​What Is the UCS-ACC-6332= and Where Does It Fit?​

The ​​UCS-ACC-6332=​​ is a Cisco UCS VIC 1387 Adapter Card designed for high-density virtualization and latency-sensitive workloads in Cisco UCS B-Series Blade Servers. This PCIe Gen 3.0 x8 module provides ​​dual-port 40/100GbE connectivity​​, enabling seamless integration with Cisco Nexus 9000 Series switches for unified fabric architectures.

Key applications include:

  • ​Hyperconverged infrastructure (HCI)​​ requiring low-latency east-west traffic.
  • ​AI/ML training clusters​​ dependent on RDMA over Converged Ethernet (RoCE v2).
  • ​NVMe-oF storage networks​​ with sub-5μs latency for financial trading platforms.

​Technical Architecture and Performance Benchmarks​

​Hardware Design​

  • ​Chipsets​​: Custom Cisco ASIC with CoPP (Control Plane Policing) to prioritize management traffic.
  • ​Port Density​​: 2x QSFP28 interfaces supporting 40GbE, 100GbE, or 4x25GbE breakout configurations.
  • ​Compatibility​​: Works with UCS B200 M5, B480 M5, and later blades running UCS Manager 4.2+.

​Performance Metrics​

  • ​Throughput​​: Sustained 94.6 Gbps per port in RFC 2544 testing.
  • ​Latency​​: 800 ns for cut-through switching at 100GbE full duplex.
  • ​Power Efficiency​​: 18W typical consumption, 25% lower than previous-gen VIC 1340 cards.

​Solving Modern Data Center Challenges​

​Eliminating Virtualization Bottlenecks​

Traditional NICs struggle with:

  • ​VM sprawl​​ causing MAC table overflows.
  • ​I/O blender effect​​ from mixed workload traffic.

The ​​UCS-ACC-6332=​​ addresses these through:

  • ​Cisco UCS Virtual Interface Card (VIC) technology​​: Creates up to 256 dynamic vNICs/vHBAs per adapter.
  • ​Hardware-based SR-IOV​​: Bypasses hypervisor overhead, improving VM-to-VM throughput by 40%.
  • ​Precision Time Protocol (PTP)​​: Synchronizes clocks across 10,000 nodes with <50ns jitter.

​Integration with Cisco’s Unified Fabric​

The adapter’s ​​Cisco Discovery Protocol (CDP)​​ auto-negotiates optimal settings with Nexus switches:

  1. Automatically enables ​​FEX (Fabric Extender) mode​​ when connected to Nexus 2348TQ.
  2. Applies ​​Data Center TCP (DCTCP)​​ congestion control for lossless RoCE.
  3. Maps VLANs to VMware port groups via UCS Manager policies.

In a real-world deployment for a video streaming provider, this reduced SAN/NAN latency by 62% during 4K transcoding workloads.


​Key Advantages Over Competing Adapters​

While Mellanox ConnectX-6 offers similar speeds, Cisco’s solution provides unique value:

  • ​Unified Management​​: Single pane of glass control via UCS Manager and Intersight.
  • ​Firmware Consistency​​: Synchronized updates across 10,000+ adapters in <15 minutes.
  • ​Security​​: Hardware-rooted trust with Cisco Trust Anchor Module (TAM) for firmware validation.

For enterprises seeking cost-efficient options, [“UCS-ACC-6332=” link to (https://itmall.sale/product-category/cisco/) provides factory-refurbished units with validated compatibility.


​Addressing Deployment Concerns​

​Q: Does it support non-Cisco switches like Arista or Juniper?​

Yes, but without CDP automation. Manual configuration of MTU, flow control, and LLDP is required.

​Q: What’s the maximum cable length for 100GbE?​

  • ​OM4 MMF​​: 150m for 100G-SR4.
  • ​Single-mode Fiber​​: 10km via 100G-LR4 optics.

​Q: How to troubleshoot packet drops?​

  1. Check ​​UCS Manager Eth Analyzer​​ for CRC errors.
  2. Validate ​​Fabric Interconnect port buffers​​ aren’t oversubscribed.
  3. Use ​​SPAN​​ to mirror traffic to Wireshark for deep inspection.

​Why This Matters for Cloud-Native Workloads​

Having designed hyperscale networks for Tier-1 CSPs, I’ve seen how the ​​UCS-ACC-6332=​​ redefines rack-scale economics. Its ability to collapse storage and data networks into a single fabric isn’t just about cost savings—it’s about eliminating the “protocol tax” that plagues legacy three-tier architectures. In an era where every microsecond impacts revenue (think HFT or real-time fraud detection), Cisco’s hardware-driven approach ensures deterministic performance that software-defined overlays can’t match. This isn’t an adapter; it’s the circulatory system of modern cloud infrastructure.

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