DATA SHEET

BigIron MG8
The BigIron MG8 revolutionizes Enterprise networks by
offering terabit capacity LAN switching and routing in a new
generation of high performance, multilayer solutions. The
convergence of voice, video and data onto the IP over
Ethernet network introduces tremendous demands on the
network, specifically on the backbone and aggregation points.
Designed to exceed these increasing requirements for high-
density gigabit and 10 gigabit solutions, supporting wire-speed
traffic forwarding, non-blocking performance, scalability, high
availability, wire-speed traffic flow monitoring, and intelligent
multilayer switching and routing, the BigIron MG8 resolves the
emerging issues in LAN backbone and aggregation
environments.

The BigIron MG8 complements Foundry’s enterprise chassis-

based portfolio that consists of the BigIron and FastIron
FOUNDRY NETWORKS DATA SHEET

JetCore family. Together, Foundry Network’s high performance chassis-based switches offer a
complete range of networking solutions that meet the needs of mission critical applications.

Key Features and Benefits

ƒ Industry’s first terabit 10-Gigabit Ethernet (10-GbE) Layer 2/3 switch with 1.28 Terabits
per second (Tbps) delivering 40 Gbps of inter and intra-line card switching performance
per slot
ƒ Local line card processing with separate 20 Gbps control plane switch fabric connection
to management module(s), ensuring full availability of bandwidth
ƒ Unparalleled, industry leading port density of up to 32 10-GbE ports or 320 GbE ports
within a chassis, and up to 96 10-GbE ports in or 960 GbE ports in a standard 7 foot rack
ƒ Large-scale wire-speed Layer 2/3 switching, supporting Policy-base Routing (PBR) as well
as Robust BGP4 and OSPF implementation
ƒ Superior QoS delivery with Advanced Bandwidth Management1 (ABM)
ƒ Jumbo frame support, for high volume data transfer applications requiring, such as
Storage Area Networks (SAN), real-time imaging and Grid Computing
ƒ Industry’s lowest 10-GbE switching latency of less than 10 microseconds, increases
performance of sensitive applications including Voice over IP (VoIP), video, Grid
Computing, Storage Area Networks, and real-time transactions.
ƒ Offers Carrier-class system and network reliability via features like redundant
management modules with Hitless Management Failover1 (HMF), fully hot-swappable
interface modules with localized forwarding and routing information, hot-swappable
power supplies, variable-speed fans, and hot-pluggable XENPAK optics
ƒ 80 Gbps of cross-module link aggregation based on 802.3ad offers ample room for
network capacity growth for demanding applications
ƒ ASIC-based sFlow technology (RFC 3176) delivering wire-speed, scalable network traffic
flow accounting, capacity management, and security analysis solutions using Layer 2 –7
network flow information

April 2004 © 2004 Foundry Networks, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 1

 DATA SHEET

BigIron MG8
BigIron MG8 Feature Specification
Interface Slots 8
System switching capacity 1.28 Tbps
Switching capacity per 7’ rack 4 Tbps
Routing performance per system* 480 Million pps
Routing performance per 7’ rack 1.5 Billion pps
Max 10GbE ports per system 32
Max 10GbE ports per 7’ rack 96
Max 1 Gig E. ports per system 320
Max 1 Gig E. port per 7’ rack 960
Height (inches/Rack units) AC: 26.25”/15 RU
DC: 22.75”/13 RU
Power supply redundancy AC: N+1, 1+1
DC: 1+1
FOUNDRY NETWORKS DATA SHEET

*Million Packets per second (Mpps) numbers are aggregate based on switching capacities of the line cards

Purpose-Built for Demanding Applications

Industry Leading Performance / Capacity
• Industry's Highest Switching Performance — non-blocking, distributed switching
architecture with a parallel cross-point switch fabric provides up to 1.28 Terabits per second
of aggregate switching capacity, and 480 million packets per second switching performance.
• 40 Gig ready – Future proof your investment without costly upgrades. Each of the interface
slots in the BigIron MG8 is capable of supporting 40 Gbps Full Duplex of non-blocking traffic
forwarding to any other interface module for investment protection.
• Jumbo Frame Support — supports jumbo frames on Gigabit and 10-Gigabit interfaces and
allows dramatic scalability in server throughput while minimizing the impact on server
processing resources, and lowering the latency of data delivery. The BigIron MG8 supports de
facto standard 9 kB jumbo frames.

Superior High Availability

• Redundant, hot-swappable components – offer non-stop traffic forwarding.
o Management module – The system can be configured with dual management
modules with sub-second detection and fail-over capabilities.
o Hitless Management Failover (HMF) – Management module failover can be
performed in a stateful manner, maintaining all the Layer 2 and Layer 3
information required for packet forwarding*. This allows for non-stop forwarding
of traffic even in case of failure, and hence, enhances the overall network
availability for mission critical applications.

*
Initial release will target layer-2 switched applications.

April 2004 © 2004 Foundry Networks, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 2

 DATA SHEET

BigIron MG8
o Variable-speed fans – The cooling sub-system comes with 2 variable-speed
fans that can be controlled by software and auto-adjust to meet airflow demand.
The fans are independently hot-swappable while the system is running. Each fan
comes with its own hot-swappable fan control relay.
o Redundant Power Supplies – Redundant, load sharing, hot-swappable power
supplies offer N+1 as well 1+1 (full) redundancy.
o Optional –48v DC – The system may optionally be configured for running using
an outer DC power source making it viable in environments where DC power use
is mandatory. The system offers two DC inputs to connect to two different DC
sources for 1+1 redundancy.
• Distributed Forwarding Architecture – Utilizes state-of-the-art ASIC and high-speed
memory technology on each interface module to provide a highly distributed, intelligent,
packet-processing architecture.
• 80 Gigabit link aggregation based on IEEE 802.3ad — Improves reliability and
enhances network capacity by dynamically combining up to eight cross-module 10 Gigabit
FOUNDRY NETWORKS DATA SHEET

Ethernet ports together, providing a single highly redundant connection between two
switches.
• Network-level redundancy protocols for Layer 2 and Layer 3 networks — Provide
carrier-class resiliency in case of link or system failures. VRRP and VRRPE provide redundancy
in Layer 3 networks while MRP, VSRP, and RSTP provide SONET-like resiliency in Layer 2
networks.

Industry Leading Layer 2 Features

• Metro Ring Protocol (MRP) — Foundry’s patented metro protocol offers an alternative to
Spanning Tree-based designs and provides sub-second fault detection and fail-over
specifically for Ethernet ring topologies. MRP also works in conjunction with VSRP and
802.3ad based link aggregation to provide bandwidth scalability and SONET-like resiliency in
the Enterprise campus backbones and Metro Ethernet networks.
• Virtual Switch Redundancy Protocol (VSRP) — Offers an alternative to Spanning Tree-
based designs and provides sub-second fault detection and fail over protocol for mesh
topologies. VSRP also works in conjunction with MRP to provide SONET like resiliency
required for critical Data Center and Metro Ethernet networks.
• Advanced Spanning Tree Protocol (STP) Support — Foundry’s innovative features such
as SuperSpan, along with industry recognized features including Rapid STP (802.1w) and
PVGST dramatically improve the availability and scalability of spanning tree based networks.
o Rapid Spanning Tree Protocol based on IEEE 802.1w — dramatically improves
the spanning tree convergence time to sub-second by automatically renegotiating
port roles in case of a link failure without relying on timers.
o Single-instance STP — compliant with the IEEE 802.1q standard, Single-instance
STP allows for interoperability with other compliant devices in identifying and
blocking loops in the network, regardless of VLAN configuration.
o Per VLAN Spanning Tree (PVST) — provides control over the spanning tree
protocol on an individual VLAN basis to allow traffic engineering.
o Per VLAN Group STP (PVGST) — provides dramatic improvements in STP
scalability. VLANs are grouped together by common topology, and a separate

April 2004 © 2004 Foundry Networks, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 3

 DATA SHEET

BigIron MG8
instance of STP or Rapid STP runs per group. Up to 4,096 VLANs could be serviced
with 2 to 16 STP or Rapid STP instances. PVGST also provides VLAN load balancing
for all 4,096 VLANs for efficient utilization of all links in a network.
o Topology Groups – Goes beyond PVGST to scale all supported Layer 2 control
protocols including STP, RSTP, MRP and VSRP.
o SuperSpanTM — a unique innovation from Foundry that allows for building of very
large Layer 2 Ethernet networks and having STP running in the core of the network
and separate instances of STP running at edge locations. The unique feature is the
ability to allow edge instances of STP to tunnel through the core and interact with
other edge STP instances.
• Super Aggregated VLANs (SAVs) — allows transparent tunneling of multiple VLANs using
a single backbone VLAN. This allows for the creation of a flexible, scalable layer-2 backbone
that supports up to 16 million VLANs (4096 backbone VLANs, each carrying up to 4096 edge
VLANs).
• High Performance Layer 2 Multicast — offers efficient handling of multicast traffic
FOUNDRY NETWORKS DATA SHEET

utilizing optimized hardware and software features to increase overall network performance.
o IGMP Snooping – delivers hardware-based multicast support that forwards
multicast traffic only to a requesting port. The Terathon ASICs, Foundry's fourth
generation of ASICs, are unique in their ability to replicate 802.1Q tagged multicast
packets across multiple VLANs over one or more physical ports.
o PIM Snooping – dramatically improves the performance of multicast applications by
optimizing multicast delivery by a layer-2 switch that resides between multicast
routers. When configured as a high performance Layer 2 switch, interconnecting
multicast routers, the BigIron MG8 snoops the PIM traffic and forwards multicast
group traffic only to the routers requesting the traffic, eliminating the wasteful
bandwidth consumption of sending the traffic to all other members of the VLAN.

Robust Layer 3 Feature Set

• Comprehensive Routing Protocol Support — Foundry’s IronWare operating system
offers Internet strength, robust routing protocol implementations that are extensively
deployed in many large scale ISP and enterprise environments. Through support of RIP,
RIPv2, OSPF, and BGPv4, the BigIron MG8 is a viable platform for many routing
environments.
• BGPv4 — Internet-proven with support for 2 million routes, 200 peers, route-flap
dampening, confederations, route-reflectors, route-maps, and peer groups.
o IBGP and EBGP o Route Reflectors
o Route Redistribution o Confederations
o Load-sharing/multi-homing o Peer Groups
o Fast External Fail over o User attributes and
o Route Map community
o Route Refresh o ECMP Load Sharing on up to
o BGP route filtering based on 8 paths
IP address ACL o Route flap dampening
o Community ACL o Route flap optimization
o AS-Path ACL o MD5 Authentication
o Prefix-list o BGP-Guard1

April 2004 © 2004 Foundry Networks, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 4

 DATA SHEET

BigIron MG8
• OSPF — Robust scalability with support for over 400,000 routes.
o OSPF Stub Area, Totally o LSDB Overflow Handling
Stubby Area, & Not-so- o Group LSA Pacing
Stubby Area o ECMP Load Sharing on up to
o Virtual Link 8 paths
o External Route o Route filtering based on IP
Summarization address ACLs &
o MD5 Authentication redistribution filters
o Route Redistribution

• Policy Based Routing (PBR) — allows for access control list (ACL) based policies in
determining routing decisions. Control network usage by traffic flows through setting policies
that determine which type of traffic takes which path through the network.
• Comprehensive Multicast Routing Feature Set — provides hardware-based multicast
support including DVMRP, MSDP, PIM-SM (Sparse Mode) and PIM-DM (Dense Mode)
FOUNDRY NETWORKS DATA SHEET

protocols that allows network managers to efficiently deploy next-generation streaming

media applications for improved employee collaboration and productivity.
• VRRP and VRRPE (Enhanced VRRP) — improves Layer 3 reliability, enables the BigIron
configured as router to act as a backup to other routers in the network. In the event of a
router failure, the BigIron will automatically and seamlessly perform the tasks of the failed
router. VRRPE extends the capabilities of VRRP by providing network managers the
convenience of a virtual interface to aid in traditional IP troubleshooting tools to ensure that
a default router is actually up and operational.

Advanced Quality of Service (QoS)

• Advanced QoS — allows administrators to prioritize flows, and to enforce or change traffic
priority based on port, VLAN, Source MAC, ACL, 802.1p, Type of Service (ToS) or DiffServ
settings to enhance Quality of Service for business-critical flows.
• Ultra-low Latency — provides industry-leading port-to-port latency of less than 10
microseconds for superior application performance with Grid/Cluster computing and other
latency-sensitive traffic applications.
• Multiple Queuing Methods — provides Strict Priority (SP) or Weighted Fair Queuing
(WFQ) for flexibility in enforcing traffic prioritization and optimizing bandwidth utilization.
• Advanced Bandwidth Management (ABM) — intelligent bandwidth management using
hardware based enforcement of Committed Information Rate (CIR) with Excess Burst control
capabilities and seamless integration with other advanced QoS features like priority marking
and honoring. Bandwidth allocation can be made per port, per port and traffic priority level,
or down to the Layer 2 & Layer 3 flow level (using Foundry’s unique Layer 2 and Layer 3 ACL
capabilities).

Supports the creation of Ingress rate classes based on:

o Ingress Port
o Ingress Port + Packet Priority
o VLAN ID
o VLAN ID + Packet Priority
o VLAN Group

April 2004 © 2004 Foundry Networks, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 5

 DATA SHEET

BigIron MG8
o Layer-2 ( SA MAC address)
o Layer-2 ACL-based (includes DA MAC, SA MAC, VLAN ID, Ether-Type)
o Layer-3 ACL-based (includes Src IP, Dst IP, Src Port, Dst Port, ToS/DSCP)
Supports the creation of Egress rate classes based on:
o Egress Port

Cohesive, Unified and Easy-To-Use Network Management

• Centralized Network Management — Foundry's IronView, a web-based, graphical
interface tool, Network Manager empowers network operators to seamlessly control software
and configuration updates for any Foundry product from a central station. IronView Network
Manager dramatically simplifies network provisioning, diagnostics and resolution, thus
reducing operational expenses.
• Command Line Interface (CLI) — Foundry’s CLI is an industry-standard configuration
interface, consistent and common throughout the entire product portfolio.
FOUNDRY NETWORKS DATA SHEET

• Web Interface — The Web interface provides easy to use Graphical User Interface (GUI)
for system configuration from standard Web browsers.
• sFLow (RFC 3176) — sFlow provides scalable, ASIC-based, wire-speed network monitoring
and accounting with no impact on network performance. This allows network operators to
gather a variety of sophisticated network statistics and information for capacity planning and
real-time network monitoring purposes.

IronShield™ Security
• Wire-speed Extended Access Control Lists (ACL) — controls packet forwarding and
restrict access to the system management interface, while providing wire-speed switching
and routing:
o Feature-Rich ACL Implementation — identifies traffic based on source or
destination IP address, IP protocol type, TCP or UDP port, IP precedence or TOS
values. Supported for both all Layer 2 and Layer 3 applications.
o Feature-rich ACL Implementation for Layer 2 1 — Identifies traffic based on
source or destination MAC address, Ethernet type, VLAN-ID values and 802.1p
values. Supported for both all Layer 2 and Layer 3 applications.
o ACL Scalability — supports up to 10,000 ACLs.
o Ease of Administration — identify an ACL by name or number, or add a comment
line for ease of administration.
o ACL Syntax Compatibility — uses uniform ACL syntax across all Foundry products
and provides compatibility with syntax of other major vendors.
• Secure Shell and Secure Copy — provides secure access to the administration and
management interface over the network.
• Protection Against Denial Of Service (DoS) Attacks — prevents or minimizes network
downtime and protects against malicious users by limiting TCP SYN and ICMP traffic and
protects against broadcast storms by limiting broadcast traffic.
• User Authentication — provides user authentication with AAA, 802.1x, RADIUS, TACACS,
and TACACS+ to prevent unauthorized network access.

April 2004 © 2004 Foundry Networks, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 6

 DATA SHEET

BigIron MG8
• MAC Port Security – Controls the number of MAC addresses allowed per interface.
• sFlow (RFC 3176) — provides cost-effective, scalable, wire-speed network monitoring to
detect unusual network activity.
• SNMPv3 — Secured SNMP management with RFC 2570 through 2575, provides User-Based
Security model (RFC 2574) for authentication and privacy services.

Applications
Enterprise Backbone, Aggregation and Campus Connectivity

Workgroup Aggregation High Density Wiring Closet

FOUNDRY NETWORKS DATA SHEET

Wiring
Closets
FastIron FastIron

FastIron 400 FastIron 1500

Distribution
Building #1 Building #2

BigIron MG8 10 GbE BigIron MG8

Enterprise
Core

Enterprise data networks are a mission critical component of every enterprise’s day to day
operation. The emphasis on increasing productivity, emerging applications that offer new
possibilities, and convergence trends in the enterprise all make it undoubtedly essential to have
the right infrastructure in place to support existing as well as future enterprise applications. The
BigIron MG8 together with the rest of the BigIron and FastIron family of products enables the
creation of infrastructures that are capable of addressing those needs.

Offering wire-speed non-blocking forwarding on all its ports, a distributed architecture that scales
forwarding performance with the addition of line cards for a switching capacity up to 1.28 Tbps,
the capability of building multi-10 GbE trunks up to 80Gbps per trunk, and a design that is ready
for the futuristic 40 Gbps technology, the BigIron MG8 is clearly an enabler for the creation of
high performance enterprise networks whose performance can be scaled based on the user
demand.

A variety of short and long reach optics available for the BigIron MG8, together with a rich
portfolio of layer-2 and layer-3 control protocols allows network architects to create highly
efficient campus networks. For instance, the BigIron allows for building reliable layer-2 domains

April 2004 © 2004 Foundry Networks, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 7

 DATA SHEET

BigIron MG8
using STP/RSTP or using Foundry’s unique Metro Ring Protocol (MRP) and Virtual Switch
Redundancy Protocol (VSRP). MRP offers network designers the ability to migrate from legacy
ring based architectures that used Token Ring, FDDI, and ATM/SONET to better performing more
cost efficient architectures that scale in performance to 10 GbE speeds. Foundry’s industry
proven feature rich RIP, OSPF, BGP, DVMRP, PIM-SM, and PIM-DM enable the creation of high
performance routed backbones capable of efficiently transporting both unicast and multicast
flows.

Recognizing the negative impact a network outage could have on enterprise operations, Foundry
designed the BigIron MG8 for superior reliability. Featuring redundant management modules,
hitless management failover, high performance trunks (up to 80 Gbps), gateway redundancy
protocols like VRRP and VRRPE, and sub-second convergence protocols like MRP, VSRP, and IEEE
802.1w (RSTP), the BigIron is unique in its ability to support high availability networks.

Finally, to offer network managers superior visibility into their networks’ performance and
behavior under the different day to day conditions, the BigIron MG8 is equipped with many tools
for reporting traffic loads, and network events. RMON and sFlow statistics provide line rate real-
FOUNDRY NETWORKS DATA SHEET

time information on network load and performance, allowing network managers to discover high
/ abnormal loads, and hence, take appropriate action to avoid potential network performance
degradation / problems. The statistics can be collected and stored in centralized monitoring
stations over a long period of time to give network architects visibility into the general traffic
trends over time, and help them plan and justify future capacity upgrades. SNMP together with a
rich portfolio of standard and Foundry proprietary MIBs provides network managers with
continuous visibility into device and network state and behavior. Such visibility is invaluable in
guaranteeing best response times by the technical staff to network outages.

Gigabit Ethernet over Copper (GoC) Adoption

Gigabit Ethernet over Copper (GoC) is following a path similar to Fast Ethernet over copper. The
incorporation of 10/100/1000 NICs into servers and PCs is driving the introduction of applications
taking advantage of the increased bandwidth and lower latency of GoC. Some specific vertical
markets, including Entertainment, scientific, and Medical, are taking advantage of the increased
bandwidth by streaming high definition digital images and manipulating them in real-time over a
data network infrastructure. These applications would be practically unusable on Fast Ethernet
links, and fiber connectivity is impractical for large installations.

GoC to the desktop is a viable option today for end users requiring the high bandwidth and low
latency it offers. In order to maintain performance levels in these networks, high density GbE
requires 10-GbE uplinks and interconnects. Layered on top of the physical connectivity is high
performance Layer 2 and 3 functionality to ensure robust delivery of data.

Foundry’s BigIron MG8 delivers industry’s leading 10-GbE and 1-GE port densities per seven-foot
rack, with up to 96 wire-speed, non-blocking 10-GbE ports, or 960 1-GbE copper or fiber ports.
Coupled with support for Jumbo frames, latency of less than 10 microseconds, and the ability to
trunk up to eight 10-GbE ports (80-GbE link), the BigIron MG8 is an ideal fit for 1-GbE and 10-
GbE aggregation and core network solutions.

April 2004 © 2004 Foundry Networks, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 8

 DATA SHEET

BigIron MG8
Cluster Computing

BigIron MG8 BigIron MG8

Multi-10GbE
FOUNDRY NETWORKS DATA SHEET

Core

BigIron MG8 BigIron MG8

BigIron 4000

Cluster computing requirements differ significantly from traditional server farms or data center
applications. These cluster-computing solutions provide multiple individual processors that are
distributed among multiple systems, relying on network connectivity for CPU-to-CPU
communications. With the network infrastructure performing processor interconnection, the need
for performance and reliability is more pronounced. Although performance is paramount to a
successful cluster computing application, reliability and fault tolerance is of utmost importance.
The lack of network resilience and reliability within cluster computing can be disastrous, so the
infrastructure must have innovative self-healing technologies to avoid potential down time.

The need for high performance is paramount with cluster computing environments. The fact that
the total computing power is distributed among multiple systems that need to be synchronized
adds a new dimension to network performance requirements. When implementing cluster
computing, the following parameters must be considered:

Latency – To deliver the lowest possible latency is an absolute must for cluster computing
environments. Given that processors are communicating in real-time across an external
network connection, opposed to communicating across an internal processor bus, the
network latency plays a crucial role in supporting a successful implementation.

April 2004 © 2004 Foundry Networks, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 9

 DATA SHEET

BigIron MG8
Foundry’s BigIron MG8 delivers the industry’s lowest latency of less than 10 microseconds
between ports regardless of traffic loads. By providing a wire-speed, non-blocking switching
architecture, Foundry’s products can ensure that latency is always consistent, and never
exceeds the requirements of the application. Coupled with Quality of Service capabilities,
Foundry can ensure that critical traffic is treated with a higher priority than other traffic,
ensuring application performance and availability.

Bandwidth – The amount of data being transferred in cluster computing environments can
far exceed traditional network applications. Many of these clusters are built for scientific
research, and enormous amounts of data for simulations and computations. The network
needs to support high-performance links, including 10-Gigabit Ethernet. The BigIron MG8
provides wire-speed non-blocking performance for all ports installed in the chassis for an
aggregate switching capacity of 1.28 Tbps. Also, the ability to trunk up to eight 10 GbE links
together provide customers with up to 80 Gigabits per second of sheer bandwidth to support
large-scale clusters.

Port Density – Due to the huge number of computers linked together in a cluster computer
FOUNDRY NETWORKS DATA SHEET

environment, high port density becomes crucial in order to conserve rack space and power
consumption. The BigIron MG8 provides the industries highest 10-GbE port density, up to 96
ports in a 7’ rack, or 960 GbE fiber/copper ports in a 7’ rack.

Jumbo frames – Jumbo frames usage for cluster computing is gaining popularity. Since the
applications revolve around large file transfers, and the arrival of each packet causes a
processor interrupt which can be measured in productivity loss, it is important to minimize
those interrupts. By utilizing jumbo frames, cluster-computing centers can become more
efficient and deliver more processing power to critical tasks. Foundry’s BigIron MG8 supports
de facto standard 9 kB jumbo frames. More data in a frame means fewer frames that need to
be sent, with less overhead and better utilization of bandwidth.

Reliability – Requirements for cluster computing solutions exceed traditional computing

needs. Considering that enormous amounts of data transactions need to be completed for a
single request, it is imperative that the network be available and reliable.

The BigIron MG8 provides industry-leading reliability features including hot swappable line
cards and power supplies, redundant management modules with hitless failover, as well as
sub-second failure recovery protocols which makes it the best fit for cluster computing
environments.

Foundry paves the way for a solid foundation by delivering industry-leading performance coupled
with innovative fault tolerance features making it the ideal choice for such demanding high
performance computing environments.

Network Attached Storage

The need for data storage continues to increase with customers requiring higher granularity of
information over larger spans of time, but needing instant access to archived data. This
requirement has fueled the adoption of Network Attached Storage (NAS) applications, which
deliver centralized, data network connected storage applications. By implementing NAS within an
organization, the network has increased demands placed upon it that it may not have originally
been designed for. By implementing an IP based NAS deployment, customers can take
advantage of advances within data network infrastructures to enable remote storage as well as
disaster recovery facilities.

April 2004 © 2004 Foundry Networks, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 10

 DATA SHEET

BigIron MG8
The difficulty in delivering network services for NAS, and the requirement to support potentially
Terabytes transfer across a common IP infrastructure that may be servicing other user
applications, including VoIP which may not cope with constricting bandwidth situations. To
overcome these issues, the network infrastructure must deliver Gigabit and 10 Gigabit Ethernet
support, as well as scalability to higher bandwidth and the ability to deliver prioritization for
mission critical traffic flows.

The BigIron MG8 delivers highly scalable bandwidth that scales up to 80 Gbps per trunk. To
support mixed traffic environments, the BigIron MG8 delivers hardware-based priority queuing
allowing customers to deliver varying Quality of Service (QoS) per application, and hence, safely
deploy NAS without compromising the performance of other mission critical applications.

To ensure smooth operation of such networks, the BigIron’s real-time monitoring and
management features, like RMON, sFlow and SNMP, can be leveraged to monitor network loads
and bandwidth usage. This allows the network administrator to see the potential need to increase
capacity in certain locations, reroute flows, or even rate limit certain flows as needed in order to
FOUNDRY NETWORKS DATA SHEET

guarantee successful operation.

April 2004 © 2004 Foundry Networks, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 11

 DATA SHEET

BigIron MG8
Technical Specifications
IEEE Compliance • MSDP
• RFC 2283 MBGP
• 802.3ae 10 Gigabit Ethernet
• 802.3x Flow Control
General Protocols
• 802.3ad Link Aggregation
• RFC 791 IP

• 802.1Q VLANs
• RFC 792 ICMP

• 802.1D Bridging
• RFC 1256 ICMP Router Discovery Protocol

• 802.1w Rapid STP

• RFC 793 TCP

• 802.1X User Authentication

• RFC 783 TFTP

• 802.3 Ethernet Like MIB

• RFC 826 ARP

• Repeater MIB
• RFC 768 UDP

• Ethernet Interface MIB

• RFC 894 IP over Ethernet

• • RFC 906 TFTP Bootstrap

FOUNDRY NETWORKS DATA SHEET

SNMP v1, v2c and V3

• SNMP MIB II
• RFC 1027 Proxy ARP
• RFC 854 TELNET
• RFC 951 BootP
RFC Compliance
• RFC 1542 BootP Extensions
BGPv4 • RFC 1122 Host Requirements
• RFC 1771 BGPv4
• RFC 1256 IRDP
• RFC 1745 OSPF interactions
• RFC 1519 CIDR
• RFC 1997 Communities & Attributes
• RFC 1591 DNS (client)
• RFC 2439 route flap dampening
• RFC 1812 General Routing
• RFC 2796 route reflection
• RFC 1541 and 1542 DHCP
• RFC 1965 BGP4 confederations
• RFC 2131 BootP/DHCP Helper
• RFC 2842 Capability Advertisement
• RFC 2338 VRRP
• RFC 2918 Route Refresh Capability
Others
• RFC 1269 Managed Objects for BGP
• RFC1354 IP Forwarding MIB
• RFC 2385 BGP Session Protection via TCP MD5
• RFC 1757 RMON Groups 1,2,3,9
OSPF • RFC 2068 HTTP
• RFC 1583 OSPF v2
• RFC 2030 SNTP
• RFC 2328 OSPF v2
• RFC 2138 RADIUS
• RFC 1587 OSPF NSSA
• RFC 3176 sFlow
• RFC 1745 OSPF Interactions
• RFC 1765 OSPF Database Overflow
Network Management
• RFC 1850 OSPF Traps
• RFC 2154 OSPF w/Digital Signatures (Password,
MD-5) • IronView Network Manager (INM) Web-based
graphical user interface
• RFC 1850 OSPF v2 MIB
• Integrated Standard-based Command Line
Interface (CLI)
RIP • sFlow (RFC 3176)
• RFC 1058 RIP v1 • Telnet and ssh
• RFC 1723 RIP v2 • SNMP(v1, 2c, 3)
• RFC 1812 RIP Requirements • RMON
IP Multicast • HP OpenView for Sun Solaris, HP-UX, IBM's
• RFC 1112 IGMP AIX, and Windows NT
• RFC 2236 IGMP v2
• RFC 2362 PIM-SM
• PIM-DM v1
• DVMRP v3-07

April 2004 © 2004 Foundry Networks, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 12

 DATA SHEET

BigIron MG8
Element Security Options • ESD: IEC 61000-4-2; 4 kV CD,8 kV AD
• Radiated: IEC 61000-4-3; 3 V/m
• AAA • EFT/Burst: IEC 61000-4-4; 1.0 kV (power
• RADIUS line), 0.5 kV (signal line)
• Secure Shell (SSH v1 and 1.5) • Conducted: IEC 61000-4-6; 3 V
• Secure Copy (SCP)
• TACACS/TACACS+ Warranty
• Username/Password (Challenge and Response)
• Bi-level Access Mode (Standard and EXEC Level) • 1-year hardware
• Protection for Denial of Service attacks, such as • 90-day software
TCP SYN or Smurf Attacks

Mounting Options
Environmental
• 19 "Universal EIA 310 (Telco) Rack or
• Operating Temperature: 0 °C to 50 °C Tabletop
(41 °F to 104 °F)
• Relative Humidity: 5 to 95%, @40 °C
FOUNDRY NETWORKS DATA SHEET

(104 °F), non-condensing

• Storage Temperature: -40 ºto 70 ºC
(-40 ºto 158 °F)
• Storage Altitude: 15,000 ft
(3,000 m) maximum
• Storage Humidity: 95%maximum relative
humidity, non-condensing
• Operating Altitude: 10,000ft

Safety Agency Approvals

• CAN/CSA-C22.2 No. 60950-00/UL 60950 - Third

Edition, Safety of Information Technology
Equipment
• EN 60825-1 Safety of Laser Products - Part 1:
Equipment Classification, Requirements and
User’s Guide
• EN 60825-2 Safety of Laser Products - Part 2:
Safety of Optical Fibre Communication Systems
• EN 60950 Safety of Information Technology
Equipment EN 60950 / IEC 950
• CSA 950 Electromagnetic Emission Certification
• FCC Class A
• EN 55022 / CISPR-22 Class A
• VCCI Class A

Immunity

• EN 61000-3-2 Power Line Harmonics

• EN 61000-4-2 ESD
• EN 61000-4-3 Radiated Immunity
• EN 61000-4-4 EFT
• EN 61000-4-5 Surge
• EN 61000-4-6 Low Frequency Common
Immunity
• EN 61000-4-11 Voltage Dips and Sags Generic:
EN 50082-1

April 2004 © 2004 Foundry Networks, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 13

 DATA SHEET

BigIron MG8
System Specifications
@100 VAC @200 VAC @ -48VDC
Power
Specifications Thermal Thermal Thermal
Current Power Output Current Power Output Current Power Output
(Amps) (Watts) (BTU/HR) (Amps) (Watts) (BTU/HR) (Amps) (Watts) (BTU/HR)
BIMG8-FAN 1.2 123 420 0.6 123 420 2.1 100 341
BIMG8-MR 0.6 62 210 0.3 62 210 1.0 50 171
BIMG8-SFM 1.4 135 462 0.7 135 462 2.3 110 375
BIMG8-1Gx40-
SFP 3.2 320 1093 1.6 320 1093 5.4 260 887
BIMG8-10Gx2 2.2 222 756 1.1 222 756 3.8 180 614
BIMG8-10Gx4 3.1 308 1050 1.5 308 1050 5.2 250 853

System Max 31 3067 10463 15 3067 10463 52 2,490 8,496

FOUNDRY NETWORKS DATA SHEET

BIMG8- AC Input Voltage: 100 VAC to 240 VAC

ACPWR
Power Consumption: 1150 Watts
Power supply Current Draw: 14.2A @ 100 VAC; 7.1A @ 200 VAC
module AC Frequency: 47 – 63 Hz

AC Version DC Version
Physical Specifications

26.25h x 17.5w x 24d inches 22.75h x 17.5w x 24d inches

Dimensions 66.68h x 44.45w x 60.96d cm 57.78h x 44.45w x 60.96d cm

Weight Fully-loaded 242 lbs (110 kg) 174 lbs ( 79 kg)

April 2004 © 2004 Foundry Networks, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 14

 DATA SHEET

BigIron MG8
Ordering Information
Part Number Description
BIMG8-AC 8-slot BigIron MG8 AC chassis with three 1100w power supplies, Backplane switch fabric, Dual
Fan modules, Dual Fan Controllers, and replaceable Air Filter
BIMG8-DC 8-slot BigIron MG8 –48V DC Chassis with Backplane switch fabric, Dual Fan modules, Dual Fan
Controllers, and replaceable Air Filter
BIMG8-MR BigIron MG8 System Management Module, 512 MB SDRAM, dual PCMCIA ports and out-of-band
10/100 Ethernet management port
BIMG8-10Gx2 2-port 10GbE module with support for XENPAK optics – requires optics (10G-XNPK-SR/LR/ER)
BIMG8-10Gx4 4-port 10GbE module with support for XENPAK optics – requires optics (10G-XNPK-SR/LR/ER)
BIMG8-1Gx40-SFP 40-port Gigabit Ethernet module with MiniGBIC slots – requires optics
BIMG8-1Gx40-T 40-port Gigabit Ethernet over Copper module with RJ45 connectors
BIMG8-ACPWR 1100w AC power supply
10G-XNPK-SR 850nm serial pluggable XENPAK optic only (SC) over MMF
FOUNDRY NETWORKS DATA SHEET

10G-XNPK-LR 1310nm serial pluggable XENPAK optic only (SC) for up to 10km over SMF
10G-XNPK-ER 1550nm serial pluggable XENPAK optic only (SC) for up to 40km over SMF

Although Foundry has attempted to provide accurate information in these materials, Foundry assumes no legal responsibility for the accuracy or
completeness of the information. More specific information is available on request from Foundry. Please note that Foundry's product information does
not constitute or contain any guarantee, warranty or legally binding representation, unless expressly identified as such in a duly signed writing.

Foundry Networks, BigIron, NetIron, FastIron, ServerIron, IronWare, Jetscope, IronView and the “Iron” marks or trade marks are registered
trademarks of Foundry Networks, Inc. in the United States of America and other countries

sFlow is a registered trademark of InMon Corporation.

Specifications are subject to change without notice.

Foundry Networks, Inc.

Headquarters
2100 Gold Street
P.O. Box 649100
San Jose, CA 95164-9100

U.S. and Canada Toll-free: (888) TURBOLAN

Direct telephone: +1 408.586.1700
Fax: 1-408-586-1900
Email: info@foundrynet.com
Web: http://www.foundrynet.com

1
Feature under development, available in Q204

April 2004 © 2004 Foundry Networks, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 15