Key features

• – New SKU JL864A with high performance, improved energy efficiency of 39-45% (Max/Idle 96W/70W in 5901AF vs 175W/115W in 5900AF), and reduced heat dissipation of 83% (327 BTU/hr in 5901AF vs 597 BTU/hr in 5900AF).
• – High-density, high-performance Top-of-Rack (ToR) switch with 48 x 10/100/1000Mbps RJ-45 ports, 4 x 1/10 SFP+ ports and 2 x 40 QFSP+ ports that bridges the gap between legacy and modern networks
• – Cut-through with low latency and varying wire speed performance
• – HPE Intelligent Resilient Fabric (IRF) for virtualization leading to greater resilience and scalability
• – IPv4 and IPv6 support in ToR with full L2/L3 and QoS/ACL features
• – OpenFlow and NETCONF for automating manual tasks and improving service delivery
• – Dual, redundant hot-pluggable power supplies help in reduced power consumption.

Data center optimized

• – Flexible high port density
• The HPE FlexFabric 5900 Switch Series provides highly dense 48 port solutions delivered in a 1RU design with multiple wire-speed of 10/100/1000BASE-T, 1/10/40G fiber ports for high performance and flexible deployments thereby bridging the gap between legacy and modern networks. each 40 GbE QSFP+ port can also be configured as four 10GbE ports by using a 40-GbE-to-10GbE splitter cable
• – High-performance switching
• Cut-through and nonblocking architecture delivers low latency (~3 microsecond for 10GbE) for very demanding enterprise applications; the switch delivers high-performance switching capacity and wire-speed packet forwarding
• – Higher scalability
• Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) Intelligent Resilient Fabric (IRF) technology simplifies the architecture of server access networks; up to nine HPE FlexFabric 5900 switches can be combined to deliver unmatched scalability of virtualized access layer switches and flatten two-tier networks using IRF, which reduces cost and complexity
• – Advanced modular operating system
• Comware v7 software's modular design and multiple processes bring native high stability, independent process monitoring, and restart; the OS also allows individual software modules to be upgraded for higher availability and supports enhanced serviceability functions like hitless software upgrades with single-chassis ISSU
• – Front-to-back or back-to-front airflow
• Enhanced for data center hot-cold aisle deployment with different airflow—for either front-to-back or back-to-front airflow
• – Redundant fans and power supplies
• 1+1 internal redundant and hot-pluggable power supplies and dual fan trays enhance reliability and availability
• – Jumbo frames
• With frame sizes of up to 9216 bytes on Gigabit Ethernet and 10/40-Gigabit ports, allows high-performance remote backup and disaster-recovery services to be enabled

Additional information

• – Green IT and power
• Improve energy efficiency using latest advances in silicon development; shuts off unused ports and utilizes variable-speed fans, reducing energy costs
• – Low power consumption
• Is rated to have one of the lowest power usages in the industry

Convergence

• – LLDP-MED (Media Endpoint Discovery)
• Is a standard extension of LLDP that stores values for parameters such as QoS and VLAN to automatically configure network devices such as IP phones

Quality of Service (QoS)

Powerful QoS features

• – Flexible classification
• Creates traffic classes based on access control lists (ACLs), IEEE 802.1p precedence, IP, and DSCP or Type of Service (ToS) precedence; supports filter, redirect, mirror, remark, and logging
• – Feature support
• Provides support for Strict Priority Queuing (SP), Weighted Fair Queuing (WFQ), Weighted Deficit Round Robin (WDRR), SP+WDRR together, configurable buffers, and Weighted Random Early Detection (WRED)
• – Simplified deployment
• It supports Zero Touch Provisioning by eliminating human errors and automatically setting up network devices leading to accelerated RoI.

Layer 2 switching

• – MAC-based, Protocol-based, and Subnet-based VLANs
• Provides granular control and security; uses RADIUS to map a MAC address/user to specific VLANs, map protocols to specific VLANs or subnets to specific VLANs.
• – Address Resolution Protocol (ARP)
• Supports static, dynamic, and reverse ARP and ARP proxy
• – Flow Control
• IEEE 802.3x Flow Control provides intelligent congestion management via PAUSE frames
• – Ethernet Link Aggregation
• Provides IEEE 802.3ad Link Aggregation of up to 128 groups of 16 ports; support for LACP, LACP Local Forwarding First, and LACP Short-time provides a fast, resilient environment that is ideal for the data center
• – Spanning Tree Protocol (STP)
• STP (IEEE 802.1D), Rapid STP (RSTP, IEEE 802.1w), and Multiple STP (MSTP, IEEE 802.1s)
• – VLAN support
• Provides support for 4,096 VLANs based on port, MAC address, IPv4 subnet, protocol, and guest VLAN; supports VLAN mapping
• – IGMP support
• Provides support for IGMP Snooping, Fast-Leave, and Group-Policy; IPv6 IGMP Snooping provides Layer 2optimization of multicast traffic
• – DHCP support at Layer 2
• Provides full DHCP Snooping support for DHCP Snooping Option 82, DHCP Relay Option 82, DHCP Snooping Trust, and DHCP Snooping Item Backup

Layer 3 services

• – Address Resolution Protocol (ARP)
• determines the MAC address of another IP host in the same subnet; supports static ARPs; gratuitous ARP allows detection of duplicate IP addresses; proxy ARP allows normal ARP operation between subnets or when subnets are separated by a Layer 2 network
• – Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP)
• simplifies the management of large IP networks and supports client and server; DHCP Relay enables DHCP operation across subnets
• – Operations, administration and maintenance (OAM) support
• provides support for Connectivity Fault Management (IEEE 802.1AG) and Ethernet in the First Mile (IEEE 802.3AH); provides additional monitoring that can be used for fast fault detection and recovery

Layer 3 routing

• – Virtual Router Redundancy Protocol (VRRP) and VRRP Extended
• Allow quick failover of router ports
• – Policy-based routing
• Makes routing decisions based on policies set by the network administrator
• – Equal-Cost Multipath (ECMP)
• Enables multiple equal-cost links in a routing environment to increase link redundancy and scale bandwidth
• – Layer 3 IPv4 routing
• Provides routing of IPv4 at media speed; supports static routes, RIP and RIPv2, OSPF, BGP, and IS-IS
• – Open shortest path first (OSPF)
• Delivers faster convergence; uses this link-state routing InteriorGateway Protocol (IGP), which supports ECMP, NSSA, and MD5 authentication for increased security and graceful restart for faster failure recovery
• – Border Gateway Protocol 4 (BGP4)
• Delivers an implementation of the Exterior Gateway Protocol (EGP) utilizing path vectors; uses TCP for enhanced reliability for the route discovery process; reduces bandwidth consumption by advertising only incremental updates; supports extensive policies for increased flexibility; scales to very large networks
• – Intermediate system to intermediate system (IS-IS)
• Uses a path vector Interior Gateway Protocol (IGP), which is defined by the ISO organization for IS-IS routing and extended by IETF RFC 1195 to operate in both TCP/IP and the OSI reference model (Integrated IS-IS)
• – Static IPv6 routing
• Provides simple manually configured IPv6 routing
• – Dual IP stack
• Maintains separate stacks for IPv4 and IPv6 to ease the transition from an IPv4-only network to an IPv6-only network design
• – OSPFv3
• Provides OSPF support for IPv6
• – BGP+
• Extends BGP-4 to support Multiprotocol BGP (MBGP), including support for IPv6 addressing
• – IS-IS for IPv6
• Extends IS-IS to support IPv6 addressing
• – IPv6 tunneling
• Allows IPv6 packets to traverse IPv4-only networks by encapsulating the IPv6 packet into a standard IPv4 packet; supports manually configured, 6to4, and Intra-Site Automatic Tunnel Addressing Protocol (ISATAP) tunnels; is an important element for the transition from IPv4 to IPv6
• – Policy routing
• Allows custom filters for increased performance and security; supports ACLs, IP prefix, AS paths, community lists, and aggregate policies
• – Bidirectional Forwarding Detection (BFD)
• Enables link connectivity monitoring and reduces network convergence time for RIP, OSPF, BGP, IS-IS, VRRP, and IRF
• – Multicast Routing
• Provides robust support of multicast protocols PIM-SM, PIM-DM, PIM-SSM and PIM-BIDIR
• – Layer 3 IPv6 routing
• Provides routing of IPv6 at media speed; supports static routing, OSPFv3, BGP4+ for IPv6, and IS-ISv6

Management

• – USB support

  • – File copy- allows users to copy switch files to and from a USB flash drive
• – Multiple configuration files
• Can be stored to the flash image
• – SNMPv1, v2c, and v3
• Facilitate centralized discovery, monitoring, and secure management of networking devices
• – Network Time Protocol (NTP)
• Synchronizes timekeeping among distributed time servers and clients; keeps timekeeping consistent among all clock-dependent devices within the network so that the devices can provide diverse applications based on the consistent time
• – Out-of-band interface
• Isolates management traffic from user data plane traffic for complete isolation and total reachability, no matter what happens in the data plane
• – Port mirroring
• Enables traffic on a port to be simultaneously sent to a network analyzer for monitoring
• – Remote configuration and management
• Is available through a command-line interface (CLI)
• – IEEE 802.1AB Link Layer Discovery Protocol (LLDP)
• Advertises and receives management information from adjacent devices on a network, facilitating easy mapping by network management applications
• – sFlow (RFC 3176)
• Provides scalable ASIC-based wirespeed 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
• – Command authorization
• Leverages RADIUS to link a custom list of CLI commands to an individual network administrator's login; an audit trail documents activity
• – Dual flash images
• Provide independent primary and secondary operating system files for backup while upgrading
• – Command-line interface (CLI)
• Provides a secure, easy-to-use CLI for configuring the module via SSH or a switch console; provides direct real-time session visibility
• – Logging
• Provides local and remote logging of events via SNMP (v2c and v3) and syslog; provides log throttling and log filtering to reduce the number of log events generated
• – Management interface control
• Provides management access through a modem port and terminal interface, as well as in-band and out-of-band Ethernet ports; provides access through terminal interface, Telnet, or secure shell (SSH)
• – Industry-standard CLI with a hierarchical structure
• Reduces training time and expenses, and increases productivity in multivendor installations Management security Restricts access to critical configuration commands; offers multiple privilege levels with password protection; ACLs provide Telnet and SNMP access; local and remote syslog capabilities allow logging of all access
• – Network management
• HPE Intelligent Management Center (IMC) centrally configures, updates, monitors, and provides a central repository for system and network information; aggregates all logs, traps, and debugging information generated by the system and maintains them in order of severity; outputs the network information to multiple
• channels based on user-defined rules
• – Remote intelligent mirroring
• Mirrors ingress/egress ACL-selected traffic from a switch port or VLAN to a local or remote switch port anywhere on the network

Manageability

• – Full-featured console
• Provides complete control of the switch with a familiar CLI
• – Troubleshooting

  • – Ingress and egress port monitoring: Enable network problem solving
  • – Traceroute and ping: Enable testing of network connectivity
• – Multiple configuration files
• Allow multiple configuration files to be stored to a flash image
• – sFlow (RFC 3176)
• Provides wire-speed traffic accounting and monitoring
• – SNMP v1, v2c and v3
• Facilitate centralized discovery, monitoring, and secure management of networking devices
• – Out-of-band interface
• Isolates management traffic from user data plane traffic for complete isolation and total reachability, no matter what happens in the data plane
• – Remote configuration and management
• Is available through a secure command-line interface (CLI) over Telnet and SSH; Role-Based Access Control (RBAC) provides multiple levels of access; Configuration Rollback and multiple configurations on the flash provide ease of operation; remote visibility is provided with sFlow and SNMP v1/v2/v3, and is fully supported in HPE Intelligent Management Center (IMC)
• – ISSU and hot patching
• In Services Software Upgrade (ISSU) provides hitless software upgrades with IRF.Hot patching provides hitless patching for individual systems or IRF
• – Autoconfiguration
• Provides automatic configuration via DHCP autoconfiguration, NETCONF and Python Scripting
• – Network Time Protocol (NTP), Secure Network Time Protocol (SNTP)
• Synchronize timekeeping among distributed time servers and clients; keep consistent timekeeping among all clock-dependent devices within the network so that the devices can provide diverse applications based on the consistent time.

Security

• – Access control lists (ACLs)
• Provide IP Layer 3 filtering based on source/destination IP address/subnet and source/destination TCP/UDP port number
• – RADIUS/TACACS+
• Eases switch management security administration by using a password authentication server
• – Secure shell
• Encrypts all transmitted data for secure remote CLI access over IP networks
• – IEEE 802.1X and RADIUS network logins
• Control port-based access for authentication and accountability
• – Port security
• Allows access only to specified MAC addresses, which can be learned or specified by the administrator

Resiliency and high availability

• – HPE Intelligent Resilient Fabric (IRF) technology
• Enables an HPE FlexFabric to deliver resilient, scalable, and secured data center networks for physical and virtualized environments; groups up to nine HPE FlexFabric 5900 switches in an IRF configuration, allowing them to be configured and managed as a single switch with a single IP address; simplifies ToR deployment and management, reducing data center deployment and operating expenses
• – IEEE 802.1w Rapid Convergence Spanning Tree Protocol
• Increases network uptime through faster recovery from failed links
• – IEEE 802.1s Multiple Spanning Tree
• Provides high link availability in multiple VLAN environments by allowing multiple spanning trees
• – Per VLAN Spanning Tree (PVST)
• Provides high link availability in multiple VLAN environments by allowing spanning tree instances per VLAN
• – Virtual Router Redundancy Protocol (VRRP)
• Allows groups of two routers to dynamically back each other up to create highly available routed environments
• – Hitless patch upgrades
• Allows patches and new service features to be installed without restarting the equipment, increasing network uptime and facilitating maintenance
• – Ultrafast protocol convergence (< 50 ms) with standard-based failure detection—Bidirectional Forwarding Detection (BFD)
• Enables link connectivity monitoring and reduces network convergence time for RIP, OSPF, BGP, IS-IS, VRRP, and IRF
• – Device Link Detection Protocol (DLDP)
• Monitors link connectivity and shuts down ports at both ends if unidirectional traffic is detected, preventing loops in STP-based networks
• – Graceful restart
• allows routers to indicate to others their capability to maintain a routing table during a temporary shutdown and significantly reduces convergence times upon recovery; supports OSPF, BGP, and IS-IS

Warranty and support

• – 1-year warranty
• See https://www.hpe.com/us/en/networking/hpe-aruba-networking-support-services.html for warranty and support information included with your product purchase.
• – Software releases
• To find software for your product, refer to http://www.hpe.com/networking/support; for details on the software releases available with your product purchase, refer to https://www.hpe.com/us/en/networking/hpe-aruba-networking-support-services.html