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Dell Networking Operating System (operating system)

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Dell Networking Operating System is the operating system used on all computer network switches built by Dell starting in 2013.

Dell offers networking equipment under the brand-name Dell Networking. Originally Dell offered 3 types of switches: pure Ethernet or layer2 PowerConnect switches, multi-layer PowerConnect switches and datacentre-class switches from Force10. Each line ran on their own operating system.

History

Up to early 2013 the Dell Networking portfolio could be split into three main groups:

Layer 2 switches

The (mainly) L2 switches, with or without basic IP or layer 3 options were PowerConnect switches with model-numbers under 6000: from PCT2800 web-managed switches to the PCT5500 gigabit-ethernet switches. These switches were powered by Marvell Technology Group and ran legacy operating systems.

Multilayer PowerConnect

The multi-layer switches with a model-numer 6200 and higher included Broadcom hardware and software. The underlying operating systems were the real-time OS VxWorks, which was specially designed for embedded systems.

Force10

Force10 switches run on FTOS which runs on NetBSD. Although some model-ranges use a chipset that was designed by Force10, most Ethernet switches, including the largest group - the S-Series, run on Broadcom based application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs) such as the Trident+, the firmware was created by Force10.

In 2013 Dell announced the mix of products and underlying operating-systems would be simplified: all products will run on DNOS, and there will be two main-families of DNOS:

DNOS 6.x

Products that follow up the PowerConnect series switches will run on DNOS 6.x. The user-interface (cli) will use commands and configuration as was used on the PowerConnect switches. Unlike the legacy PowerConnects: the new DNOS 6.x will run on a Linux platform instead of VxWorks. The PowerConnect 8100 series switch is the first switch that runs on a Linux core, and that will be the basis for DNOS 6.x. The existing PowerConnect switches will continue to run their respecive legacy operating-systems but new switches for 'campus networking' will run DNOS 6.x.

DNOS 9.x

The switches that are targeted to the higher-end market (the datacenter class ethernet switches) will run DNOS 9.x. This OS is based on the existing FTOS software from Force10.[1] This means that new versions of FTOS will be renamed to DNOS 9.x (and higher)

See also

FTOS

References

  1. ^ FTOS Spec sheet, retrieved 13 May 2013
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