet at http://www.cisco.com/c/dam/en/us/products/collateral/servers-unified-computing/ucs-c-series-rack-servers/C220M3_SFF_SpecSheet.pdf (see Table 14) that the 1225 doesn't support Twinax.  In fact it's the only NIC and CNA listed that apparently doesn't support it, which seems odd.  Is this correct, and what is the reason behind this?   Is this a hardware issue, a software issue or a documentation issue?

2. If Cisco Twinax is not an option, does the 1225 support 1G SFPs such as the GLC-SX-MM?

3. It looks like the X520 card for UCS might work, as I believe it can run with dual-rate 1G/10G SFPs.  Has anyone tried this or have any comments on how those work with UCS?

Thanks,

Reuben

[Manuel Velasco]

Reuben Farrelly

The 1225 (UCSC-PCIE-CSC-02) does supports twinax cables, the documentation has a type-o.  If you look at the documentation for the c240 M3 that supports the same 1225 adapter, you will see that this card does supports the twinax cables (see attach screenshots).  In the documentation it shows that the 1225T supports twinax but this card comes with 2 10GBASE-T ports so it won't support either twinax cables or SFPs.

Please let me know is this is helpful

C240 M3 Page (39)

http://www.cisco.com/c/dam/en/us/products/collateral/servers-unified-computing/ucs-c-series-rack-servers/C240M3_SFF_SpecSheet.pdf

1225T (Table 2. Product Specifications )

http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/products/collateral/interfaces-modules/ucs-virtual-interface-card-1225/data_sheet_c78-727604.html

[Reuben Farrelly]

Ah - now that makes sense.  Thanks manvelas!

Is there a list of supported modules for these cards or is the SFP-10G-SR the only one supported?

[Manuel Velasco · Accepted solution]

 Yes, take a look at page 34 of the spec sheet for this server, but the only supported SPF are 10G-SR and the FC8G-SW.

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[Reuben Farrelly]

Thanks.  Appreciate your responses manvelas.

[Dennis Heim]

With the 1225T, is it possible to connect it to the fabric interconnect?

[Manuel Velasco]

The 1225T is not supported for integration with the fabric interconnects of UCS.