Cisco SingleConnect technology

Cisco SingleConnect is the most efficient and simplest way to connect and manage the compute servers in a data center. It unifies multiple types of traffic, such as LAN, SAN, and management, into a single channel with increased utilization and reduces the complex cabling structure in data centers. SingleConnect technology provides an end-to-end system I/O architecture with a single cable for Cisco blade servers, rack server, and virtual machines. Cisco SingleConnect can connect to:

• Physical servers and virtual machines
• LAN, SAN, and management networks
• Cisco B-Series and C-Series servers

Cisco VICs inside blade or rack servers connect through a Cisco Fabric Extender (FEX/IOM) to Fabric Interconnects with a single network link to provide data, storage, and management traffic. The single network layer uses the unified fabric to reduce the three-network layer into one, helping us save cables, ports, connectors, and so on. SingleConnect technology is an intelligent and virtualization-aware technology to automatically detect different types of traffic and isolate them at the Fabric Interconnect level to respective upstream switches and avoid any manual intervention to configure them. Virtual machines can be connected through Cisco VICs to provide them direct network access and offload CPU resources. The following diagram shows that any Cisco UCS blade server, rack server, or virtual machine can connect via a Cisco VIC to a Fabric Extender or I/O module in a chassis to a Fabric Interconnect through a single network layer to provide LAN, SAN, and management access. The VIC passes all traffic from blade servers, rack servers, and virtual machines to the Fabric Interconnect.

Cisco SingleConnect technology diagram: