Datasheet

Data Sheet
© 2011 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. This document is Cisco Public Information. Page 3 of 13
Cisco Fabric Extender Transceivers are optical transceivers that provide a highly cost-effective solution for
connecting the fabric extender to its parent switch.
The Cisco Nexus 2000 Series Fabric Extenders behave like remote line cards for a parent Cisco Nexus 5000 or
7000 Series Switch. Working in conjunction with Cisco Nexus switches, the Cisco Nexus 2000 Series Fabric
Extenders extend the capabilities and benefits offered by the parent Cisco Nexus switch while providing flexible,
scalable, and cost-effective server access. Table 2 summarizes the Cisco Nexus 2000 Series parent switch support
matrix.
Table 2. Cisco Nexus Fabric Extender Parent Switch Support Matrix
Cisco Nexus Parent Switch
Cisco Nexus 5000 Series Cisco Nexus 7000 Series
Cisco Nexus fabric extender
models
●
Cisco Nexus 2148T
●
Cisco Nexus 2224TP
●
Cisco Nexus 2248TP
●
Cisco Nexus 2232PP
●
Cisco Nexus 2224TP
●
Cisco Nexus 2248TP
●
Cisco Nexus 2232PP
Cisco Nexus parent model
●
Cisco Nexus 5010P or 5020P Switch
●
Cisco Nexus 5548P Switch
●
Cisco Nexus 5548UP Switch
●
Cisco Nexus 5596UP Switch
●
Cisco Nexus 7000 Series 32-port 10 Gigabit Ethernet
Module SFP+
●
Cisco Nexus 7000 Series 32-port 10 Gigabit Ethernet
Module (XL) SFP+
Scalability
●
Up to 24 fabric extenders per Cisco Nexus 5548P,
5548UP, 5596UP switch (8 fabric extenders for L3
configurations): up to 1152 Gigabit Ethernet servers
and 768 10 Gigabit Ethernet servers per switch
●
Up to 12 fabric extenders per Cisco Nexus 5010P and
5020P switch: up to 576 Gigabit Ethernet servers and
384 10 Gigabit Ethernet servers per switch
●
Up to 32 fabric extenders per Cisco Nexus 7000
Series Switch
●
Up to 1536 Gigabit Ethernet servers per Cisco Nexus
7000 Series Switch
●
Up to 1024 10 Gigabit Ethernet servers per Cisco
Nexus 7000 Series Switch
Benefits
Architecture Flexibility
●
Unified server access architecture: The Cisco Nexus 2000 Series offers a highly cost-effective access-layer
architecture for 100 Megabit Ethernet, Gigabit Ethernet, 10 Gigabit Ethernet, mixed Gigabit Ethernet and 10
Gigabit Ethernet servers, Ethernet or unified fabric, physical or virtual server, and rack or blade server
environments.
●
Flexible physical topologies: The Cisco Nexus 2000 Series architecture allows decoupling of the Layer 1 and
2 topologies, therefore providing flexibility in designing physical architectures, including ToR, middle-of-row
(MoR), and EoR deployments, while allowing quick expansion of network capacity and remote line-card
portability across multiple parent switches. It is also space optimized for all these architectures.
Highly Scalable Access Layer
Today’s data centers must have massive scalability to manage the combination of an increasing number of servers
and a higher demand for bandwidth from each server. The Cisco Nexus 2000 Series increases the scalability of the
access layer to accommodate both sets of demands without increasing management points within the network.
●
Massive scalability: A deployment of Cisco Nexus 2000 Series Fabric Extenders connected to a Cisco Nexus
5000 or 7000 Series Switch supports highly scalable Gigabit and 10 Gigabit Ethernet environments as shown
in Table 2.
●
Layer 2 scalability: Reliance on Spanning Tree Protocol is eliminated between the fabric extender and the
parent switch, thus enabling a large, multipath, loop-free topology. Use of a single management entity to
support a large server domain allows policy to be enforced more efficiently and enhances Layer 2 data center
access scalability. Use of the Virtual PortChannel (vPC) feature also allows fast convergence and effective
utilization of bandwidth in Layer 2 environments.