Nexus Product Family

Chris Wahl
WahlNetwork.com
@ChrisWahl
 Nexus Product Family

 Nexus Switches Overview

 Nexus 7000 Series (7K)
 Nexus 5000 Series (5K)
 Nexus 2000 Series (2K)
 FEX or Fabric Extender
 Licensing
 Nexus Switch Overview

 Data Center class switches

 Switch families abbreviated as <#>K
 K = “kilo”
 Kilo = 1000 units
 Beware! Incorrect terminology
 Don’t use the abbreviation for IOS or UCS
 Fabric Interconnect 6200 is NOT a 6K
 Run Nexus OS
 nx_os
 NX-OS
 Nexus OS

 Unified Fabric
 Protocols like FCoE (Fiber Channel over Ethernet)
 LAN and SAN convergence
 Data Center Operating System
 Re-branding of SAN-OS
 Common code base
 Pillars of Nexus
 Resiliency
 Virtualization
 Efficiency
 Extensibility
 Nexus 7000 Series Switches

 Nexus 7K
 Started with the 7000 series
 Recently released the 7700 series
 Highly modular switch
 Variety of chassis configurations
 Supervisor (“Supes”)
 I/O Modules (“Line cards”)
 7K Chassis Types

 7000 Series
 7004 (side-to-rear airflow)
 7009, 7018 (side-to-side airflow)
 7010 (front-to-back airflow)
 7700 Series
 7706, 7710, 7718
 All front-to-back airflow
 Supervisors

 The heart of the switch

 Control and management operations
 Paired into Active / Hot-Standby
 Supervisor 2 Enhanced (2E)
 Virtual Device Contexts (VDC)
 2E supports 8 +1 for administration
 M-Series I/O Modules

 Primarily handles layer 3 operations

 Large TCAM (Ternary Content-Addressable Memory)
 Higher cost compared to F-Series
 Two line card models available
 M1 and M2
 Improvements with the M2
 Supports FEX (Fabric Extenders)
 Higher port density and bandwidth
 Support for 40 Gbps and 100 Gbps
 F-Series I/O Modules

 Primarily handles layer 2 operations

 Smaller TCAM
 High port density and bandwidth
 Three line card models available
 F2, F2e, and F3
 F3 has significant improvements
 Layer 3 functionality
 OTV, LISP, MPLS
 Nexus 5000 Series Switches

 Nexus 5K
 Started with the 5000 series
 Later released the 5500 series
 Modular switch
 Contains expansion modules
 Layer 3 daughter card option
 Unified Ports (UP)
 LAN and SAN
 “SANless” designs
 Comparing 5000 to 5500

 5000 Series
 5010 – 20 ports standard + 1 expansion
 5020 – 40 ports standard + 2 expansion
 Still encounter them in the field
 5500 Series
 Most port quantity differences
 5548UP – 32 ports standard
 5596 UP – 48 ports standard
 Nexus 2000 Series Switches

 Fabric Extenders (FEX)

 Not full featured switches
 Require a parent (upstream) switch
 5K, 6K, 7K, and 9K options
 UCS Fabric Interconnects
 Variety of options
 100 Mbps to 10 Gbps
 Copper or fiber
 FEX Connectivity

 Host Interfaces
 Connect to downstream devices
 Fabric Interfaces
 Don’t count against port quantity Fabric
 Connect to upstream parent switch Interfaces
 1Gb FEX Features

2224TP 2248TP 2248TP-E

 24 host ports  48 host ports  48 host ports
 RJ-45  RJ-45  RJ-45
 100-1000 Mbps  100-1000 Mbps  100-1000 Mbps

 2 fabric ports  4 fabric ports  4 fabric ports

 10 Gbps  10 Gbps  10 Gbps

 No FCoE  No FCoE  No FCoE

 5K, 6K, 7K, and 9K  5K, 6K, 7K, and 9K  5K, 6K, 7K, and 9K
 Supports port  Supports port  Supports port
channels channels channels
 10Gb FEX Features

2232PP 2248PQ 2232TM 2232TM-E

 32 host ports  48 host ports  32 host ports  32 host ports
 SFP+  SFP+  RJ-45  RJ-45
 1 – 10 Gbps  1 – 10 Gbps  1 – 10 Gbps  1 – 10 Gbps

 4 QSFP+
 8 fabric ports  8 fabric ports  8 fabric ports
fabric ports
 10 Gbps  10 Gbps  10 Gbps
 40 Gbps

 Supports  Supports  Supports

 No FCoE
FCoE FCoE FCoE
 5K, 6K, 7K,
 5K, 6K, 7K,  5K, 6K, 7K,  5K, 6K, and
and 9K
and 9K and 9K 9K
 Supports
 Supports  Supports  Supports
port channel
port channel port channel port channel
 Nexus Licensing

 Grace period
 120 day licensing grace period
 Consuming grace period
 No installed license
 Activate a feature
 Evaluation
 Stop the clock
 Disable feature
 Countdown stops
 Grace period consumed
 Feature is disabled!
 Summary

 Nexus Switches Overview

 Data Center Operating System
 Nexus 7000 Series (7K)
 7000
 7700
 Nexus 5000 Series (5K)
 5000
 5500
 Nexus 2000 Series (2K)
 FEX or Fabric Extender
 Licensing
 Grace period rules