PEX 8532 Applications
PLX Technology, Inc.
2.2.5
Dual-Fabric Model
High-performance communications, storage, and blade server systems often require more reliability
than a dual-host system provides. For these High-Availability systems, all single points of failure must
be eliminated. The PEX 8532 can offer this additional level of redundancy by linking two switch fabric
boards in a dual-star topology. As illustrated in Figure 2-6, the host and fabric are on separate boards,
and can be simultaneously active. The PEX 8532 unique non-transparency feature is used to allow one
fabric/host board to be the primary and the other the secondary.
This approach is used to provide more than two active processing nodes. It is straightforward to create a
generalized multi-processor system with smaller PEX 8532 switches on each board in Non-Transparent
mode (NT mode), and several PEX 8532 fabric boards to provide the fabric backbone.
Figure 2-6. Dual-Host and Fabric Usage
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ExpressLane PEX 8532AA/BA/BB/BC 8-Port/32-Lane Versatile PCI Express Switch Data Book
Copyright © 2007 by PLX Technology, Inc. All Rights Reserved – Version 1.6
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