The Cisco MDS 9124e Fabric Switch for HP c-Class BladeSystem delivers a high performance 4 Gbps embedded Fiber Channel switch option for HP BladeSystem c-Class customers deploying storage area networks in their enterprise. The integrated design frees up rack space, enables a reduction of components such as cables and SFPs, and utilizes shared power and cooling within the BladeSystem enclosure. This results in space and cost savings as well as higher levels of availability through fewer points of failure. A hot-pluggable design, as well as support for non-disruptive software upgrades and the unique ability to automatically and statefully restart failed processes, further enhances the availability features of the overall solution. The Cisco MDS 9124e Fabric Switch supports VSAN, an industry standard for fabric virtualization enabling more efficient network use by creating hardware-based isolated environments within a single physical SAN fabric or switch. In addition, advanced traffic management features such as PortChannels, virtual output queuing, Fabric Shortest Path First (FSPF) simplify deployment while optimizing the fabric. Management is simplified with a broad range of integrated tools that range from a consistent Cisco MDS 9000 family Command Line Interface (CLI) to Cisco Fabric Manager and an industry-standard API that includes support for SNMP and SMI-s for integration with third-party and user-developed tools. In addition, switch management is integrated with HP BladeSystem management tools including HP Onboard Administrator for BladeSystem, HP Systems Insight Manager, and HP Storage Essentials create a unique and tightly integrated experience for server and storage administrators. The Cisco MDS 9124e Fabric Switch combines value and performance in an embedded SAN switch, enabling increased productivity and substantial cost savings benefiting organizations with limited dedicated IT staff.