The Converged Technology Extension for Isilon storage is a scale-out NAS storage solution that delivers increased performance for file-based data applications and workflows from a single file-system architecture. It works as an add-on component to Converged Systems. It provides scale-out capacity for use as Network File System (NFS) and Server Message Block (SMB) Common Internet File System (CIFS) shares. The shares reside in the VMware vSphere VMs in the Converged System.

Depending on the specific configuration, the Converged Technology Extension for Isilon storage may contain the following key hardware components:

The following table shows the differences between Generation 5 and Generation 6 on the Cisco Nexus 93180YC-EX, Cisco Nexus 93180LC-EX, and Cisco Nexus 55xxUP, Cisco Nexus 9336C-FX2, and Cisco Nexus 93180YC-FX switches:

Isilon Generation 5	Isilon Generation 6
Isilon back-end InfiniBand switches 8-port 18-port 36-port 48-port (2 x 24-port leaf modules) 24-port leaf modules	Isilon back-end Ethernet switches 10 GbE 24-port 10 GbE 48-port 10 GbE 96-port (2 x 48-port leaf modules) 10 GbE 48-port leaf module 40 GbE 32-port 40 GbE 64-port (2 x 32-port leaf modules) 40 GbE 32-port leaf module 10 GbE 32-port 100 GbE 32-port
Isilon HD400	Isilon A200
Isilon NL400	Isilon A2000
Isilon NL410	Isilon F800
Isilon S210	Isilon F810
Isilon X210	Isilon H400
Isilon X410	Isilon H500
	Isilon H600
	Isilon H5600

For Generation 5 configurations, leaf modules are only applicable over 36 nodes.

For Generation 6 configurations, leaf modules are only applicable in 10 GbE over 48 nodes and 40 GbE over 32 nodes.