Cisco MDS 9000 Series Switches Guide

Data Sheet

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Updated:August 15, 2025

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Updated:August 15, 2025
 

 

Cisco MDS 9700 Series 64-Gbps Directors

Cisco Model

Cisco MDS 9706
multilayer director

Cisco MDS 9710
multilayer director

Cisco MDS 9718
multilayer director

 

Cisco MDS 9706_Cisco MDS 9710_Cisco MDS 9718

Configuration

Chassis with 4-linecard capacity

Chassis with 8-linecard capacity

Chassis with 16-linecard capacity

Maximum 2/4/8/10/16/32-Gbps Fibre Channel ports per chassis

192

384

768

Maximum 10-Gbps Fibre Channel over Ethernet FCoE) ports per chassis

192

384

768

Chassis throughput

12.3Tbps

24.6Tbps

49.2Tbps

Maximum Fibre Channel over IP (FCIP) ports per chassis

32x1/10 GE 8x40 GE

64x1/10 GE 16x40 GE

128x1/10 GE 32x40 GE

Port speed

2/4/8/10/16/32/64-Gbps Fibre Channel

1/10/40-Gbps FCIP

Port modules and Cisco part numbers

48-port 4/8/16/32-Gbps Fibre Channel switching module

DS-X9648-1536K9

48-port 8/16/32/64-Gbps Fibre Channel switching module

DS-9748-3072K9

24-port 2/4/8/10/16-Gbps Fibre Channel, 8-port 1/10 Gigabit Ethernet for FCIP, and 2-port 40 Gigabit Ethernet for FCIP

DS-X9334-K9

Supervisor Modules

DS-X97-SF4-K9

DS-X97-SF4-K9

Fabric Modules

DS-X9706-FAB3

DS-X9710-FAB3

DS-X9718-FAB3

Max/Min Fabric modules for 32G line rate performance

Minimum 3x Fabric-3

Minimum 3x Fabric-3

Minimum 3x Fabric-3

Maximum Power Supplies

4

8

16

Rack Units

9

14

26

Chassis per Rack

3

2

1

Power Supplies

DS-CAC97-3KW= AC PSU, DS-CDC97-3KW= DC PSU, DS-CHV-3.5KW= HVDC PSU

Licensing

Advantage Tier License (includes Enterprise Package and DCNM Advanced license)

Premier Tier license (includes Advantage tier and SAN Analytics license)

FICON certification

Yes

Yes

No

Common Features

64G Fiber Channel

Integrated SAN analytics

NVMe/FC

Automation using Ansible, Restful API, Openstack

Virtual Machine awareness

Anti-counterfeit technology with secure boot

Native on-switch RESTAPI and Python interpreter

Multi-protocol support

Simplified Management

Cisco MDS 9000 Series 64-Gbps Fabric Switches

Cisco Model

Cisco MDS 9148V 64G Multilayer Fabric Switch

Cisco MDS 9124V 64G Multilayer Fabric Switch

Cisco MDS 9396V 64G Multilayer Fabric Switch

 

Cisco MDS 9148V 64G Multilayer Fabric Switch

Cisco MDS 9124V 64G Multilayer Fabric Switch

Related image, diagram or screenshot

Configuration

Fixed 1RU chassis;

48 ports pre-configured

Fixed 1RU chassis;

24 ports pre-configured

Fixed 2RU chassis;

48 ports are pre-configured

Ports

48x8/16/32/64-Gbps Fibre channel (line rate) fixed switch

24x8/16/32/64-Gbps Fibre channel (line rate) fixed switch

96x8/16/32/64-Gbps Fibre channel (line rate) fixed switch

Port speed

8/16/32/64-Gbps Fibre Channel

8/16/32/64-Gbps Fibre Channel

8/16/32/64-Gbps Fibre Channel

Licensing

MDS Premier Software Subscription License bundle for a period of 1-,3,5-,7 year option*

MDS Advantage Software Subscription License bundle for a period of 1-,3,5-,7 year option

Port Activation license

Features

Modular high availability

Autozone feature

NVMe/FC

Virtual Machine awareness

Extended BB_Credits (Upto 16,000 per port / 24,000 per port group)

Native on-switch REST API and PYTHON interpreter

FC Trustsec Link encryption

Power-On Auto Provisioning (POAP) and intelligent diagnostics

Cisco In-Service Software Upgrade(ISSU) and downgrade (ISSD)

Redundant hot-swappable power supplies and fan trays

Anti-counterfeit technology with secure boot

 

Cisco MDS 9000 Series 32-Gbps Fabric Switches

Cisco Model

Cisco MDS 9132T 32G
Multilayer Fabric Switch

Cisco MDS 9148T 32G
Multilayer Fabric Switch

Cisco MDS 9396T 32G
Multilayer Fabric Switch

 

Cisco MDS 9132T

Cisco MDS 9148T 32G

Cisco MDS 9396T 32G

Configuratio006E

Semi-modular 1RU chassis; configurable to 8, 16, 24 or 32 ports

Fixed 1RU chassis; configurable to 24, 32, 40 or 48 ports

Fixed 2RU chassis; configurable to 48, 64, 80 or 96 ports

Ports

16x4/8/16/32-Gbps Fibre channel (line rate) base switch

16x4/8/16/32-Gbps Fibre channel (line rate) expansion module

48x4/8/16/32-Gbps Fibre channel (line rate) fixed switch

96x4/8/16/32-Gbps Fibre channel (line rate) fixed switch

Port speed

4/8/16/32-Gbps Fibre Channel sp

4/8/16/32-Gbps Fibre Channel sp

4/8/16/32-Gbps Fibre Channel sp

Port activation license

8/16-Port

8-Port

16-Port

Licensing

MDS Premier Software Subscription License bundle for a period of 1-,3,5-,7 year option*

MDS Advantage Software Subscription License bundle for a period of 1-,3,5-,7 year option

Port Activation license

Features

Integrated SAN Analytics

Modular high availability

Autozone feature

NVMe/FC ready

Virtual Machine awareness

Extended BB_Credits (Upto 8270 per port / 8300 per port group)

Native on-switch REST API and PYTHON interpreter

FC Trustsec Link encryption

Power-On Auto Provisioning (POAP) and intelligent diagnostics

Cisco In-Service Software Upgrade(ISSU) and downgrade (ISSD)

Redundant hot-swappable power supplies and fan trays

Anti-counterfeit technology with secure boot

Cisco MDS 9000 Series Software License Packages

Licensed package

Features

Premier Tier Subscription (contains SAN Analytics)

This package includes features that enable On-board SAN Telemetry, SAN Insights DCNM visualization and SAN Telemetry Streaming to 3rd Party tools for Visualization. SAN Insights is included in DCNM advanced license when switches have SAN Analytics license installed.

Advantage Tier Subscription (contains Enterprise license)

This package includes advanced traffic engineering and advanced security features for enterprise SANs like:

  Advanced traffic management
  Inter-VSAN Routing (IVR)
  Quality of Service (QoS)
  Extended buffer-to-buffer credits
  Security
  Switch-to-switch and host-to-switch authentication
  Port security
  VSAN-based access control
  IP Security (IPsec) for Internet Small Computer Systems Interface and FCIP
  Internet Key Exchange (IKE) digital certificates
  Fabric binding for Fibre Channel

Advantage Tier Subscription (contains Cisco Data Center Network Manager (DCNM) license)

Data Center Network Manager is designed to help customers efficiently implement and manage next-generation virtualized data centers. It provides timely management support for data center hardware platforms and Cisco NX-OS Software innovations. Nexus Dashboard is the replacement for DCNM and leverages the same license for entitlement.

Mainframe license (Included in NX-OS base functionality starting with 9.4(1a))

This package includes features required in mainframe environments. FICON is an architecture for high- speed connectivity between mainframe and I/O devices

  VSAN for FICON and Fibre Channel Protocol (FCP) intermode channel-to-channel operations
  FICON Control Unit Protocol (CUP)
  Fabric binding
  Switch cascading
  IBM Total Storage virtual tape server
  IBM Total Storage Extended Remote Copy (XRC)
  FICON native mode and native mixing operation
  Persistent FICON FCID assignment
  Port swapping for host channel cable connectors
  FICON tape acceleration

(This license is applicable to MDS 9706, MDS 9710 and MDS 9220i only.)

Cisco MDS 9000 Series Software Subscription License Bundles

License Bundle

Details

MDS Advantage Software Subscription License bundle

  Includes Enterprise license and Cisco Nexus ® Dashboard Fabric Controller (NDFC; formerly DCNM) license
  1-, 3-, 5- and 7-year subscription options

MDS Premier Software Subscription License bundle

  Includes Enterprise license and Cisco Nexus ® Dashboard Fabric Controller (NDFC; formerly DCNM) license and SAN Analytics license
  1-, 3-, 5- and 7-year subscription options

 

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