What OS is used to manage data centre class network appliances from Dell

Dell acquired Force10 in 2011 and that way gained access to data center networking technologies like 10 and 40 Gigabit Ethernet switches.

Like many hardware devices a network appliance needs an (network) operating system (NOS) to control resources and to provide monitoring and management interface. Base on the publicly available information a simplified view of a hardware and software architecture for Force10 network devices can be described as:

• Packet processing is accelerated with the help of an modern ASIC chip(s)
• There is a low level microcode/firmware ( operating system driver) to manage the ASIC
• All of this is integrated within a Linux or *BSD (NetBSD) operating system
• Dell uses 2 different NOS: Dell Networking Operating System (DNOS) or Force10 Operating System (FTOS) depending on the hardware

References

1. http://i.dell.com/sites/doccontent/shared-content/data-sheets/en/Documents/Dell_Force10_FTOS_Spec_Sheet.pdf
2. http://i.dell.com/sites/doccontent/shared-content/data-sheets/en/Documents/Dell_Force10_Product_Quick_Reference_Guide.pdf

This is more like a bonus material in reference to [1] how to build a network using the latest Z9000 switches from Dell: http://bradhedlund.com/2012/01/25/construct-a-leaf-spine-design-with-40g-or-10g-an-observation-in-scaling-the-fabric/