Dell EMC PowerEdge MX7000 Quick reference guide

Dell EMC VMware Cloud Foundation for
PowerEdge MX7000
Deployment Guide

Notes, cautions, and warnings
NOTE: A NOTE indicates important information that helps you make better use of your product.
CAUTION: A CAUTION indicates either potential damage to hardware or loss of data and tells you how to avoid the problem.
WARNING: A WARNING indicates a potential for property damage, personal injury, or death.
© 2019 Dell Inc. or its subsidiaries. All rights reserved. Dell, EMC, and other trademarks are trademarks of Dell Inc. or its subsidiaries. Other trademarks
may be trademarks of their respective owners.
2019 - 05
Rev. A01

Contents
1 Audience and scope....................................................................................................................................... 6
2 Overview....................................................................................................................................................... 7
3 Pre-deployment requirements........................................................................................................................9
Management host..............................................................................................................................................................9
Connectivity..................................................................................................................................................................9
Network services............................................................................................................................................................... 9
Domain Name Service................................................................................................................................................10
Dynamic Host Conguration Protocol......................................................................................................................10
Network Time Protocol..............................................................................................................................................10
4 Validated components...................................................................................................................................11
Hardware components......................................................................................................................................................11
Software and rmware.................................................................................................................................................... 12
Using the VMware Compatibility Guide......................................................................................................................... 12
View BIOS and compatible ESXi versions for system and server platform.........................................................12
View driver and rmware versions for Network Interface Card........................................................................... 12
View driver and rmware versions for disk controller............................................................................................ 12
Software............................................................................................................................................................................ 13
Firmware and drivers........................................................................................................................................................13
5 Hardware overview.......................................................................................................................................14
Dell EMC PowerEdge MX7000.......................................................................................................................................14
Front view of the PowerEdge MX7000 chassis..................................................................................................... 14
Back view of the PowerEdge MX7000 chassis......................................................................................................15
Logical view of the PowerEdge MX7000 chassis.................................................................................................. 15
Dell EMC PowerEdge MX740c compute sled...............................................................................................................16
Dell EMC PowerEdge MX5016s storage sled............................................................................................................... 17
Dell EMC PowerEdge MX9002m management module..............................................................................................18
Dell EMC Networking MX9116n Fabric Switching Engine...........................................................................................19
Dell EMC Networking MX7116n Fabric Expander Module.......................................................................................... 19
Dell EMC Networking MX5108n Ethernet switch....................................................................................................... 20
Dell EMC PowerEdge MX5000s SAS switch...............................................................................................................20
6 Physical layout.............................................................................................................................................22
Conguration options...................................................................................................................................................... 22
Option 1—single PowerEdge MX7000 enclosure..................................................................................................22
Option 2—single PowerEdge MX7000 with MX5016s storage sled.................................................................. 22
Option 3—two PowerEdge MX7000 enclosures.................................................................................................. 23
Option 4—two PowerEdge MX7000 with MX5016s storage sled..................................................................... 23
Option 5—two PowerEdge MX7000 enclosures using Fabric Switching Engine............................................. 24
Contents 3

Cabling...............................................................................................................................................................................25
Cabling for a single PowerEdge MX7000 enclosure conguration......................................................................25
Cabling for a dual MX7000 enclosure conguration............................................................................................. 26
Cabling for a dual PowerEdge MX7000 enclosure conguration using Fabric Switching Engines................. 28
7 Cloud Foundation and SDDC design considerations..................................................................................... 32
External services overview............................................................................................................................................. 32
Active Directory..........................................................................................................................................................33
Dynamic Host Conguration Protocol.....................................................................................................................33
Domain Name System............................................................................................................................................... 33
Network Time Protocol............................................................................................................................................. 33
Simple Mail Transfer Protocol mail relay (optional)................................................................................................ 33
Certicate Authority (optional)................................................................................................................................ 34
Physical network requirements...................................................................................................................................... 34
Network pools.................................................................................................................................................................. 34
VLANs and IP subnets.....................................................................................................................................................34
Host names and IP addresses........................................................................................................................................ 35
Host names and IP addresses for external services..............................................................................................35
Host names and IP addresses for the virtual infrastructure layer........................................................................36
Host names and IP addresses for the operations management layer................................................................. 37
8 Networking requirements.............................................................................................................................38
VMware Cloud Foundation networking.........................................................................................................................38
Network conguration options.......................................................................................................................................39
Network connectivity...................................................................................................................................................... 39
VLAN and subnets for networking conguration........................................................................................................ 45
9 Manual switch conguration........................................................................................................................46
Switch operating mode................................................................................................................................................... 46
VLANs and subnets for manual switch conguration................................................................................................. 46
Uplink and VLTi ports.......................................................................................................................................................47
Congure the ports for VLTi...........................................................................................................................................48
Congure VLT domain..................................................................................................................................................... 48
Verify VLT settings.....................................................................................................................................................48
Verify the VLTi (port-channel)................................................................................................................................. 49
Congure the uplink Link Aggregation Control Protocol.............................................................................................49
Congure the server facing ports..................................................................................................................................50
Verify switch conguration.............................................................................................................................................50
10 SmartFabric network conguration............................................................................................................54
Create chassis groups..................................................................................................................................................... 54
Dene networks...............................................................................................................................................................56
Create SmartFabric..........................................................................................................................................................57
Create SmartFabric using MX5108n Ethernet switching IOMs........................................................................... 57
Create SmartFabric using MX9116n Fabric Switching Engine IOMs...................................................................58
Congure uplinks..............................................................................................................................................................58
4Contents

Congure jumbo frames..................................................................................................................................................59
Server templates..............................................................................................................................................................60
Create a server template.......................................................................................................................................... 60
Associate server template with a VLAN................................................................................................................. 60
Deploy the server template....................................................................................................................................... 61
11 Map PowerEdge MX5016s storage sled drives............................................................................................62
Assumptions..................................................................................................................................................................... 62
Prerequisites..................................................................................................................................................................... 62
Map drives to compute sleds......................................................................................................................................... 62
12 Deploy ESXi to cluster nodes..................................................................................................................... 66
Prerequisites..................................................................................................................................................................... 66
Installation of ESXi........................................................................................................................................................... 66
Connect to iDRAC and boot installation media...................................................................................................... 66
Install VMware ESXi.................................................................................................................................................. 68
Congure ESXi settings—using DCUI.................................................................................................................... 69
Congure ESXi settings using web interface......................................................................................................... 70
13 Cloud Builder OVA deployment...................................................................................................................73
Deploy OVA.......................................................................................................................................................................73
14 Running Cloud Builder................................................................................................................................ 76
Prerequisites..................................................................................................................................................................... 76
Launch Cloud Builder web interface..............................................................................................................................76
Cloud Builder Deployment Parameter Sheet................................................................................................................ 77
Cloud Builder parameters................................................................................................................................................ 77
Management Workload tab.......................................................................................................................................78
Users and Groups tab................................................................................................................................................78
Hosts and Networks tab........................................................................................................................................... 78
Deploy Parameters tab.............................................................................................................................................. 78
Congure Cloud Builder validation................................................................................................................................. 79
SDDC bring-up................................................................................................................................................................. 79
15 Post-install validation..................................................................................................................................81
Cloud Foundation Cluster Verication............................................................................................................................81
SDDC Manager........................................................................................................................................................... 81
Customer Experience Improvement Program.........................................................................................................81
vCenter........................................................................................................................................................................ 81
Cluster and VMs.........................................................................................................................................................82
vSAN............................................................................................................................................................................82
NSX Manager.............................................................................................................................................................82
Contents 5

Audience and scope
This deployment guide includes step-by-step instructions for deployment of VMware Cloud Foundation on Dell EMC PowerEdge MX7000
modular platform. Any deviation from the listed congurations may negatively impact functionality.
This deployment guide makes certain assumptions about the prerequisite knowledge of the deployment personnel. This includes the
prerequisite knowledge of:
• Dell EMC products including the location of buttons, cables, and components in the hardware
• Functional knowledge of the items in the Dell EMC owner's manuals for the products being used
• VMware products and the components or features of VMware vSphere
• Data center infrastructure best practices in the areas of server, storage, networking, and environmental considerations such as power
and cooling
The scope of this document excludes existing infrastructure components outside of the specic hardware and software that is mentioned
in this guide. Dell EMC takes no responsibility for any issues that may be caused to existing infrastructure during deployment.
1
6 Audience and scope

Overview
Deployment of VMware Cloud Foundation on the PowerEdge MX7000 modular platform provides a hyperconverged infrastructure solution
incorporating best-in-class hardware from Dell EMC with core VMware products including vSphere, vSAN, NSX, vRealize Log Insight, and
SDDC Manager. Virtualization of compute, storage, and networking is delivered in a single package with VMware Cloud Foundation on
PowerEdge MX7000.
Dell EMC has determined the compatibility and established certication across hardware and software. The combination of Cloud
Foundation software on the Dell EMC PowerEdge MX7000 hardware that is described in this document has been validated in Dell EMC
labs and certied by VMware. The PowerEdge MX7000 systems that are described within are certied as vSAN Ready Nodes, as shown in
the VMware Compatibility Guide (VCG).
Some of the key benets of the PowerEdge MX7000 modular platform include:
• Embedded Dell EMC OpenManage Enterprise Modular Edition that provides the features of OpenMange Enterprise systems
management within the PowerEdge MX chassis. It includes a unied interface console for managing compute, storage, and networking
• Three I/O networking fabrics—two general purpose, and one storage-specic, each with redundant modules
• Multichassis networking up to 10 chassis
• Single management point for compute, storage, and networking
NOTE: Cloud Foundation builds a strong infrastructure foundation which you can expand with additional products. You can
enable a true private cloud consumption model in your environment with optional add-on products from the VMware vRealize
suite of software. For more information about these products, see www.vmware.com/products/vrealize-suite.html.
Deploying Cloud Foundation includes several steps. The following gure lists the steps and their sequence, providing a high-level
visualization of the overall deployment workow.
In the gure and throughout the deployment process, the term SDDC bring-up refers to the software-dened data center (SDDC) which is
built as the result of the steps documented in this guide.
2
Overview 7

Figure 1. Cloud Foundation deployment workow
8Overview

Pre-deployment requirements
Management host
The deployment of VMware Cloud Foundation is executed by a Cloud Builder VM that is deployed using an Open Virtualization Appliance
(OVA). The virtual machine must be deployed on an ESXi host or cluster that is not a part of the Cloud Foundation cluster. If the
management network is a private network (as it is in this example), then deploy an NTP server and a DHCP server on a management host.
In this example, a host in an existing vSphere environment is used to run the services that are required to install Cloud Foundation. The
management VLAN and VXLAN VLAN are extended to this management host. An NTP time server is installed on the management VLAN
and a DHCP server on the VXLAN VLAN.
Figure 2. Management host in an existing vSphere environment
Connectivity
The Cloud Builder VM must be able to communicate with the hosts that become the Cloud Foundation management cluster. In this
example, the new cluster hosts were given IP addresses on the 172.16.11.0/24 subnet and placed on the management VLAN (1611). A port
group on the management host that was tagged with VLAN 1611 was created and connected to a port on a switch that accepted (ingress)
trac. The switchports between that initial ingress port and the new hosts were tagged with VLAN 1611.
Network services
There are three network services that are essential for Cloud Foundation deployment.
3
Pre-deployment requirements 9

NOTE: Misconguration or lack of one of these services causes the validation portion of the installation to fail.
The information pertaining to the network services are inserted into the Cloud Builder Deployment Parameter Sheet. The parameter sheet
is a spreadsheet that contains the details of the deployment and information specic to these prerequisites.
Domain Name Service
Domain Name Service (DNS) is required to provide both forward and reverse name resolution. The IP addresses of name servers, search
domains, and hostnames of all the Cloud Foundation VMs must be inserted into the cloud builder deployment parameter sheet. Forward
and reverse DNS entries of any hostname that are indicated in the parameter sheet should be tested and retested for both forward and
reverse lookups. Test the DNS entries using their Fully Qualied Domain Name (FQDN) and their short name (hostname).
NOTE: Every DNS hostname and corresponding IP address that is specied in the parameter sheet are tested during the
validation phase.
Dynamic Host Conguration Protocol
Dynamic Host Conguration Protocol (DHCP) is required to provide network addresses to the VXLAN VTEPs. A Virtual Tunnel End Point
(VTEP) is an NSX, software-based endpoint of a VXLAN connection that communicates over their IP addresses and are on the same Layer
2 (L2) network. A large IP address pool is required for every host connection on the VXLAN network (one address per NIC per host).
NOTE: Software-based VTEPs could transition to hardware-based VTEPs with the launch of new features included in future
switch operating systems.
Whenever a new cluster node is added to the Cloud Foundation, a new VTEP is created which requires DHCP to obtain IP addressing
information. The DHCP service is not only a prerequisite for deployment but an ongoing requirement as well. Place the DHCP server (or
VM) on a reliable and well-maintained part of your infrastructure.
The validation process checks to ensure that DHCP is available on the VXLAN network that is specied in the parameter sheet. Validation
fails if there is no positive DHCP response on the VXLAN network.
Network Time Protocol
Time synchronization is critical to the Cloud Foundation stack. All hosts and the Cloud Builder VM are synchronized to a reference time
source before attempting to run the validation phase of the Cloud Builder process. Network Time Protocol (NTP) trac is routed from
client to source or it can travel over the same L2 network.
10 Pre-deployment requirements

Validated components
Validated components refer to the hardware components, and the software and rmware versions that have been validated. The versions
that are listed in the following section are the recommended minimum for this release to match all of the deployment steps listed in this
guide.
Topics:
• Hardware components
• Software and rmware
• Using the VMware Compatibility Guide
• Software
• Firmware and drivers
Hardware components
The following hardware components were used in the validation of this solution.
NOTE: Cloud Foundation automatically congures vSAN disk groups, which requires following a few rules for drive population:
• Identical drive congurations in each target host
• There must be one size for all cache drives, as well as one size for all capacity drives
• The number of capacity drives in a host is cleanly divisible by the number of cache drives (that is, the result is a whole number)
Table 1. Hardware components
Manufacturer Model Description Specications
Dell EMC PowerEdge MX7000 Chassis
Dell EMC PowerEdge MX740c Compute sled 2x Xeon Gold processor, 256 GB
RAM, Cache drives
Dell EMC PowerEdge MX5016s Storage sled 12 Gbps SAS, Capacity drives
Dell EMC PowerEdge MX5000s SAS Fabric switch IOM 12 Gbps SAS
Dell EMC Networking MX9116n Network fabric switching engine IOM
Dell EMC Networking MX7116n Network fabric expander IOM
Dell EMC Networking MX5108n Network switch IOM
Dell EMC HBA330 MX Disk controller—internal drives
Dell EMC HBA330 MMZ Disk controller—PowerEdge
MX5016s drives
Dell EMC BOSS MX Boot/OS device BOSS Card MX, 2x 256 GB M.2,
RAID-1 vDisk
Toshiba PX05SMB vSAN cache drive 800 GB, 12 Gbps SAS SSD, 2.5"
Samsung PM1635a vSAN capacity drive 1.6 TB, 12 Gbps SAS SSD, 2.5"
QLogic QL41232HMKR Network interface card Slot Mezz 1A, 2 ports x 25 GbE
4
Validated components 11

Software and rmware
NOTE: The VMware Compatibility Guide (VCG) is the system of record for versions of certain types of rmware and drivers
which are certied to be compatible with vSphere and vSAN. These include server platform, vSAN disk controllers, and network
interface cards. For more information on other components, see www.dell.com/support.
Using the VMware Compatibility Guide
The table of software and rmware versions has been conrmed as VMware-certied for compatibility with Cloud Foundation. For more
information, see Software and Firmware and drivers section. If additional conrmation is required, see the following sections:
•View BIOS and compatible ESXi versions for system and server platform
•View driver and rmware versions for Network Interface Card
•View driver and rmware versions for disk controller
View BIOS and compatible ESXi versions for system and server
platform
1 Open VMware Compatibility Guide.
2 Expand What are you looking for and then select Systems/Servers.
3 In the Keyword box, enter the model of the server, for example, PowerEdge MX740c.
4 Click Update and View Results.
5 In the Server Device and Model Information section, select the required model.
NOTE: Only the minimum supported versions of server BIOS are displayed.
The BIOS and the compatible ESXi versions for the selected model are displayed.
View driver and rmware versions for Network Interface Card
1 Open VMware Compatibility Guide.
2 Expand What are you looking for and then select IO Devices.
3 From the Brand Name list, select DELL.
4 In the Keyword box, enter the model of the NIC, for example, ConnectX-4.
5 Click Update and View Results.
6 In the I/O Device and Model Information section, select the required model.
NOTE: Only the minimum supported versions of NIC rmware are displayed. For more information, see VMware
Knowledge Base.
The driver and rmware information and the compatible ESXi versions for the selected model are displayed.
View driver and rmware versions for disk controller
1 Open VMware Compatibility Guide.
2 Expand What are you looking for and then select vSAN.
3 Scroll down the page, and then click Build Your Own based on Certied Components under To customize vSAN ReadyNode
section.
12 Validated components

4 From the Search For list, select I/O Controller.
5 From the Brand Name list, select DELL.
6 In the Keyword box, enter the model of the disk controller, for example, HBA330 MX.
7 Click Update and View Results.
8 In the Server Device and Model Information section, select the required model.
NOTE: You must use the exact versions of vSAN disk controller rmware and driver combination that is listed in the
VCG. These are not minimum supported versions.
The driver and rmware versions for the selected model are displayed.
Software
The following table lists the software products that were validated in the solution:
Table 2. Software versions compatible with vSphere and vSAN
Software Product Version Build
VMware vSphere ESXi 6.7 EP 06 11675023
IOM Switch OS 10.4.0E.R4S 10.4.0E.R4S.347
VMware Cloud Foundation (includes the following): 3.7.0 12696155
Cloud Builder VM 2.0 12696155
VMware vCenter Server Appliance 6.7 U1b 11726888
VMware NSX Data Center for vSphere 6.4.4 11197766
VMware vRealize Log Insight 4.7 9983377
SDDC Manager 3.7.0 12696155
Firmware and drivers
The following table lists the rmware and ESXi driver versions that were validated in the solution:
Table 3. Firmware and driver versions compatible with vSphere and vSAN
Item Firmware Version ESXi Driver Version
PowerEdge MX740c BIOS 1.6.13 N/A
iDRAC 3.30.30.30 N/A
QLogic 2x25 GbE and
QL41232HMKR
14.07.07 3.7.9.1
HBA 330 MX 16.17.00.03 lsi_msgpt3 version 17.00.01.00-1OEM.670
HBA 330 MMZ 16.17.00.03 lsi_msgpt3 version 17.00.01.00-1OEM.670
PowerEdge MX7000 chassis 1.00.10 N/A
PowerEdge MX5016s storage sled 2.40 N/A
PowerEdge MX5000s storage IOM 1.0.9.6 N/A
Validated components 13

Hardware overview
This section provides additional information about the hardware platform used in the development of this deployment guide.
Topics:
• Dell EMC PowerEdge MX7000
• Dell EMC PowerEdge MX740c compute sled
• Dell EMC PowerEdge MX5016s storage sled
• Dell EMC PowerEdge MX9002m management module
• Dell EMC Networking MX9116n Fabric Switching Engine
• Dell EMC Networking MX7116n Fabric Expander Module
• Dell EMC Networking MX5108n Ethernet switch
• Dell EMC PowerEdge MX5000s SAS switch
Dell EMC PowerEdge MX7000
With kinetic architecture and Agile management, the PowerEdge MX portfolio dynamically congures compute, storage, and fabric,
increases team eectiveness, and accelerates operations. The responsive design delivers the innovation and longevity customers of all sizes
need for their IT and digital business transformations.
Key features of PowerEdge MX7000 include:
• 7U modular enclosure with eight slots that can accommodate 2S single or four 4S double-width compute sleds and 12 Gb/s single-
width storage sleds.
• 25 Gb Ethernet, 12 Gb SAS, and 32 Gb Fiber channel I/O options.
• Three I/O network fabrics—two for general use and one for storage only; each with redundant modules.
• Multichassis networking up to 10 chassis.
• Single management point for compute, storage, and networking.
• High-speed technology connections, now and into the future, with no mid-plane upgrade.
Front view of the PowerEdge MX7000 chassis
The front of the PowerEdge MX7000 chassis provides access to compute and storage sleds, fans, KVM, and power supplies. The
conguration in the image below includes the following components:
• Four Dell EMC PowerEdge MX740c sleds in slots one through four
• One Dell EMC PowerEdge MX840C sled in slots ve and six (not used in this guide)
• Two Dell EMC PowerEdge MX5016s sleds in slots seven and eight
5
14 Hardware overview

Figure 3. PowerEdge MX7000 chassis—front view
Back view of the PowerEdge MX7000 chassis
The back of the PowerEdge MX7000 chassis provides access to network and storage fabrics, management modules, fans, and power
connections. The conguration in the image below includes the following components:
• Two Dell EMC Networking MX5108n Ethernet switches installed in fabric slots A1 and A2
• Two Dell EMC PowerEdge MX9002m management modules that are installed in management slots MM1 and MM2
• Two Dell EMC PowerEdge MX5000s SAS fabric switch modules that are installed in fabric slots C1 and C2
• Empty or available fabric slots B1 and B2
Figure 4. PowerEdge MX7000 chassis—rear view
Logical view of the PowerEdge MX7000 chassis
PowerEdge MX7000 supports three fabrics—two for general use and one for storage only. All three fabrics support redundant modules.
Hardware overview 15

Figure 5. Logical view of the PowerEdge MX7000 chassis
Dell EMC PowerEdge MX740c compute sled
Dell EMC PowerEdge MX740c is a two-socket, full-height, single-width compute sled that oers high performance and scalability. It is ideal
for dense virtualization environments and can serve as a foundation for collaborative workloads. The PowerEdge MX7000 chassis supports
up to eight PowerEdge MX740c sleds (if no other sleds are used, such as PowerEdge MX5016s storage sleds)
• 24 DIMM slots of DDR4 memory
• Up to six SAS or SATA SSD or hard drive and NVMe PCIe SSDs
• Boot device options such as BOSS-S1
• Two PCIe mezzanine card slots for connecting to network Fabric A and B
• One PCIe mini-mezzanine card slot for connecting to storage Fabric C
• iDRAC9 with Lifecycle Controller
16 Hardware overview

Figure 6. Dell EMC PowerEdge MX740c compute sled
Dell EMC PowerEdge MX5016s storage sled
The PowerEdge MX5016s storage sled delivers scale-out, shared storage within the PowerEdge MX architecture. The PowerEdge
MX5016s sled provides customizable 12 GB/s direct-attached SAS storage with up to 16 SAS hard drives or SSDs. Both the PowerEdge
MX740c and the PowerEdge MX840c compute sleds can share drives with the PowerEdge MX5016s sled using the PowerEdge MX5000s
SAS module. Internal server drives may be combined with up to seven PowerEdge MX5016s sleds in one chassis for extensive scalability.
The PowerEdge MX7000 chassis supports up to seven PowerEdge MX5016s storage sleds.
NOTE: SATA and NVMe devices are not supported in the PowerEdge MX5016s storage sled (it is SAS only). All three drive types
are supported as local drives in the PowerEdge MX740c and PowerEdge MX840c compute sleds.
Hardware overview 17

Figure 7. Dell EMC PowerEdge MX5016s storage sled
Dell EMC PowerEdge MX9002m management module
The Dell EMC PowerEdge MX9002m management module controls the overall chassis power, cooling, and hosts the OpenManage
Enterprise-Modular (OME-M) console. Two external 1G-BaseT Ethernet ports are provided to enable management connectivity and to
connect more PowerEdge MX7000 chassis into a single logical chassis. The PowerEdge MX7000 chassis supports two PowerEdge
MX9002m management modules for redundancy.
Figure 8. PowerEdge MX9002 management module
1 Handle release
2 Gigabit Ethernet port 1
3 Gigabit Ethernet port 2
4 ID button and health status LED
5 Power status LED
6 Micro-B USB port
18 Hardware overview

Dell EMC Networking MX9116n Fabric Switching
Engine
The Dell EMC Networking MX9116n Fabric Switching Engine (FSE) is a scalable, high-performance, low latency 25 GbE switch purpose-
built for the PowerEdge MX platform. The MX9116n FSE provides enhanced capabilities and cost-eectiveness for enterprise, mid-market,
Tier 2 cloud, and Network Functions Virtualization (NFV) service providers with demanding compute and storage trac environments.
In addition to 16 internal 25 GbE ports, the MX9116n FSE provides:
• Two 100 GbE QSFP28 ports
• Two 100 GbE QSFP28 unied ports
• Twelve 2x100 GbE QSFP28-Double Density (DD) ports
The QSFP28 ports can be used for Ethernet uplink connectivity. For more information, see Management host section. The unied ports
can be used for Ethernet uplink connectivity and supporting eight 32 Gb Fibre Channel (FC) ports for SAN connectivity supporting both
NPIV Proxy Gateway (NPG) and direct attach FC capabilities.
The QSFP28-DD ports provide fabric expansion connections for up to nine more PowerEdge MX7000 chassis using the MX7116n Fabric
Expander Module. The QSFP28-DD ports also provide capacity for extra uplinks, VLTi links, and connections to rack servers at 10 GbE or
25 GbE using breakout cables. The PowerEdge MX7000 chassis supports up to four MX9116n FSEs in Fabric A or B, or both.
Figure 9. MX9116n FSE
1Express service tag 2 Storage USB port
3 Micro-B USB console port 4 Power and indicator LEDs
5 Handle release 6 Two QSFP28 ports
7 Two QSFP28 unied ports 8 12 QSFP28-DD ports
Dell EMC Networking MX7116n Fabric Expander
Module
The Dell EMC Networking MX7116n Fabric Expander Module (FEM) acts as an Ethernet repeater, taking signals from an attached compute
sled and repeating them to the associated lane on the external QSFP28-DD connector. The MX7116n FEM provides two QSFP28-DD
interfaces, each providing up to eight 25 GbE connections to the chassis.
There is no operating system or switching ASIC on the MX7116n FEM, so it never requires an upgrade. There is also no management or
user interface, making the MX7116n FEM maintenance-free. The PowerEdge MX7000 chassis supports up to four MX7116n FEMs in Fabric
A or Fabric B, or both.
Hardware overview 19

Figure 10. MX7116n FEM
1 Express service tag 2 Supported optic LED
3 Power and indicator LEDs 4 Module insertion or removal latch
5 Two QSFP28-DD fabric expander ports
NOTE: The MX7116n FEM cannot act as a stand-alone switch and must be connected to the MX9116n FSE to function.
Dell EMC Networking MX5108n Ethernet switch
The Dell EMC Networking MX5108n Ethernet switch is targeted at small PowerEdge MX7000 deployments of one or two chassis.
Although not a scalable switch, it still provides high-performance and low latency with a non-blocking switching architecture. The MX5108n
switch provides line-rate 25 Gbps Layer 2 and Layer 3 forwarding capacity to all connected servers with no oversubscription.
In addition to eight internal 25 GbE ports, the MX5108n switch includes:
• One 40 GbE QSFP+ port
• Two 100 GbE QSFP28 ports
• Four 10 GbE RJ45 BASE-T ports
The ports can be used to provide a combination of network uplinks, VLT interconnects (VLTi), or for FCoE connectivity. The MX5108n
switch supports FCoE Initialization Protocol (FIP) Snooping Bridge (FSB) mode but does not support NPG or direct attach FC capabilities.
The PowerEdge MX7000 chassis supports up to four MX5106n Ethernet switches in Fabric A or Fabric B, or both.
Figure 11. Dell EMC Networking MX5108n Ethernet switch
1 Express service tag
2 Storage USB port
3 Micro-B USB console port
4 Power and indicator LEDs
5 Module insertion or removal latch
6 One QSFP+ port
7 Two QSFP28 ports
8 Four 10GBASE-T ports
Dell EMC PowerEdge MX5000s SAS switch
The Dell EMC PowerEdge MX5000s SAS module supports x4 SAS internal connections to all eight front-facing slots in the PowerEdge
MX7000 chassis. The PowerEdge MX5000s uses T10 SAS zoning to provide multiple SAS zones or domains for the compute sleds.
Storage management is done using the OME-Modular console.
20 Hardware overview