Datasheet

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Tenfold management points reduction: The number of management points is significantly less than when
discrete switches are used at the top of the rack. A traditional 12-rack design using a discrete, redundant
pair of Gigabit Ethernet switches at the top of each rack has 24 management points. The equivalent
architecture using the Cisco Nexus 2000 Series has only two management points: a tenfold reduction in
management complexity.
Business Benefits
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Cost-effective 10 Gigabit Ethernet solution: The Cisco Nexus 2000 Series is the ideal platform for migration
from Gigabit Ethernet to 10 Gigabit Ethernet. Scalable 10 Gigabit Ethernet provides 10 times the bandwidth
for approximately twice the price of Gigabit Ethernet.
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Consolidation: The Cisco Nexus 2000 Series protects investment into the future, supporting evolving data
center needs by providing an easy migration path to low-latency 10 Gigabit Ethernet, high-performance
computing (HPC), virtual machine-aware networks. In addition, the combination of the Cisco Nexus 5000 or
Nexus 6000 Series and Cisco Nexus 2232PP or Cisco Nexus 2248PQ provides a unified network fabric
that supports LAN and SAN consolidation. Another benefit of the Cisco Nexus 2000 architecture is the
ability to collapse data center access and aggregation layers into one single layer.
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Investment protection: The Cisco Nexus 2000 Series Fabric Extenders can be mixed and matched with a
common parent Cisco Nexus switch. New functions can be derived from upstream Cisco Nexus switches,
resulting in the capability to add new functions without the need for a major equipment upgrade.
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Rack-space reduction: The Cisco Nexus 2000 Series consists of 1RU fabric extenders. The fabric
extenders are not physically constrained by the position of the Cisco Nexus parent switch in the physical
topology and are attached to the upstream Cisco Nexus switch through fabric links.
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Cabling reduction with optimal intra- and inter-rack cabling options: The Cisco Nexus 2000 Series supports
ToR, EoR, and MoR deployment models. Placing the fabric extender at the top of the rack allows the use of
short cables from the rack to servers, reducing cable costs, air dams, complexity, and opportunities for
error. The only inter-rack cabling required is for uplinks from the fabric extender to the parent switch.
Placing the parent Cisco Nexus switch at the end or middle of a row of racks makes efficient use of
powerful switching resources.
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The Cisco Nexus 2000 Series supports an optimal cabling strategy that simplifies network operations and
prepares for future technologies:
Short intra-rack runs of copper: Intra-rack cables connecting to Gigabit Ethernet servers can be
Category 5e, 6, 6a, or 7 with the Cisco Nexus 2148T, Nexus 2224TP, Nexus 2248TP, and Nexus
2248TP-E fabric extenders. Category 6, 6a, or 7 can connect 10GBASE-T servers to the Cisco Nexus
2232TM and Nexus 2232TM-E. Twinax cables connect servers to ToR Cisco Nexus 2232PP Fabric
Extenders. This model allows server racks and PoDs to be preconfigured by server vendors so they can
be rolled into place and put into service upon arrival.
Longer inter-rack horizontal runs of fiber: Cisco Nexus 2000 Series Fabric Extenders in each rack are
connected to parent switches that are placed at the end or middle of the row: For long reach between
the fabric extender and the parent switch, Cisco Fabric Extender Transceiver, SFP+ short-reach (SR),
SFP+ long-reach (LR) optics over OM2 or OM3 cables, and QSFP+ optics for 40G connectivity can be
used. Fiber protects investments into the future because it will support upcoming Ethernet standards,
including 40 and 100 Gigabit Ethernet. If the distance to the Cisco Nexus 5000, Nexus 6000, or Nexus
7000 Series Switch is less than 10 meters, Twinax cables (CX1 direct attach) can be used. Alternatively,
copper cables can be used to reach EoR or MoR 1GBASE-T or 10GBASE-T fabric extenders.