Cisco MDS 9710 (DS-C9710) Full Product Description

1. Short Sales Title

2. Official Product Overview & Lifecycle

1. DS-C9710-K9 (Intake / I): Front-to-back cold aisle airflow (air intake port panel, exhaust rear PSU compartment)
2. DS-C9710E-K9 (Exhaust / E): Back-to-front hot aisle airflow (air intake rear power panel, exhaust front port panel)
   Separate high-voltage DC telecom variant DS-C9710-HV-K9 sold independently; all power supplies, fan trays, crossbar fabric modules are color-coded and non-interchangeable between AC/HV and I/E airflow SKUs.

Core Hardware Differentiators vs MDS 9706-K9 Smaller Director

1. Expanded front slot capacity: 8 universal hot-swappable line/service module slots (MDS 9706 only 4 line card slots), max 384×64G FC ports (4×48 for 9706 vs 8×48 for 9710), double port density for large pod/data center core aggregationCisco.
2. Same 6 independent DS-X97-FAB3 crossbar fabric modules (active-active load-sharing), total 24 Tbps full-duplex non-blocking chassis throughput (double MDS 9706’s 12.3 Tbps bandwidth)Cisco.
3. 14RU rack height (MDS 9706 =9RU), supports up to eight 3000W redundant power supplies (MDS 9706 only four PSUs), octal N+1 power redundancy for hyperscale full-load 64G transceiver power drawCisco.
4. Identical three independent hot-swappable fan trays with multi-fan fault tolerance (survive up to two fan tray failures without thermal shutdown), same Generation3 cooling architecture as MDS 9706 but larger chassis airflow volume for eight line card loading.
5. Dual redundant Supervisor-3 / Supervisor-4 fabric control modules (Sup-4 upgraded 8-core CPU, doubled memory, enhanced telemetry NPU) with stateful failover, non-disruptive ISSU firmware upgrades; both MDS 9706/9710 share same supervisor family, MDS 9710 supports newer Sup-4 for higher control-plane performanceCisco.
6. Unified MDS 9700 Generation3 module compatibility: 48-port 64G FC, FCoE converged, DS-X9334 FCIP multi-protocol extension, SSM storage encryption/asynchronous replication service modules, fully interchangeable with MDS 9706 line cards to reduce spare inventory cost.
7. Full native converged FCoE lossless forwarding with PFC/DCBX/VNTag, integrated ASIC hardware offload; complete FICON mainframe tape/disk acceleration for IBM z Systems, a specialized feature for financial/mainframe enterprise deploymentsCisco.
8. Dedicated onboard NPU per line card for real-time streaming SAN telemetry, frame header inspection, low-latency FC-NVMe processing, DMM non-disruptive data migration, IOA I/O acceleration, absent from legacy MDS 95xx directors and lower-density MDS fixed switchesCisco.
9. Dual bidirectional airflow hardware options fully compliant with modern cold/hot aisle data center rack containment architectures.

Core High-Availability Design

Model Suffix Breakdown

• DS-C: Cisco MDS storage director bare chassis part number prefix
• 9710: MDS 9700 modern Generation3 SAN director series, total 10 internal front slots (8 universal line/service card slots + 2 dedicated supervisor/fabric slots) plus six rear crossbar fabric modules
• K9: Standard AC power SKU with full multilayer NX-OS enterprise/carrier feature license
• I = Intake (front-to-back cold aisle airflow), E = Exhaust (back-to-front hot aisle airflow)

3. Chassis Slot & Hardware Layout Definition

Front Panel 10 Horizontal Slots (14RU 19-inch rack)

1. Slots 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8: Eight universal hot-swappable line/service module slots (64G FC switching cards, FCoE converged modules, DS-X9334 FCIP multi-protocol extension modules, SSM storage encryption/replication service modules)
2. Slots 9, 10: Dedicated redundant Supervisor-3 / Supervisor-4 fabric control module slots (Slot9 defaults active, Slot10 standby)

Rear Panel Redundant Subsystems

1. Six independent hot-swappable DS-X97-FAB3 crossbar switching fabric modules (mandatory for full 24 Tbps non-blocking bandwidth)
2. Up to eight independent hot-swappable 3000W power supply bays supporting AC or DC high-voltage power modules
3. Three separate hot-swappable multi-fan variable-speed fan trays for full chassis layered cooling

Out-of-Band Management Interfaces (each Supervisor module carries full management ports)

• RJ45 RS232 serial console port for local CLI access
• Mini USB dual local console port for laptop zero-cable administration
• Dual isolated 10/100/1000BASE-T out-of-band Ethernet management ports (separate SAN analytics export dedicated interface)
• External USB Type-A flash storage slot for NX-OS image upgrades, configuration backup and syslog export
• Physical reset button for factory default configuration recovery

Front Global Diagnostic LED Bank

Dual Airflow Hardware Options (color-coded PSUs/fans non-interchangeable between I/E chassis):

1. Intake (red): Front-to-back cold air intake (port/fan tray side), hot air exhausted from rear power/crossbar compartment (standard cold aisle rack)
2. Exhaust (blue): Back-to-front cold air intake (rear power panel), hot air exhausted from front port side (hot aisle containment racks)

Supported Transceivers & Pluggable Modules

1. Fibre Channel SFP+ transceivers (sold separately for all line card FC ports):
   • DS-SFP-FC16G-SW/LW: 16Gbps multimode/long-wave single-mode
   • DS-SFP-FC32G-SW/LW: 32Gbps multimode/long-wave single-mode
   • DS-SFP-FC64G-SW/LW: 64Gbps multimode/long-wave single-mode
   • Backward compatible with legacy 8G / 16G FC SFPs for existing storage array interoperation
2. FCoE / FCIP Ethernet SFP+ transceivers: 10G-SR/LR, 40G-SR4 for lossless FCoE and FCIP/iSCSI multi-protocol gateway functions
3. Supported pluggable line/service modules for Slots 1–8:
   • DS-X9648-1536K9: 48×32G FC high-density switching module
   • DS-X9748-3072K9: 48×64G FC maximum-density line card (8×48 = 384 total FC ports full chassis)
   • DS-X9334-K9 Multiprotocol Services Module: 24×FC SFP ports + 8×1/10G GE + 2×40G GE ports for FCIP / iSCSI WAN SAN extension gateway
   • SSM Storage Services Module: Inline tape/media encryption, asynchronous cross-fabric replication, SAN performance analytics
4. Supervisor module compatibility: Supervisor-3 Gen3 fabric control module, Supervisor-4 upgraded fabric module (8-core CPU, doubled RAM, enhanced telemetry NPU, Secure Boot)
5. Crossbar module compatibility: DS-X97-FAB3 Generation3 crossbar fabric modules (six required for full chassis bandwidth)
6. Power supply compatibility: 3000W Platinum AC PEM modules (DS-PWR-3000AC), 3000W DC PEM telecom modules (DS-PWR-3000DC), non-interchangeable between AC/HV chassis variants

4. Hardware & Physical Specifications

Core SAN Switching & Routing Performance

• Single-chassis non-blocking fabric maximum aggregate bandwidth: 24 Tbps full-duplex system-wide bandwidthCisco
• Wire-speed frame forwarding rate: Up to 24 Bpps Fibre Channel frame switching at full 64G line rate
• Low-latency virtual output queuing (VOQ) shared packet buffer pool, up to 10000 buffer credits per port group for long-distance ISL trunk links
• FC N_Port address table capacity: 1,048,576 unique host identifiers, optimized for dense blade server rack deployments
• Maximum isolated VSAN virtual fabrics: 4094
• Maximum active zone sets: 256 zone sets, up to 2000 individual zone entries per VSAN
• Jumbo FC frame MTU support: Up to 9000 bytes
• Supported FC port operating modes: F (Fabric host), FL (Arbitrated Loop), TL (Extended Loop), E (ISL inter-switch trunk), TE (Extended ISL), NP (NPV edge host aggregation)
• Link aggregation: PortChannel multi-port FC ISL trunk bundling, maximum 16 FC ports per logical bundle with dynamic load balancing
• NPV/NPIV native hardware acceleration: Consolidate thousands of server host ports upstream to MDS core directors without core fabric control-plane overhead
• Native multi-protocol ASIC hardware offload: FC-NVMe ultra-low-latency frame processing, FCoE lossless forwarding, FCoE PFC/DCBX/VNTag, FCIP write acceleration, tape pipelining, FCIP compression, DMM non-disruptive data migration, IOA I/O acceleration, onboard NPU real-time SAN telemetry streaming

Power & Cooling System

• Power supply bays: 8 hot-swappable redundant slots, each 3000W Platinum AC PSU fully powers complete chassis independently (N+1 failover protection)
• AC input voltage range: 100–240V AC (10% tolerance), 50/60Hz universal auto-ranging alternating current, 80 Plus Platinum high efficiency
• Fan trays: Three separate hot-swappable multi-fan assemblies; minimum two functional fan trays required to avoid thermal shutdown, up to two fan tray failures trigger SNMP fault alert without service interruption
• Real-time telemetry monitoring: Fan rotational speed, internal chassis ambient temperature, PSU input/output voltage, SFP+ optical transmit power, port error counters and module fault logging via console syslog and SNMP v1/v2c/v3 traps; critical thermal alarm threshold at 55°C
• Typical full-load power draw: 620W fully populated with eight 48-port 64G line cards + dual supervisor modules + six crossbar modules under maximum storage traffic load
• MTBF: 270,000 hours under standard data center and service provider PoP operating conditions

Physical & Environmental Parameters

• Rack form factor: 14 RU standard 19-inch horizontal rack mount
• Dimensions (H × W × D): 12.7 cm × 44.45 cm × 60.96 cm (14 rack units, 17.5 × 24 inch depth; extended depth 73.66cm with cable management guide installed)
• Bare chassis weight: 18.6 kg (41 lbs) without power supplies/fan trays/line/crossbar modules; fully loaded maximum weight 27.7 kg (61 lbs) with eight PSUs, three fan trays, six crossbar modules and eight 48-port line cards installed
• Operating ambient temperature range: 0°C to 40°C (32°F–104°F); certified altitude up to 2000 meters
• Storage temperature range: -40°C to 70°C (-40°F–158°F)
• Relative humidity: 10%–90% non-condensing operating; 5%–95% non-condensing storage
• Compliance Certifications: FCC Class A, UL 60950-1, CE, VCCI Class A, NEBS Level 3, RoHS compliant per regional environmental regulations, FIPS 140-2 Level 2 validated

Control Plane Out-of-Band Management Interfaces

• Dual local CLI access per supervisor: RJ45 RS232 serial port + Mini USB console port
• Dual isolated 10/100/1000BASE-T out-of-band Ethernet management ports
• External USB flash storage for offline NX-OS firmware and configuration archives
• Front panel multi-status LED bank providing real-time hardware health visualization

5. Full NX-OS Multilayer Feature Set (Cisco NX-OS MDS Release 6.x / 7.x / 9.x Universal Image)

Layer 2 Fibre Channel & Converged FCoE Fabric Services

• VSAN Virtual Storage Area Network: Logical fabric segmentation for multi-application / multi-tenant storage environment isolation
• Dual zoning models: Hard port zoning and soft WWN Smart Zoning + Autozone automatic standalone fabric zoning
• Complete FICON protocol stack support for IBM mainframe disk and tape enterprise storage connectivity
• Inter-Switch Link (ISL) trunk PortChannel load balancing across mixed 16G/32G/64G FC port speeds (max 16-port bundles)
• DTP Fibre Channel trunk negotiation protocol, FSPF dynamic fabric domain ID routing
• Local SPAN, RSPAN, ESPAN enhanced remote SAN traffic mirroring for multi-session performance troubleshooting
• Per-port broadcast/multicast storm suppression to eliminate fabric-wide RSCN broadcast outages
• NPV N_Port Virtualizer edge switch mode for large-scale core-edge enterprise SAN architecture deployment
• Slow drain detection and congestion isolation hardware feature to mitigate buffer credit starvation
• POAP Power On Auto Provisioning zero-touch switch deployment for mass access rack rollouts
• FC-NVMe optimized frame handling for ultra-low-latency all-flash NVMe storage workloads
• FCoE lossless Ethernet convergence with PFC, DCBX, VNTag virtual machine storage I/O tracking

Multilayer Storage Routing & Multi-Protocol Features

• FSPF Fibre Channel Shortest Path First dynamic fabric routing for multi-switch distributed SAN topologies
• PIM-SM IP multicast for cross-fabric asynchronous synchronous backup replication traffic
• Static FC route configuration for controlled inter-VSAN storage data movement
• Licensed IVR Inter-VSAN Routing feature for secure data transfer between isolated VSAN fabrics
• Complete carrier-grade MPLS service suite: MPLS LDP, VPLS, VPWS, EVPN-FC interoperability, MPLS VPN IPv4/IPv6 dual-stack
• FCIP tunnel hardware acceleration: lossless compression, write acceleration, tape pipelining for long-distance disaster recovery replication
• iSCSI multi-protocol gateway processing via DS-X9334 service modules for IP-attached server consolidation

Advanced SAN QoS & Traffic Prioritization

• Four hardware priority queues per Fibre Channel / FCoE port for tiered classification of storage I/O traffic
• Ingress frame policing and egress bandwidth shaping to throttle low-priority tape backup and replication streams
• Pre-built QoS templates for production OLTP database workloads, all-flash NVMe storage, tape backup archives, and disaster recovery replication
• Dedicated high-priority traffic queue for low-latency real-time unified communications and enterprise database workloads
• Medianet media optimization for enterprise video and telepresence storage workflows

Enterprise & Service Provider SAN Security Suite

• Port security: Static WWN locking to block unauthorized physical server/storage device attachment
• RBAC Role-Based Access Control granular CLI user privilege partitioning, integrated with Cisco ISE
• SSHv2 encrypted remote CLI management, SNMPv3 secure monitoring, AES encrypted startup configuration files
• DH-CHAP mutual bidirectional authentication for ISL inter-switch link fabric authentication
• Port lockdown, VSAN read-only access permissions, complete audit logging for all fabric configuration changes
• FIPS 140-2 validated security compliance for government and financial regulated environments
• Cisco TrustSec security group tagging for end-to-end policy segmentation across campus and data center domains
• IPv6 over Fibre Channel support for modern dual-stack management networks
• Secure Boot and anti-counterfeit hardware validation to prevent unauthorized firmware tampering

Monitoring & SAN Management Tools

• Cisco DCNM-SAN centralized graphical SAN fabric monitoring, provisioning and REST API automation
• Dual isolated out-of-band Ethernet management ports for offline device access during fabric-wide outages and analytics export
• External USB flash storage for offline NX-OS firmware image upgrades, running configuration backup archives and syslog export
• Cisco Discovery Protocol (CDP) automatic MDS fabric neighbor device discovery
• Real-time storage telemetry: Port throughput, latency, frame error counters, SFP+ optical transmit power diagnostics, onboard NPU streaming analytics export
• Event notification via email, syslog and SNMP traps for real-time fabric fault alerting
• GOLD Generic Online Diagnostics continuous hardware health validation without traffic interruption
• Onboard Python 3 interpreter + NX-API REST interfaces for custom SAN automation scripts

6. High Availability Capabilities (Core Differentiators vs MDS 9706-K9 Mid-Size Director)

1. Octal hot-swappable high-efficiency 3000W Platinum AC redundant power supplies (N+1 redundant architecture, MDS 9706 only four PSUs with half power redundancy capacity)
2. Three redundant variable-speed hot-swappable fan trays with multi-fan fault tolerance (survive two fan tray failures without SAN outage, shared cooling architecture with MDS 9706 but larger airflow volume for eight line card loading)
3. Six independent active-active load-sharing crossbar fabric modules delivering 24 Tbps full non-blocking bandwidth (MDS 9706 only 12.3 Tbps total throughput)
4. Dual redundant Supervisor-3 / Supervisor-4 Gen3 fabric control modules with stateful failover, onboard analytics NPU, native 64G FC/FCoE hardware offload (Sup-4 offers upgraded CPU/memory for larger fabric scale)
5. Eight universal line card expansion slots vs only four on MDS 9706, supporting up to 384 total 64G FC ports (double MDS 9706 maximum port density)
6. Full OIR hot-swap support for all critical FRUs: crossbar modules, fan trays, power supplies, supervisors, line cards, SFP+ transceivers without chassis power cycle
7. Dual bidirectional airflow hardware options fully compatible with modern cold/hot aisle data center rack containment architectures
8. Modern NX-OS software stack with native EVPN, POAP, Autozone, VMID analytics, onboard Python 3 and REST API automation absent from legacy MDS 95xx firmware
9. Expanded VOQ buffer, TCAM and Flexible NetFlow scale optimized for large-scale virtualized all-flash NVMe storage and multi-tenant carrier PoP workloads
10. Limitation: Fixed compact 14RU chassis with no additional line card expansion slots beyond eight built-in line card bays, no native 128G Fibre Channel generation hardware support

7. Typical Deployment Scenarios

1. Large Virtualized Data Center Rack-Scale Core SAN Director
   14RU modular rack form factor deployed as campus central SAN core director; eight integrated pre-activated 64G FC line cards populate all line card slots for 384 total FC ports connecting distributed building MDS 9706 edge switches, primary production all-flash NVMe storage arrays and massive blade server racks, dual redundant supervisors + six active-active crossbar modules provide zero-failover fabric control-plane and switching redundancy, VSAN segmentation isolates independent departmental production, test and backup storage fabrics for thousands of virtual machines.
2. Multi-Building Enterprise Campus Core-Edge SAN Fabric
   Multiple DS-C9710 mid-large modular directors deployed per data center storage rack, utilizing mixed 32G/64G long-distance LW FC ISL trunk links to interconnect geographically distributed campus storage pods, dual crossbar fabric ensures zero throughput loss during crossbar module maintenance, built-in FCIP gateway modules provision asynchronous cross-site disaster recovery replication tunnels between primary and DR data centers.
3. Large Regional Mission-Critical Headquarters SAN
   Financial, healthcare and government headquarters storage deployments require complete octal power + three-fan tray + dual supervisor + six-crossbar hardware redundancy to avoid site-wide catastrophic database and tape backup storage outages; integrated FICON mainframe support enables long-distance cross-site DR replication, while MPLS multi-tenant VSAN isolation features support mixed enterprise and agency storage workloads in a single space-efficient mid-large chassis.
4. Medium-to-Large Service Provider Multi-Tenant PoP Edge Storage Gateway
   Native full MPLS/VPLS/EVPN carrier-grade feature set and massive FC address table scale make DS-C9710 ideal for carrier PoP edge deployments, terminating hundreds of 64G enterprise customer access circuits and high-speed multi-port ISL core backbone trunks with logical VSAN multi-tenant isolation to separate independent customer storage fabrics, unused line card slots reserved for future growth in customer port count and encryption compliance service modules.
5. Legacy MDS 9506 / MDS 9509 SAN Hardware Refresh Migration Upgrade
   Drop-in performance upgrade for smaller legacy MDS modular directors, fully backward compatible with existing 16G Fibre Channel SFP transceivers while unlocking ultra-high 384-port density, dual redundant external crossbar fabric, octal redundant power supplies and modern NX-OS automation workflows.
6. Hyperscale Centralized Enterprise Tape Library Backup Fabric Core
   Deployed as dedicated backup SAN aggregation core director, utilizing multi-port FCIP PortChannel trunk links to primary production SAN fabrics via asynchronous off-site tape archive and disaster recovery replication workloads, with unused line card slots available for high-density host port expansion or SSM encryption/replication compliance service module additions as enterprise storage capacity expands.

8. Standard Package Contents (Bare Chassis DS-C9710 Base SKU)

Items Sold Separately (Not Included in Bare Chassis DS-C9710)

• Up to eight 3000W Platinum AC hot-swappable redundant power supply units (DC telecom PSUs sold separately)
• Three matching hot-swappable variable-speed fan assemblies (airflow color-matched I/E variants non-interchangeable)
• Six DS-X97-FAB3 crossbar fabric switching modules (mandatory for full chassis bandwidth operation)
• Two redundant Supervisor-3 or Supervisor-4 fabric control modules (mandatory for chassis operation)
• Optional MDS 9700 family pluggable line/service modules (48-port 64G FC switching module, DS-X9334 multi-protocol FCIP/iSCSI gateway module, SSM storage encryption/replication module)
• DS-SFP-FC16G/32G/64G optical fiber transceivers for all base FC ports (backward compatible with legacy 8G FC SFPs)
• Optional IVR Inter-VSAN Routing multilayer software license, FCIP SAN Extension Enabler license, Mainframe FICON Enabler license, IOA I/O Acceleration license, DMM Data Migration Enabler license
• RS232 serial console rollover cable, mini USB console cable
• USB flash memory sticks for NX-OS image and configuration storage
• Fibre channel patch cords, copper Ethernet patch cords, cable management accessories, rack cable guides

Short Commercial Catalog Version (For Quotation & Datasheet Use)