Datasheet

Data Sheet
© 2011 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. This document is Cisco Public Information. Page 11 of 22
support direct connections from the Cisco Nexus 5500 platform to existing native Fibre Channel SANs using
dedicated native Fibre Channel ports (Figure 10). Cisco Nexus 5500 platform can also be connected to upstream
FCoE-capable switches through industry-standard VE-port Inter-Switch Links (ISLs).
Figure 10. A Pair of Cisco Nexus 5000 Series Switches in an Active-Active Configuration with Native Fibre Channel Connections
to Two Storage Networks
Investment Protection with FCoE Unified Fabric
The Cisco Nexus 5500 platform supports consolidated I/O using FCoE on downlinks to servers. FCoE is Fibre
Channel and, as such, has familiar methods of configuration, operation, and management. On the uplinks to the
network, customers can choose among FCoE direct attachment to storage systems, native Fibre Channel direct
attachment to storage systems, FCoE connection to FCoE-capable switches, and native Fibre Channel connection
to existing SANs. Fibre Channel and FCoE can exist simultaneously in the Fibre Channel network, allowing
customers to continue to use their existing administration and management tools. Cisco Fabric Manager SAN
management software manages Fibre Channel and FCoE flows over both FCoE- and Fibre Channel-capable ports.
Product Architecture
The Cisco Nexus 5500 platform is built around two custom components: a unified crossbar fabric and a unified port
controller application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC). Each Cisco Nexus 5500 platform switch contains a single
unified crossbar fabric ASIC and multiple unified port controllers to support fixed ports and expansion modules within
the switch.
The unified port controller provides an interface between the unified crossbar fabric ASIC and the network media
adapter and makes forwarding decisions for Ethernet, Fibre Channel, and FCoE frames. The ASIC supports the
overall cut-through design of the switch by transmitting packets to the unified crossbar fabric before the entire
payload has been received. The unified crossbar fabric ASIC is a single-stage, nonblocking crossbar fabric capable
of meshing all ports at wire speed. The unified crossbar fabric offers superior performance by implementing QoS-
aware scheduling for unicast and multicast traffic. Moreover, the tight integration of the unified crossbar fabric with
the unified port controllers helps ensure low-latency, lossless fabric for ingress interfaces requesting access to
egress interfaces.