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Cisco Nexus 5000 Series Switches
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September 2017
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<<PartnerName>> ● CONFIDENTIAL
Cisco Nexus 5000 Series Switches – Partner/Reseller Version RFX Q&A
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Table of Contents
CISCO NEXUS 5000 SERIES OVERVIEW .......................................................................................................... I
CISCO NEXUS 5500 PLATFORM................................................................................................................................ I
CISCO NEXUS 5600 PLATFORM............................................................................................................................... II
DATA CENTER FEATURE SUITE .................................................................................................................................. V
UNIFIED PORT: ETHERNET, FCOE, AND FIBRE CHANNEL .............................................................................................. V
VIRTUALIZATION...................................................................................................................................................... V
CISCO NEXUS 5500 EXPANSION MODULES ............................................................................................................. VI
CISCO NEXUS 5600 EXPANSION MODULES ............................................................................................................. VI
CISCO NX-OS OPERATING SYSTEM.........................................................................................................................VIII
5500 ARCHITECTURE ..................................................................................................................................... 9
FCOE ................................................................................................................................................................ 10
INTERNAL ARCHITECTURE ..................................................................................................................................... 12
5600 ARCHITECTURE .................................................................................................................................. 14
FCOE ................................................................................................................................................................ 17
INTERNAL ARCHITECTURE ..................................................................................................................................... 19
FEATURES AND FEATURE SUPPORT ............................................................................................................ 22
CISCO NX-OS FEATURES...................................................................................................................................... 22
L2 FEATURES ..................................................................................................................................................... 25
FIBRE CHANNEL FEATURES ................................................................................................................................... 28
L2 MULTICAST FEATURES..................................................................................................................................... 31
MANAGEMENT FEATURES ..................................................................................................................................... 32
SECURITY FEATURES ............................................................................................................................................ 33
PHYSICAL DESIGN AND COMPONENTS ....................................................................................................... 33
POWER REQUIREMENTS ............................................................................................................................. 35
HEAT DISSIPATION AND VENTILATION REQUIREMENTS .............................................................................. 37
CABLE CAPABILITIES.................................................................................................................................... 38
SYSTEM STANDARDS AND COMPLIANCE .................................................................................................... 39
SCALABILITY, PERFORMANCE, AND QOS ..................................................................................................... 40
PERFORMANCE ................................................................................................................................................... 40
QOS .................................................................................................................................................................. 41
PFC .................................................................................................................................................................. 43
SERVICEABILITY ................................................................................................................................................... 44
SPAN ................................................................................................................................................................ 45
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CISCO NEXUS 5000 SERIES OVERVIEW
<<PartnerName>> is pleased to propose the Cisco Nexus® 5000 Series, a family of L2 and L3 access
switches designed for data centers that are increasingly filled with dense, multicore, high-performance
servers, which require 10-GbE connectivity. The proposed solution includes the Cisco Nexus 5500 and
Cisco Nexus 5600 Series switches. With a high-density, low-latency design, these switches are ideal for
access-layer applications ranging from 10 GbE to a fully unified data center fabric, including LAN, SAN, and
IPC module. Specifically, the proposed Cisco Nexus 5600 Series switches offer broad connectivity support,
low latency, and VXLAN technology. These capabilities make the proposed switches ideal for ToR and EoR
access and Cisco FEX aggregation in traditional, converged, virtualized, and cloud deployments.
Cisco Nexus 5500 Platform
In addition to providing line-rate, classic 10 GbE, Cisco Nexus 5500 Series switches, part of
<<PartnerName>>’s proposed Cisco Nexus 5000 Series solution, include a data center-Ethernet feature
suite, Fibre Channel, FCoE, and virtual machine-aware networking. These switches are also fundamental
for delivering I/O consolidation and data center convergence, which are prerequisites for a “green” data
center.
The Cisco Nexus 5500 platform extends the industry-leading versatility of the proposed Cisco Nexus 5000
Series of purpose-built, 10-GbE data center class switches and provides innovative advances toward
higher density, lower latency, and multilayer services. This platform is well suited for enterprise-class data
center server access-layer deployments across a diverse set of physical, virtual, storage access, and highperformance computing data center environments. The rich features of the proposed Cisco Nexus 5500
platform include:

Custom ASICs provide up to 960 Gbps non-blocking throughput and up to 48 ports in a 1RU solution,
and up to 1.92 Tbps non-blocking throughput, and up to 96 ports in a 2RU solution.

The proposed solution features Cisco NX-OS which supports standards-based, unified fabric switching
based on DCB innovations, full L2 switching capabilities, and L3 routing functions including IGP and
BGP.

The proposed Cisco Nexus 5500 Series switches have a flexible design with a unified port feature,
allowing users to configure via software any port to any service, with any speed. Due to the innovative
PHY-less design of the ports and the robust NX-OS, these switches can support 1/10G Ethernet, 10G
FCoE, or 1/2/4/8G FC with the desired type of transceiver plugged in as well as 1/10GBASE-T
Ethernet.
The proposed Cisco Nexus 5500 platform includes: Cisco Nexus 5596UP, Cisco Nexus 5596T, and Cisco
Nexus 5548UP.
The Cisco Nexus 5596UP is a 2RU 10 GbE, FC, and FCoE switch offering up to 1.92 Tbps of throughput
and up to 96 ports. The switch has 48 unified ports and three expansion slots.
Cisco Nexus 5596UP Switch
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The Cisco Nexus 5596T is a 2RU, 96 port 1/10GE switch supporting 10GBASE-T and SFP+ together. The
switch offers up to 1.92 Tbps of throughput, with 32 fixed 1/10GBASE-T ports, 16 fixed 1/10G SFP+
Ethernet, FC, and FCoE, and three expansion slots. In addition, Cisco Nexus 5500 Series switches provide
support for Cisco Nexus 2000 Series Fabric Extenders, also available through <<PartnerName>>.
The expansion modules include:

16-port 1G/10Gbps SFP+ Ethernet/FCoE

8-port 1G/10Gbps SFP+ Ethernet/FCoE, plus 8-port 1/2/4/8Gbps Native FC

16-port unified port module 1G/10G Ethernet/FCoE, 1/2/4/8Gbps Native FC

12-port 1/10GBASE-T Ethernet

4-port QSFP module that provides 16 x 10G SFP+ Ethernet/FCoE
Cisco Nexus 5596T Switch
The Cisco Nexus 5548UP is a 1RU, 10-GbE, FC, and FCoE switch offering up to 960 Gbps of throughput
and up to 48 ports. The switch has 32 1/10 Gbps fixed SFP+ unified ports and one expansion slot.
The expansion modules include:

16-port unified port module 1/10G Ethernet/FCoE, 1/2/4/8Gbps Native FC

16-port 1/10Gbps SFP+ Ethernet/FCoE

8-port 1/10Gbps SFP+ Ethernet/FCoE, plus 8-port 1/2/4/8Gbps Native FC

4-port QSFP module that provides 16 x 10G SFP+ Ethernet/FCoE
Cisco Nexus 5548UP Switch
Cisco Nexus 5600 Platform
Another part of <<PartnerName>>’s proposed Cisco Nexus 5000 Series solution, the Cisco Nexus 5600
platform offers broad connectivity, support, low latency, and VXLAN technology. These capabilities make
the switches ideal for ToR/EoR access and Cisco FEX aggregation in traditional, converged, virtualized, and
cloud deployments. Benefits of the proposed Cisco Nexus 5600 platform include:
SCALE
These switches are designed to meet the scaling demands of traditional and cloud deployments.

The FEX architecture supports up to 2304 ports in a single management domain.
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
These switches provide a hardware-based VXLAN (L2, L3, gateway), and are capable of NVGRE.

These switches deliver integrated L3 services with large table sizes and buffers with 1-microsecond
latency.
OPERATIONAL EFFICIENCY
These switches deliver ease of operations via single point of management and programmability.

The FEX architecture of this platform provides a single point of management.

An advanced analytics tool kit makes it easy to monitor latency and buffering.

Programmers use Python, TCL, NX-API, the Cisco One Platform Kit (OnePK®), available through
<<PartnerName>>, and OpenFlow.
ARCHITECTURAL FLEXIBILITY
These switches provide deployment flexibility for varying customer needs:

Broad connectivity support includes GbE, 10 GbE, and 40 GbE/100GbE uplinks; Native FC; and FCoE.

Switches support simplified virtualized and cloud deployments.

<<PartnerName>> offers Cisco FabricPath which is supported for scalable L2 networks.
The proposed Cisco Nexus 5600 platform includes: Cisco Nexus 5672UP, Cisco Nexus 5672UP-16G, Cisco
Nexus 56128P (10G offering), Cisco Nexus 5624Q, Cisco Nexus 5648Q and Cisco Nexus 5696Q (40G
offering).
The Cisco Nexus 5624Q and Cisco Nexus 5648Q switches are designed to help organizations prepare for
future network needs. The Cisco Nexus 5624Q is a 1RU wire-rate, 12-port 40 GbE or 48-port 10 GbE
(using breakout cables) switch and an expansion slot providing 12 ports of 40GE for future proofing. The
Cisco Nexus 5648Q is a 2RU wire-rate, 24-port 40GbE or 96-port 10GbE (using breakout cables) switch
with two expansion slots for future proofing. The same expansion module can be used in both the 5624Q
and the 5648Q switches. These switches offer scalability, high performance, investment protection, and
flexibility for traditional, virtualized, and cloud environments.
Cisco Nexus 5624Q Switch
Cisco Nexus 5648Q Switch
The Cisco Nexus 5696Q is a high-density, wire-rate, L2 and L3 switch. This switch provides modular
expansion slots for increased scalability, providing investment protection for future technologies. It also
facilitates high scalability, operational efficiency, and design flexibility for traditional, virtualized, and cloud
environments.
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The Cisco Nexus 5696Q switch supports two different LEMs, a 12-port 40GE / FCoE module and a 20-port
unified port LEM supporting 10GE / FCoE or 8/4/2G FC.
Cisco Nexus 5696Q Switch
The Cisco Nexus 5672UP is a wire-rate L2 and L3 switch offering 10 GbE and unified ports in a compact
1RU form factor. It is optimized for 10 GbE ToR access and LAN-SAN convergence. It delivers high
performance, operational efficiency, and design flexibility for traditional, virtualized, and cloud
environments.
Cisco Nexus 5672UP Switch
The Cisco Nexus 5672UP-16G is a wire-rate L2 and L3 switch offering 10 GbE and unified ports in a
compact 1RU form factor. It is optimized 10 GbE ToR access, 16 Gb Fibre Channel, and LAN-SAN
convergence. It delivers high scalability and performance, operational efficiency, and design flexibility for
traditional and cloud environments.
Cisco Nexus 5672UP-16G Switch
The Cisco Nexus 56128P is a wire-rate L2 and L3 switch offering 10 GbE, unified ports, and two expansion
slots in a 2RU form factor. It is optimized for 10 GbE ToR access and LAN-SAN convergence. It delivers
high performance, operational efficiency, and design flexibility for traditional, virtualized, and cloud
environments.
Cisco Nexus 56128P Switch
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Data Center Feature Suite
<<PartnerName>>’s proposed Cisco Nexus 5500 and Cisco Nexus 5600 Series switches offer a robust set
of data center Ethernet features. Data center Ethernet is a suite of enhancements to classic Ethernet.
These features are designed to allow multiple data center networks to be converged onto a common fabric
and to enhance the transmission capabilities of individual data center LANs. Features include:

Unified Port: Provides flexibility for any port to be an Ethernet/FCoE/FC port
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FCoE: Enables I/O consolidation at the rack level, facilitating reduced cabling, power, and cooling
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FC: Provides support for 1/2/4/8G FC transceivers

VXLAN: Simplifies operations and automates provisioning

PFC: Enables FCoE by allowing class-of-service-based flow control

Priority grouping: Allows storage traffic to be managed separately from IP traffic, simplifying
administration and QoS management

Parameter exchange: Simplifies network deployment and helps reduce configuration errors by
providing auto-negotiation of data center Ethernet features between the NIC and the switch and
between switches

End-port virtualization: Simplifies the network as viewed from the aggregation layer, supporting
massive scale and high-performance active/active links as well as fine-grained control over other
network resources
Unified Port: Ethernet, FCoE, and Fibre Channel
The proposed Cisco Nexus 5500 and Cisco Nexus 5600 platforms support unified port, where a port can
be an Ethernet, FCoE, or FC port. These platforms deliver a fully functioning data center FCoE system. FCoE
converges Fibre Channel SAN traffic and Ethernet LAN traffic to deliver I/O consolidation and network-level
convergence. FCoE provides the following benefits:

Reduces the number of adapter cards per server (one CNA instead of separate NICs and HBAs).

Requires fewer access switches; one FCoE switch provides the functionality of the LAN switch and the
FC switch.

Reduces the number of required cables by up to half.

Helps reduce transceiver costs by enabling the move from the optical transceiver required for FC to
less expensive 10 GbE/FCoE copper transceivers.

Helps reduce power and cooling costs.

Supports 1/2/4/8/16G FC transceivers.
Virtualization
The proposed Cisco Nexus 5500 and Cisco Nexus 5600 Series switches deliver virtual machine-optimized
services, supporting the Unified Data Center vision by allowing IT organizations to dynamically respond to
changing business demands through rapid provisioning of application and infrastructure services from
shared pools of consolidated compute, storage, and network resources. Virtual machine deployments rely
on a combination of LAN traffic, SAN traffic, and server clusters to implement virtual machine
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infrastructure services, such as virtual machine mobility, all of which can be implemented on the Cisco
Nexus 5500 and Cisco Nexus 5600 Unified Fabric, offered by <<PartnerName>>.
The proposed Cisco Nexus 5500 and Cisco Nexus 5600 Series switches enable IT organizations to deploy
computer resources by racks, allowing you to build a self-contained data center infrastructure (server,
storage, and network) in a single rack. This capability simplifies cable requirements and enables full
connectivity between servers and storage devices. The proposed Cisco Nexus 5000 Series switches allow
hosts to be wired once to connect to any type of network in the data center (LAN, SAN, or server clusters),
ultimately facilitating faster rollout of new applications and servers.
Through virtualization, organizations can benefit from reduced power, cooling, space, and capital costs
within the data center.
Cisco Nexus 5500 Expansion Modules
The proposed Cisco Nexus 5500 platform is equipped with expansion modules that can be used to
increase the number of 10-GbE and FCoE ports or to connect FC SANs with 8/4/2/1-Gbps FC switch ports,
or both.
Cisco Nexus 5500 Expansion Modules
The Cisco Nexus 5548UP switches support one expansion module. The Cisco Nexus 5596UP and Cisco
Nexus 5596T switches support five expansion modules from the following offerings:

A unified port module that provides up to 16 1/10-GbE and FCoE ports using the SFP+ interface or up
to 16 ports of 8/4/2/1-Gbps native FC connectivity using the SFP+ and SFP interface. The use of
1/10-GbE or 8/4/2/1-Gbps FC on a port is mutually exclusive but selectable for any of the 16 physical
ports per module.

A 4-port QSFP module that provides 16 10G SFP+ in a 4 QSFP form factor. Ports support FCoE or
Ethernet.

An Ethernet module that provides 12 1/10GBASE-T ports using RJ45 interface. This is supported only
on the Cisco Nexus 5596T switch.

An Ethernet module that provides 16 1/10-GbE and FCoE ports using the SFP+ interface.

A Fibre Channel plus Ethernet module that provides 8 1/10-GbE and FCoE ports using the SFP+
interface, and 8 ports of 8/4/2/1-Gbps Native FC connectivity using the SFP+/SFP interface.
Cisco Nexus 5600 Expansion Modules
The Cisco Nexus 56128P switch also offers two slots for GEMs. The GEM for the Cisco Nexus 56128P
switch provides 24 ports 10G Ethernet/FCoE, or 2/4/8G FC and two 40 Gigabit QSFP+ Ethernet/FCoE
ports. The expansion module supports native 40 GbE on the QSFP+ ports. The expansion module is
supported on the Cisco Nexus 56128P chassis only and can be populated in either of the two expansion
slots.
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24–Port UP GEM for Cisco Nexus 56128P
The Cisco Nexus 5624Q switch offers a hot-swappable GEM for an additional twelve 40 GbE ports.
The Cisco Nexus 5648Q switch, with two expansion slots, offers support for an additional twenty-four 40
GbE ports using a hot-swappable GEM. The Cisco Nexus 5624Q and Cisco Nexus 5648Q switches share
the same expansion module.
12-Port 40-G GEM for Cisco Nexus 5624Q and Cisco Nexus 5648Q
Cisco Nexus 5696Q expansion modules offer multiple interface options with the chassis base. The Cisco
Nexus 5696Q expansion module supports a 40 and 10-Gigabit Ethernet LEM with QSFP+ optics. Each 40
GbE expansion module provides 12 ports of 40 GbE and FCoE ports using a QSFP interface, or 48 ports of
10 Gbps using breakout cables. With all eight expansion modules installed, the Cisco Nexus 5696Q
expansion module delivers 96 ports of QSFP or 384 ports of 10 GbE (SFP+) using breakout cables. All
expansion modules are hot swappable.
12-Port 40-Gbps LEM
The Cisco Nexus 5696Q also offers a unified expansion module that supports 1 and 10 GbE SFP+, FC at
8/4/2 Gbps, and 10-Gbps FCoE. The unified port LEM offers twenty 10-Gbps SFP+ ports with support for
up to 160 ports in a fully loaded system.
20-Port Unified LEM
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The Cisco Nexus 5696Q also supports a 100 GbE expansion module that supports 100 GbE with CXP
optics. The 100 GbE LEM offers four 100-Gbps CXP ports with support for up to 32 ports in a fully loaded
system.
4-Port 100-Gbps LEM
Cisco NX-OS Operating System
NX-OS is the operating system for the proposed Cisco Nexus 5500 and Cisco Nexus 5600 Series switches.
NX-OS unifies L2 classic and lossless Ethernet switching and storage switching in one operating system.
NX-OS is a Linux-based, next-generation operating system with high availability, modularity, resiliency, and
serviceability at its foundation. NX-OS is highly attuned to data center applications and designed to support
a unified fabric. Based on the industry-proven Cisco SAN-OS software, NX-OS facilitates continuous
availability and sets the standard for mission-critical data center environments. The self-healing and highly
modular design of NX-OS makes zero-impact operations a reality and enables excellent operational
flexibility.
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5500 ARCHITECTURE
1. What are the software requirements for the Cisco Nexus 5000?
Response:
<<PartnerName>>’s proposed Cisco Nexus 5000 Series switches are supported by NXOS Release 4.0 and higher. NX-OS interoperates with any networking operating system (including Cisco
IOS® Software, available through <<PartnerName>>) that conforms to the networking standards
mentioned in the data sheet. The minimum software requirement is NX-OS Release 5.0(3)N2(2b).
2. Please describe some of the major software features of the Cisco Nexus 5000
operating system.
Response:
The proposed Cisco Nexus 5000 Series operating system, NX-OS, is based on the Cisco
MDS 9000 Series SAN-OS software and Catalyst IOS, both available through <<PartnerName>>. NX-OS
has a comprehensive set of features, including:

FEXlink

Virtual PortChannel

FCoE

FabricPath

Adapter-FEX and VM-FEX

General Online Diagnostics

Smart Call Home

XML API

RBAC

SPAN

ERSPAN

QoS

CoPP

ACLs

IPv4 and IPv6

UDLD

PVLAN

IGMP v1, v2, and v3 snooping

LACP

802.1Q

802.1s/w and PVRST+
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
GUI-based network management (DCNM)

Embedded Event Manager

802.1X

Cisco TrustSec® (including SGACLs and LinkSec encryption)
3. What is Data Center Ethernet?
Response:
<<PartnerName>> offers Cisco Data Center Ethernet, or now commonly referred to as
IEEE 802.1 DCB, which is a collection of standards-based extensions to classical Ethernet. This provides a
lossless, data center transport layer that enables the convergence of LANs and SANs onto a single Unified
Fabric. In addition to supporting FCoE, it enhances the operation of iSCSI, NAS, and other business-critical
traffic.
IEEE DCB is a flexible framework that defines the capabilities required for switches and end points to be
part of a data center fabric. It includes the following capabilities:

PFC, IEEE 802.1Qbb

Enhanced transmission selection (ETS; IEEE 802.1Qaz)

Congestion notification (IEEE 802.1Qau)

Extensions to the Link Layer Discovery Protocol standard (IEEE 802.1AB) that enable DCBX Protocol
Related standards-track activities are defining standards that complement DCB, such as equal-cost
multipathing at L2, which includes:

Shortest Path Bridging (IEEE 802.1aq)

Transparent Interconnection of Lots of Links (IETF working group)
4. Which ports on the Cisco Nexus 5596 Series switches support Cisco Data Center
Ethernet?
Response:
All 10-GbE interfaces support Cisco Data Center Ethernet, FC, and FCoE, including the 48
fixed interfaces and the 48 interfaces on the expansion modules.
5. Which ports on the Cisco Nexus 5548 Series switches support Cisco Data Center
Ethernet?
Response:
All 10-GbE interfaces support Cisco Data Center Ethernet, FC, and FCoE, including the 32
fixed interfaces and the 16 interfaces on the expansion module.
FCoE
6. Is Cisco Data Center Ethernet support required for FCoE?
Response:
Cisco Data Center Ethernet is an umbrella term that references a group of enhancements
to classic Ethernet. FCoE does not depend on the full set of these enhancements; but rather, it has two
basic requirements: jumbo-frame support and correct implementation of PAUSE.
To implement FCoE, PFC, an enhancement defined in Cisco Data Center Ethernet, is used to create
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lossless Ethernet.
7. Is FCoE capability available currently?
Response:
Yes.
8. What are the absolute minimum requirements for the underlying Ethernet network to
support FCoE?
Response:

Supporting FCoE requires, at a minimum:
Lossless Ethernet:
- PFC

Jumbo frame support:
- Support for up to 9216 bytes of packets
9. Is FCoE supported on all ports?
Response:
FCoE is supported on all 10-GbE/40GbE interfaces.
10. Is FCoE routable?
Response:
No. FCoE does not have an IP layer; therefore, it is not IP routable.
11. What is FIP?
Response:
FIP is a part of the FCoE standard.
12. Is FIP supported currently?
Response:
Yes.
13. Can I build multi-hop FCoE topologies?
Response:
The FCoE T11 standard allows multi-hop FCoE topologies. Currently, multi-hop FCoE can
be enabled between two of the proposed Cisco Nexus 5000 Series switches and between the proposed
Cisco Nexus 5000, Cisco Nexus 7000 Series of switches and MDS 9700 Directors, all available through
<<PartnerName>>.
14. What port modes are supported on FCoE interfaces?
Response:
(V)F_port (switch mode and NPV mode) and VE_port
15. Is there any prioritization for FCoE traffic over Ethernet traffic?
Response:
FCoE traffic classification happens based on the CoS marking. By default, when enabling
“feature FCoE” on the proposed Cisco Nexus 5000 Series switches, a class of service titled “class-FCoE” is
created in the QoS settings. When a frame is ingressing the switch with this appropriate CoS marking, it
will be put into the FCoE class and treated as a no-drop class of traffic.
The proposed switch includes hardware support for the IEEE 802.1Qaz (Enhance Transmission Selection
Bandwidth Management) standard to help enable prioritization and bandwidth for configured classes of
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traffic.
16. How many ports of FC can we support?
Response:
The proposed Cisco Nexus 5500 Series switch can support up to 96 ports of FC. 48 ports
in the 5548 chassis, and 96 ports in the 5596 chassis.
17. Is there 10GBASE-T supported on Cisco Nexus 5500?
Response:
Yes. FCoE is supported on 10GBASE-T ports. Ports support FCoE up to 30 meters using
Category 6a and Category 7 cables.
18. Is FCoE supported on 10GBASE-T?
Response:
Yes. FCoE is supported on 10GBASE-T ports. Ports support FCoE up to 30 meters using
Category 6a and Category 7 cables.
Internal Architecture
19. What are the building blocks of the switch?
Response:
The proposed Cisco Nexus 5500 platform is built around two custom components: a
unified crossbar fabric and a unified port controller 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 which makes forwarding decisions for Ethernet, FC, and FCoE frames. The ASIC supports
the overall cut-through design of the switch by transmitting packets to the unified crossbar fabric before
the payload has been received. The unified crossbar fabric ASIC is a single-stage, non-blocking 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.
20. What kind of processor is used on the Cisco Nexus 5500 Series switches?
Response:
Forest CPU.
Cisco Nexus 5548 and Cisco Nexus 5596 switches use a dual core 1.7 GHz Intel Jasper
21. What is the flash size on the Cisco Nexus 5500 Series switches?
Response:
The size of flash is 2 GB on Cisco Nexus 5548 and Cisco Nexus 5596 switches.
22. Do the Cisco Nexus 5500 Series switches have a slot for an external compact flash
or an external USB port?
Response:
The proposed Cisco Nexus 5500 Series switches provide an external USB port that can
be used to connect to a USB storage device.
23. What is the size of DRAM on the Cisco Nexus 5500 Series switches?
Response:
There is 8 GB of DRAM for Cisco Nexus 5548 and Cisco Nexus 5596 switches.
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24. What are the different scenarios under which the switch operates in store-andforward mode?
Response:
The store-and-forward operation is enabled when the frame is received on either the FC
or the 1 GbE physical interface. Packets are always switched in cut-through mode when the frame is
received on the 10 GbE interface. Also, a CLI is provided to force the switch to operate in store-and-forward
mode in all scenarios.
25. How much ingress and egress port buffering does the Cisco Nexus 5500 Series
switches have?
Response:
The proposed series includes Cisco Nexus 5548 and Cisco Nexus 5596 switches which
offer 640 KB packet buffer per port with 480 KB allocated for ingress and 160 KB allocated for egress.
With VOQ and lossless fabric architecture, the Cisco Nexus 5548 and Cisco Nexus 5596 switches can
leverage ingress buffer from multiple ingress ports for burst absorption in case of congestion.
26. How many management interfaces do the Cisco Nexus 5500 Series switches
support?
Response:
The proposed Cisco Nexus 5500 Series switches have four 10/100/1000-Mbps, out-ofband interfaces. Currently, one of these interfaces labeled MGMT 0 is used as the management interface.
The other three are reserved for future use.
27. How is unicast traffic balanced across the fabric?
Response:
The proposed Cisco Nexus solution uses a modified version of the iSLIP algorithm. Input
ports issue requests to the crossbar scheduler, and then the scheduler matches input requests to output
queues on the egress ports. On a match, a grant is sent, and the packets are forwarded across the fabric
to the output ports. Pointers are used to keep track of what priorities are emptied from each queue, which
enables fair scheduling.
28. On a transfer between two adjacent ports on the same UPC, does the traffic have to
hit the crossbar or is it switched locally?
Response:
All traffic hits the crossbar.
29. What are VOQs and what is their function?
Response:
VOQs are used in ingress for packets waiting for permission to be forwarded onto the
crossbar fabric. VOQs prevent head-of-line blocking, a problem that occurs when a packet destined for a
port/priority class is held up because the packet in front of it cannot be forwarded to another output
port/priority class due to congestion.
30. How many VOQs per port are there?
Response:
For the proposed Cisco Nexus 5000 Series, at each ingress port, there are eight
(representing eight priorities) VOQs per egress port. For the Cisco Nexus 5548 switch, there are 48x8 VOQs
at each ingress port. For the Cisco Nexus 5596 switch, there are 96x8 VOQs at each ingress port.
31. Can I change the queue depth per queue?
Response:
Yes. Queue depths can be changed but only for the user-configured drop class.
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32. Are the expansion modules hot-swappable?
Response:
Yes.
33. What is enhanced iSLIP?
Response:
The enhanced iSLIP scheduling algorithm uses rotating priority arbitration to schedule
each active input and output in turn. The arbitration is carried out in three steps in each iteration. The
main characteristics of iSLIP are: high throughput, starvation free, and fast scheduling.
34. Do the Cisco Nexus 5500 Series switches support encryption?
Response:
encryption.
The Cisco Nexus 5548 and Cisco Nexus 5596 switches do not support hardware
35. Do the Cisco Nexus 5500 Series switches support jumbo frames?
Response:
Yes. The proposed Cisco Nexus 5500 Series switches support frame sizes up to 9 KB.
36. What is the typical port-to-port latency for the Cisco Nexus 5500 Series switches?
Response:
microseconds.
The port-to-port latency for the Cisco Nexus 5548 and Cisco Nexus 5596 switches 1.8
37. Do Cisco Nexus 5500 Series switches support 40G interface?
Response:
Yes. QSFP interface is supported using the N55-M4Q GEM Module. It is an expansion
module that provides 16 x 10G SFP+ in a 4 QSFP form factor. The proposed Cisco Nexus 5500 Series
switches do not support true 40G flow. The QSFP interface internally supports 4 x 10G flow using a port
channel.
5600 ARCHITECTURE
38. What are the software requirements for the Cisco Nexus 5600 Series switches?
Response:
<<PartnerName>>’s proposed Cisco Nexus 5600 Series switches are supported by NXOS. Cisco Nexus 5672UP and Cisco Nexus 5696Q switches are supported with Release 7.0 and higher.
Cisco Nexus 5624Q and Cisco Nexus 5648Q switches are supported with Release 7.1 and higher. Cisco
Nexus 5672UP-16G is supported with Release 7.3 and higher. NX-OS interoperates with any networking
operating system (including Cisco IOS Software, available through <<PartnerName>>) that conforms to the
networking standards mentioned in the data sheet.
39. Please describe some of the major software features of the Cisco Nexus 5600
operating system.
Response:
The proposed Cisco Nexus 5600 Series operating system, NX-OS, is based on the MDS
9000 Series SAN-OS software and Catalyst IOS. NX-OS has a comprehensive set of features, including:

FEXlink

Virtual PortChannel

FCoE
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
FabricPath

Adapter-FEX and VM-FEX

General Online Diagnostics

Smart Call Home

XML API

RBAC

SPAN

ERSPAN

QoS

CoPP

ACLs

IPv4 and IPv6

UDLD

PVLAN

IGMP v1, v2, and v3 snooping

LACP

802.1Q

802.1s/w and PVRST+

GUI-based network management (DCNM)

Embedded Event Manager

802.1X

Cisco TrustSec (including SGACLs and LinkSec encryption)

VXLAN
40. What is Data Center Ethernet?
Response:
<<PartnerName>> offers Cisco Data Center Ethernet, or now commonly referred to as
IEEE 802.1 DCB, which is a collection of standards-based extensions to classical Ethernet. It provides a
lossless, data center transport layer that enables the convergence of LANs and SANs onto a single Unified
Fabric. In addition to supporting FCoE, it enhances the operation of iSCSI, NAS, and other business-critical
traffic.
IEEE DCB is a flexible framework that defines the capabilities required for switches and end points to be
part of a data center fabric. It includes the following capabilities:

PFC, IEEE 802.1Qbb

Enhanced transmission selection (ETS; IEEE 802.1Qaz)
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
Congestion notification (IEEE 802.1Qau)

Extensions to the Link Layer Discovery Protocol standard (IEEE 802.1AB) that enable DCBX Protocol
Related standards-track activities are defining standards that complement DCB, such as equal-cost
multipathing at L2, which includes:

Shortest Path Bridging (IEEE 802.1aq)

Transparent Interconnection of Lots of Links (IETF working group)
41. Which ports on the Cisco Nexus 5672UP Series switches support Cisco Data Center
Ethernet?
Response:
All interfaces on Cisco Nexus 5672UP switches support Cisco Data Center Ethernet and
FCoE. The last 16 10GE ports also support FC.
42. Which ports on the Cisco Nexus 5672UP-16G Series switches support Cisco Data
Center Ethernet?
Response:
All interfaces on Cisco Nexus 5672UP-16G switches support Cisco Data Center Ethernet
and FCoE. The last 24 SFP+ ports also support FC.
43. How many UP ports on N5672UP-16G?
Response:
There are 24 UP ports on the N5672UP-16G switches.
44. Where are the UP ports located on the N5672UP-16G?
Response:
The 24 UP ports are located the right half of the SFP/SFP+ ports on the N5672UP-16G.
These ports are painted with orange color. These ports are on slot2 of the module.
45. What are the FC speeds supported on N5672UP-16G?
Response:
The UP ports on the N5672UP-16G support 2/4/8/16G speeds.
46. Do I need to reload the switch when changing the UP ports between Ethernet and
FC?
Response:
A reload of switch is required for the following two conditions:
1. When the switch is first adding any FC ports
2. When the switch is removing all the FC ports
47. Do I need to reload slot2 when changing the UP ports between Ethernet and FC?
Response:
A reload of slot 2 is required for the following two conditions:
1. Changing from 24 FC ports to 12 FC ports
2. Changing from 12 FC ports to 24 FC ports
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48. What is the latency for the N5672UP-16G?
Response:
If all the ports are operation as Ethernet, the first 24 ports will have latency around 1µs.
The UP ports will have additional of 250ns to 350ns each way. So the latency between two UP ports will be
about 1.5µs to 1.7µs. If any of the ports are configured as FC ports, the latency for the 10G ports will be
higher as those ports are operated in store and forward mode.
49. What are the buffer-to-buffer credits on the N5672UP-16G FC ports?
Response:
The default value is 32 for F-port, and 64 for E-port. The maximum is 128 for both port
type. [N55xx: 16 default and 240 max. Other N56xx00x: 15 for both default and max]
50. What is the maximum distance for the N5672UP-16G FC ports?
Response:
3km]
The maximum distance is 32km for 8G and 15km for 16G. [N55xx: 60km. Other N56xx:
51. Can all the UP ports operate in 16G FC?
Response:
ASIC.
Yes. But there is oversubscription. Every 4 FC ports share a 40G connection to the UPC
52. Which ports on the Cisco Nexus 56128P Series switches support Cisco Data Center
Ethernet?
Response:
All interfaces on Cisco Nexus 56128P switches support Cisco Data Center Ethernet and
FCoE. All interfaces on the two expansion modules also support FC.
53. Which ports on the Cisco Nexus 5624Q and Cisco Nexus 5648Q Series switches
support Cisco Data Center Ethernet?
Response:
All interfaces on Cisco Nexus 5624Q and Cisco Nexus 5648Q switches support Cisco
Data Center Ethernet and FCoE.
54. Which ports on the Cisco Nexus 5696Q Series switches support Cisco Data Center
Ethernet?
Response:
All 1/10/40 GbE interfaces on Cisco Nexus 5696Q switches support Data Center
Ethernet and FCoE. 10G interfaces with the 20 Unified-Port module and also supports FC.
FCoE
55. Is Cisco Data Center Ethernet support required for FCoE?
Response:
Cisco Data Center Ethernet is an umbrella term that references a group of enhancements
to classic Ethernet. FCoE does not depend on the full set of these enhancements; but rather, it has two
basic requirements: jumbo-frame support and correct implementation of PAUSE.
To implement FCoE, Cisco uses PFC, an enhancement defined in Data Center Ethernet, to create lossless
Ethernet.
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56. Is FCoE capability available currently?
Response:
Yes.
57. What are the absolute minimum requirements for the underlying Ethernet network to
support FCoE?
Response:

Supporting FCoE requires, at a minimum:
Lossless Ethernet:
- PFC

Jumbo frame support:
- Support for up to 9216 bytes of packets
58. Is FCoE supported on all ports?
Response:
FCoE is supported on all 10-GbE/40-GbE interfaces.
59. Is FCoE routable?
Response:
No. FCoE does not have an IP layer; therefore, it is not IP routable.
60. What is FIP?
Response:
FIP is a part of the FCoE standard.
61. Is FIP supported currently?
Response:
Yes.
62. Can I build multi-hop FCoE topologies?
Response:
The FCoE T11 standard allows multi-hop FCoE topologies. Currently, multi-hop FCoE can
be enabled between two of the proposed Cisco Nexus 5600 switches and between the Cisco Nexus 5600,
Cisco Nexus 7000 Series switches, and MDS 9700 Directors, all available from <<PartnerName>>.
63. What port modes are supported on FCoE interfaces?
Response:
(V)F_port (switch mode and NPV mode) and VE_port
64. Is there any prioritization for FCoE traffic over Ethernet traffic?
Response:
FCoE traffic classification happens based on the CoS marking. By default, when enabling
“feature FCoE” on the proposed Cisco Nexus 5600 Series switches, a class of service titled “class-FCoE” is
created in the QoS settings. When a frame is ingressing the switch with this appropriate CoS marking, it
will be put into the FCoE class and treated as a no-drop class of traffic.
The proposed switch includes hardware support for the IEEE 802.1Qaz (Enhance Transmission Selection
Bandwidth Management) standard to help enable prioritization and bandwidth for configured classes of
traffic.
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65. How many ports of FC can we support?
Response:
The proposed Cisco Nexus 5600 Series switches can support up to 60 ports of FC on
base ports. With FEX, this number increases to 96.
66. Is 10GBASE-T supported on Cisco Nexus 5600 Series switches?
Response:
No.
Internal Architecture
67. What are the building blocks of the switch?
Response:
The proposed Cisco Nexus 5600 platform is built around two custom components: a
unified crossbar fabric and a UPC ASIC. Each switch contains one (Cisco Nexus 5672UP, Cisco Nexus
5672UP-16G, Cisco Nexus 56128P, Cisco Nexus 5624Q), two (Cisco Nexus 5648Q) or four (Cisco Nexus
5696Q) unified crossbar fabric ASIC and multiple unified port controllers to support fixed ports and
expansion modules within the switch.
The UPC provides an interface between the unified crossbar fabric ASIC and the network media adapter
which makes forwarding decisions for Ethernet, FC, and FCoE frames. The ASIC supports the overall cutthrough design of the switch by transmitting packets to the unified crossbar fabric before the payload has
been received. The unified crossbar fabric ASIC is a single-stage, non-blocking 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 UPCs provides low-latency, lossless fabric for ingress interfaces requesting access
to egress interfaces.
68. What kind of processor is used on the Cisco Nexus 5600 Series switches?
Response:
The Cisco Nexus 5672UP, Cisco Nexus 5672UP-16G, Cisco Nexus 56128P, Cisco Nexus
5624Q, Cisco Nexus 5648Q, and Cisco Nexus 5696Q switches use Ivy Bridge Gladden Quad Core
Processor (1.8GHz).
69. What is the flash size on the Cisco Nexus 5600 Series switches?
Response:
The size of flash is 8 GB on the Cisco Nexus 5672UP, Cisco Nexus 5672UP-16G, Cisco
Nexus 56128P, Cisco Nexus 5624Q, Cisco Nexus 5648Q, and Cisco Nexus 5696Q switches.
70. Do the Cisco Nexus 5600 Series switches have a slot for an external compact flash
or an external USB port?
Response:
The proposed Cisco Nexus 5600 Series switches provide an external USB port that can
be used to connect to a USB storage device.
71. What is the size of DRAM on the Cisco Nexus 5600 Series switches?
Response:
There is 8 GB of DRAM for the Cisco Nexus 5672UP, Cisco Nexus 5672UP-16G, Cisco
Nexus 56128P, Cisco Nexus 5624Q, and Cisco Nexus 5648Q switches. The DRAM size on the Cisco Nexus
5696Q switch is 16 GB.
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72. What are the different scenarios under which the switch operates in store-andforward mode?
Response:
The store-and-forward operation is enabled when the frame is received on either the FC
or the 1 GbE physical interface. Also, a CLI is provided to force the switch to operate in store-and-forward
mode in all scenarios. For frames between the 10G and 40G interfaces, the following tables state the
different modes with combination of the switch fabric mode:
Forwarding Modes with 40G Switch Fabric Mode
40G Switch Fabric Mode
Egress 10GE
Egress 40GE
Ingress 10GE
Cut-Through and Store-and-forward Store-and-forward
Ingress 40GE
Cut-through
Cut-through
Forwarding Modes with 10G Switch Fabric Mode
40G Switch Fabric Mode
Egress 10GE
Egress 40GE
Ingress 10GE
Cut-Through
Store-and-forward
Ingress 40GE
Cut-through
Store-and-forward
73. How much ingress and egress port buffering does the Cisco Nexus 5600 Series
switches have?
Response:
The proposed Cisco Nexus 5600 Series switches offer 25 MB packet buffer per 3x40GbE
or 12x10GbE ports with 16 MB allocated for ingress and 9 MB allocated for egress. With VOQ and lossless
fabric architecture, these switches can leverage ingress buffer from multiple ingress ports for burst
absorption in case of congestion.
74. How many management interfaces do the Cisco Nexus 5600 Series switches
support?
Response:
The proposed Cisco Nexus 5600 Series switches have four 10/100/1000-Mbps, out-ofband interfaces. Currently, one of these interfaces labeled MGMT 0 is used as the management interface.
The other three are reserved for future use.
75. On a transfer between two adjacent ports on the same UPC, does the traffic have to
hit the crossbar or is it switched locally?
Response:
All traffic hits the crossbar.
76. What are VOQs and what is their function?
Response:
VOQs are used in ingress for packets waiting for permission to be forwarded onto the
crossbar fabric. VOQs prevent head-of-line blocking, a problem that occurs when a packet destined for a
port/priority class is held up because the packet in front of it cannot be forwarded to another output
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port/priority class due to congestion.
77. How many VOQs per port are there?
Response:
At each ingress port, there are eight (representing eight priorities) VOQs per egress port.
78. Can I change the queue depth per queue?
Response:
Yes. Queue depths can be changed but only for the user-configured drop class.
79. Are the expansion modules hot-swappable?
Response:
Yes.
80. Do the Cisco Nexus 5600 Series switches support encryption?
Response:
The proposed Cisco Nexus 5600 Series switches do not support hardware encryption.
81. Do the Cisco Nexus 5600 Series switches support jumbo frames?
Response:
Yes. The proposed Cisco Nexus 5600 Series switches support frame sizes up to 9 KB.
82. What is the typical port-to-port latency for the Cisco Nexus 5600 Series switches?
Response:
The port-to-port latency for the the proposed Cisco Nexus 5600 Series switches is about
1 microsecond.
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FEATURES AND FEATURE SUPPORT
Cisco NX-OS Features
83. Please provide an overview of the NX-OS operating system.
Response:
<<PartnerName>> offers NX-OS, a data-center-class operating system built with
modularity, resiliency, and serviceability at its foundation. Based on the industry-proven SAN-OS Software,
NX-OS verifies continuous availability and sets the standard for mission-critical data center environments.
The self-healing and highly modular design of NX-OS makes zero-impact operations a reality and enables
exceptional operational flexibility.
Focused on the requirements of the data center, NX-OS provides a robust and rich feature set that fulfills
the routing, switching, and storage networking requirements of present and future data centers. With an
XML interface and a CLI similar to that of the Cisco IOS Software, available through <<PartnerName>>, NXOS provides industry-leading implementation for relevant networking standards, as well as a variety of
true, data-center-class, Cisco innovations.
84. Please describe the flexibility and scalability of the NX-OS.
Response:
Software compatibility: NX-OS interoperates with Cisco products, offered by <<PartnerName>>, running
any variant of the Cisco IOS Software operating system. NX-OS also interoperates with any networking OS
that conforms to the networking standards listed as supported in the data sheet. (Data sheets can be
found at: http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/products/switches/nexus-5000-series-switches/datasheetlisting.html )
Common software throughout the data center: NX-OS simplifies the data center operating environment
and provides a unified OS that can be used in the data center core, aggregation, access, ToR, blade
switches, SAN, and soft switches.
Modular software design: NX-OS modular processes are initiated on demand, each in a separate,
protected, memory space. Thus, processes are started and system resources allocated only when a
feature is enabled. The modular processes are governed by a real-time, preemptive scheduler that helps
enable the timely processing of critical functions.
85. Please describe the availability of the NX-OS.
Response:
Continuous system operation: The NX-OS provides continuous system operation, permitting maintenance
and upgrades without service interruptions. The combination of process modularity and Cisco ISSU
capabilities, offered by <<PartnerName>>, reduce the effects of software upgrades and other operations.
Cisco ISSU: ISSU provides the capability to perform transparent software upgrades on platforms with
redundant supervisors, reducing downtime, and allowing customers to integrate the newest features and
functions with little or no impact to network operation.
Quick development of enhancements and problem fixes: The modularity of NX-OS software allows new
features, enhancements, and problem fixes to be integrated into the software much faster than with
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traditional, monolithic, operating systems. Thus, modular fixes can be developed, tested, and delivered in
a very short time span, meeting urgent timelines such as those imposed by Cisco PSIRT announcements.
These updated images can then be installed without disruption using ISSU.
Process survivability: Critical processes are run in protected memory space independently from each other
and the kernel, providing granular service isolation and fault containment and enabling modular patching,
modular upgrading, and rapid restartability. Some individual processes can be restarted independently
without loss of state information and without affecting data forwarding, so that, after an upgrade or failure,
processes restart in milliseconds without negatively affecting adjacent devices or services. Processes with
large amounts of state, such as IP routing protocols, are restarted using standards-based, NSF, graceful
restart mechanisms; other processes use a local persistent storage service to maintain their states.
Reliable interprocess communication: NX-OS facilitates reliable communication between processes to help
ensure that all messages are delivered and properly acted on during failure and adverse conditions. This
communication helps ensure process synchronization and state consistency across processes that may be
initiated on processors distributed over multiple supervisors and I/O modules.
Network-based availability: Network convergence is optimized by providing tools and functions to make
both failover and fallback transparent and fast. For example, NX-OS provides:

STP enhancements such as BPDU guard, loop guard, root guard, BPDU filters, and bridge assurance to
support the health of the STP control plane.

Unidirectional Link Detection Protocol.

IEEE 802.3ad link aggregation with adjustable timers.

Virtual PortChannels give the benefit of increasing bandwidth (by adding more links) without STP
disabling it (considering it as a loop).

FabricPath further increases the bandwidth, where the entire fabric can have multiple active links
without STP.
86. Please describe the serviceability of the Cisco NX-OS.
Response:
<<PartnerName>> offers the following service features with NX-OS:
Troubleshooting and diagnostics: NX-OS is built with unique serviceability functions to enable network
operators to take early action based on network trends and events, enhancing network planning, and
improving NOC and vendor response times. Smart Call Home, Cisco Generic Online Diagnostics, and NX-OS
Embedded Event Manager are some of the features that enhance the serviceability of NX-OS.
SPAN: The SPAN feature allows an administrator to analyze all traffic between ports (called the SPAN
source ports) by non-intrusively directing the SPAN session traffic to a SPAN destination port that has an
external analyzer attached to it.
Embedded packet analyzer: NX-OS includes a built-in packet analyzer to monitor and troubleshoot control
plane traffic. The packet analyzer is based on the popular Wireshark ® open source network protocol
analyzer.
Smart Call Home: The Smart Call Home feature continuously monitors hardware and software components
to provide email-based notification of critical system events. A versatile range of message formats is
available for optimal compatibility with pager services, standard email, and XML-based automated parsing
applications. It offers alert grouping capabilities and customizable destination profiles. This feature can be
used, for example, to directly page a network support engineer, send an email message to a NOC, and
employ Cisco AutoNotify services to directly generate a case with the Cisco TAC. This feature is a step
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toward autonomous system operation, enabling networking devices to inform IT when a problem occurs
and verifying that the problem is acted on quickly, reducing time to resolution and maximizing system
uptime.
Cisco GOLD: Cisco GOLD is a suite of diagnostic facilities designed to verify that hardware and internal
data paths are operating as designed. Boot-time diagnostics, continuous monitoring, and on-demand and
scheduled tests are part of the Cisco GOLD feature set. This industry-leading, diagnostics subsystem
allows rapid fault isolation and continuous system monitoring critical in today’s continuously operating
environments.
Cisco NX-OS EEM: Cisco NX-OS EEM is a powerful device and system management technology integrated
into NX-OS. NX-OS EEM helps customers harness the network intelligence intrinsic to the Cisco software
and enables them to customize behavior based on network events as they happen.
87. Please describe the manageability of the Cisco NX-OS.
Response:
<<PartnerName>> offers NX-OS with the following manageability features:
Programmatic XML interface: Based on the NETCONF industry standard, the Cisco NX-OS XML interface
provides a consistent API for devices, enabling rapid development and creation of tools to enhance the
network.
SNMP: NX-OS is compliant with SNMP versions 1, 2, and 3 and supports a rich collection of MIB.
RBAC: With RBAC, NX-OS enables administrators to limit access to switch operations by assigning roles to
users. Administrators can customize access and restrict it to the users who require it.
Cisco Prime DCNM: DCNM is a management solution dedicated to data center network operations. DCNM
maximizes the overall data center infrastructure uptime and reliability, thereby enabling business
continuity. DCNM is designed for the NX-OS product family.
88. Please describe traffic forwarding and management of the Cisco NX-OS.
Response:
<<PartnerName>> offers NX-OS with the following traffic forwarding and management:
Ethernet switching: NX-OS is built to support high-density, high-performance Ethernet systems and
provides a complete data-center-class Ethernet switching feature set. The feature set includes:

IEEE 802.1D-2004 Rapid and Multiple Spanning Tree Protocols (802.1w and 802.1s)

IEEE 802.1Q VLANs and trunks

IEEE 802.3ad link aggregation

PVLANs

Cross-chassis, PVLANs

UDLD in aggressive and standard modes

Traffic suppression (unicast, multicast, and broadcast)
STP enables transparent upgrades using ISSU in STP environments, BPDU guard, loop guard, root guard,
BPDU filters, bridge assurance, and jumbo frame support.
QoS: NX-OS supports a rich variety of QoS mechanisms, including classification, marking, queuing, policing,
and scheduling. Modular QoS CLI is supported for all QoS features. Modular QoS CLI can be used to
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provide uniform configurations across various Cisco platforms.
89. Please describe the network security of the Cisco NX-OS.
Response:
The network security of the NX-OS offered by <<PartnerName>> includes:
Cisco TrustSec: As part of the TrustSec security suite, NX-OS provides outstanding data confidentiality and
integrity. Security group ACLs, a new paradigm in network access control, are based on security group tags
instead of IP addresses, enabling policies that are more concise and easier to manage due to their
topology independence.
Additional network security features: In addition to TrustSec, NX-OS delivers the following security features:

Cisco integrated security features, including DAI, DHCP snooping, and IP source guard

AAA and TACACS+

SSH Protocol Version 2

SNMP Version 3 support

Port security

IEEE 802.1x authentication and RADIUS support

L2 Cisco network admission control LAN port IP

Policies based on MAC IPv4 and IPv6 addresses supported by named ACLs (port-based ACLs, VLANbased ACLs, and router-based ACLs)
90. What are the supported standards of Cisco NX-OS?
Response:
The supported standards of NX-OS are:

IEEE 802.1D-2004 (802.1s and w), 802.1AE, 802.3ad, 802.3ae, 802.1Q, 802.1p, and 802.3x

draft-ietf-idr-avoid-transition-05.txt, draft-ietf-idr-bgp4-mib-15.txt, draft-ietf-idr-dynamic-cap-03.txt,
draft-ietf-isis-igp-p2p-over-lan-06.txt, and draft-kato-bgp-ipv6-link-local-00.txt

ISO 10589

RFC 1195, RFC 1724, RFC 1997, RFC 2080, RFC 2082, RFC 2328, RFC 2370, RFC 2385, RFC 2439,
RFC 2453, RFC 2519, RFC 2545, RFC 2740, RFC 2763, RFC 2784, RFC 2858, RFC 2966, RFC 2973,
RFC 3065, RFC 3101, RFC 3137, RFC 3277, RFC 3373, RFC 3392, RFC 3509, RFC 3567, RFC 3623,
RFC 3874, RFC 4271, RFC 4273, RFC 4456, RFC 4486, RFC 4724, RFC 4750, and RFC 4893
L2 Features
91. How many VLANs are supported on the Cisco Nexus 5500 Series switches?
Response:
The Cisco Nexus 5548 and Cisco Nexus 5596 switches support 4096 VLANs with some
VLANs reserved for internal use. The system provides 4013 VLANs for use data.
92. How many VLANs and VSANs can coexist on the Cisco Nexus 5500 Series switches?
Response:
The Cisco Nexus 5548 and Cisco Nexus 5596 switches support 32 VSANs. The combined
VLAN and VSAN number cannot exceed 4013.
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93. How large is the MAC table on the Cisco Nexus 5500 Series switches?
Response:
The Cisco Nexus 5548 and Cisco Nexus 5596 switches support 25,000 MAC entries with
an additional 4000 for IGMP snooping groups.
94. Which Spanning Tree modes are supported on the Cisco Nexus 5500 Series
switches?
Response:
<<PartnerName>>’s proposed Cisco Nexus 5500 Series switches support the following
spanning tree modes:

802.1s: Multiple Spanning Tree

802.1w: Rapid Spanning Tree

PVRST+: Per-VLAN Rapid Spanning Tree Plus

Backward compatibility with 802.1D: STP
95. Is the original 802.1D STP supported on the Cisco Nexus 5500 Series switches?
Response:
Yes. The proposed Cisco Nexus 5500 Series switches support backward compatibility
with 802.1D STP.
96. How many instances of MST are supported on the Cisco Nexus 5500 Series
switches?
Response:
64 instances of MST are supported on the proposed Cisco Nexus 5500 Series switches.
97. How many instances of PVRST+ are supported on the Cisco Nexus 5500 Series
switches?
Response:
The Cisco Nexus 5548 and Cisco Nexus 5596 switches support PVRST+ for each VLAN,
which offers 4013 PVRST+ instances.
98. What Spanning Tree enhancements do the Cisco Nexus 5500 Series switches
support?
Response:
switches:
The following enhancements are supported on the proposed Cisco Nexus 5500 Series

portfast

bpduguard

bpdufilter

loopguard

rootguard

bridge assurance

PVRST+:
- Type Inconsistency checking (connecting access port to trunk detection)
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- PVID Inconsistency (native VLAN mismatch on trunk)

MST:
- PVST+ simulation on border ports
99. Do the Cisco Nexus 5500 Series switches support PVLAN?
Response:
Yes.
100. How many Ethernet port channels are supported on the Cisco Nexus 5500 Series
switches?
Response:
There is no limitation in terms of port channel support on the Cisco Nexus 5548 and
Cisco Nexus 5596 switches. Every port on Cisco Nexus 5548 and Cisco Nexus 5596 switches can be a
port channel member. Cisco Nexus 5548 switch supports 24 port channels. Cisco Nexus 5596 switch
supports 48 port channels.
101. What is the maximum number of member interfaces supported in a port-channel
interface on the Cisco Nexus 5500 Series switches?
Response:
The proposed Cisco Nexus 5500 Series switches support up to 16 members in a portchannel interface.
102. What link aggregation protocol does the Cisco Nexus 5500 Series switches
support?
Response:
The proposed Cisco Nexus 5500 Series switches support LACP. PAgP is not supported on
the proposed Cisco Nexus 5500 Series switches.
103. Do the Cisco Nexus 5500 Series switches support MEC?
Response:
Yes. The proposed Cisco Nexus 5500 Series switches support virtual PortChannels which
provide MEC capabilities.
104. What different load-balancing mechanisms are available for port channels?
Response:

MAC SA

MAC DA

IP SA

IP DA

TCP/UDP SP

TCP/UDP DP
For IP packets, the inputs for the expansion algorithm are:
For Fibre Channel frames, the inputs for the expansion algorithm are:

MACSA

MAC DA
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
D_ID

S_ID

OX_ID
Fibre Channel Features
105. What FC port modes are supported on the native FC ports on the Cisco Nexus
5500 Series switches?
The following FC port modes are supported on the proposed Cisco Nexus 5500 native FC ports:

E_Port

F_Port

TE_Port

NP_Port in NPV mode

SD_Port: SPAN Destination
106. What is NPV?
Response:
The NPV feature addresses the increase in number of domain IDs needed to deploy a
large number of ports. It does this by making a fabric switch appear as a host to the core FC switch and as
a core FC switch to the servers attached to it. The NPV aggregates multiple locally-connected N ports into
one or more external NP links, which share the domain ID of the NPV core switch among multiple NPV
switches. The NPV also allows multiple devices to attach to the same port on the NPV core switch, thereby
reducing the need for more ports on the core.
107. Do the Cisco Nexus 5500 Series switches support NPV?
Response:
Yes.
108. Can a user switch from FC switch mode to NPV mode on the fly?
Response:
No. Changing the configuration from FC switch mode to NPV mode and vice versa
requires a reboot. All user configurations are deleted when the switch boots up in the new mode.
109. Do the Cisco Nexus 5500 Series switches support NPV mode per VSAN?
Response:
No. NPV mode cannot be activated per VSAN. Once enabled, it is activated for all VSANs.
110. What is N_Port ID Virtualization?
Response:
N_Port ID Virtualization enables multiple FC IDs to be assigned to the same physical port.
N_Port ID Virtualization can enable server and SAN fabric administrators to manage connections from
virtual machines in the same way and with the same tools as traditional physical hardware-based servers.
111. Do the Cisco Nexus 5500 Series switches support N_Port ID Virtualization?
Response:
Yes.
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112. Do the Cisco Nexus 5500 Series switches support inter-VSAN routing?
Response:
No.
113. How many VSANs are supported on the Cisco Nexus 5500 Series switches?
Response:
A maximum of 32 VSANs are supported currently on the proposed Cisco Nexus 5500
Series switches.
114. Do the Cisco Nexus 5500 Series switches support F_port trunking and F_port
channeling?
Response:
Yes. Both F_port trunking and F_port channeling are supported on the proposed Cisco
Nexus 5500 Series switches.
115. Do the Cisco Nexus 5500 Series switches support zoning based on FWWN
number?
Response:
Yes.
116. Do the Cisco Nexus 5500 Series switches support enhanced zoning?
Response:
Yes.
117. What FC interoperability modes do the Cisco Nexus 5500 Series switches
support?
Response:
modes:
The proposed Cisco Nexus 5500 Series switches support the following interoperability

Mode 1: Standards-based interoperability mode that requires all other vendors in the fabric to be in
interoperability mode

Mode 2: Brocade native mode (Core PID 0)

Mode 3: Brocade native mode (Core PID 1)
118. Are the Cisco Nexus 5500 Series switches able to connect to a Brocade switch?
Response:
Yes. There are two ways to connect the proposed Cisco Nexus 5500 Series switches to an
upstream Brocade switch:

Operating in the NPV mode

Operating in the appropriate interoperability mode
119. What is the algorithm for load-balancing a FC initiator on the NPV uplinks?
Response:
A round-robin algorithm is used for load-balancing the FC initiator on the NPV uplinks. The
algorithm also eliminates links with errors. Pinning is not changed if a new uplink becomes available.
When a virtual FC interface comes online, the pinning algorithm is engaged to pin it to the uplink interface.
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120. What is the fail-over algorithm of a FC initiator in the event of an NPV uplink
failure?
Response:
A logout is sent to the associated host(s), and the host FC stack attempts to log in again.
At this point, the load is distributed as described previously.
121. Do the Cisco Nexus 5500 Series switches support flex-attach or the equivalent?
Response:
No. This feature is targeted for a future software release.
122. Do the Cisco Nexus 5500 Series switches support IVR when running in FC-switch
mode/not N_Port ID Virtualizer?
Response:
No.
123. Do the Cisco Nexus 5500 Series switches support FC-AL ports?
Response:
No.
124. Do the Cisco Nexus 5500 Series switches support SAN port channels?
Response:
The Cisco Nexus 5548 and Cisco Nexus 5596 switches support 16 SAN PortChannels.
125. How many buffer-to-buffer credits are supported on the native FC interfaces?
Response:
By default, 16 buffer-to-buffer credits are supported on the native FC interfaces, which
can be increased to 64 buffer-to-buffer credits.
126. Please list FC features supported on the Cisco Nexus 5500 Series switches.
Response:
The proposed Cisco Nexus 5500 Series switches are designed to support the following FC
features (with a Storage Services License, offered by <<PartnerName>>):

FCoE

Fibre Channel Protocol

Fibre Channel standard port types: E, F, and NP

Fibre Channel enhanced port types: TE and VF

Up to 64 buffer credits per port

VSANs

Fibre Channel (SAN) PortChannel

Native Interop Mode 2

Native Interop Mode 3

VSAN trunking

Fabric Device Management Interface

Fibre Channel ID persistence
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
Dynamic port VSAN membership

Distributed device alias services

In-order delivery

Port tracking

McDATA native interoperability

NPV

N_port identifier virtualization

Fabric services: Name server, registered state change notification, login services, and name-server
zoning

Per-VSAN fabric services

Cisco Fabric Services

Diffie-Hellman Challenge Handshake Authentication Protocol and Fibre Channel Security Protocol

Distributing device alias services

Host-to-switch and switch-to-switch FC-SP authentication

Fabric shortest path first

Fabric binding for Fibre Channel

Standard zoning

Port security

Domain and port

Enhanced zoning

SAN port channels

Cisco Fabric Analyzer

Fibre Channel traceroute

Fibre Channel ping

Fibre Channel debugging
L2 Multicast Features
127. How do the Cisco Nexus 5500 Series switches forward IP multicast frames?
Response:
The proposed Cisco Nexus 5500 Series switches forward multicast traffic based on L2
MAC addresses.
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128. Which versions of IGMP snooping do the Cisco Nexus 5500 Series switches
support?
Response:
and 3.
The proposed Cisco Nexus 5500 Series switches support IGMP Snooping versions 1, 2,
129. What replication mechanism is employed in the Cisco Nexus 5500 Series
switches for multicast?
Response:
The proposed Cisco Nexus 5500 Series switches use a fabric replication mechanism to
replicate multicast traffic. All multicast frames are replicated in unified crossbar fabric.
130. Is IGMP Snooping enabled on the Cisco Nexus 5500 Series switches by default?
Response:
Yes.
131. Can a user enable IGMP Snooping per VLAN interface?
Response:
Yes.
132. How are multicast-router interfaces selected?
Response:
Multicast-router interfaces are dynamically selected by snooping of:

PIM “hello” packets

IGMP membership query messages
A user can also statically define an interface to be an “mrouter” interface through CLI.
133. How is unregistered, multicast L3 traffic treated?
Response:
If IGMP Snooping is not enabled on the VLAN interface, then unregistered L3 multicast
traffic is flooded on all members of the VLAN.
If IGMP Snooping is enabled on the VLAN interface, then unregistered L3 multicast traffic is sent to the
mrouter interface. If there is no mrouter interface in the VLAN, then unregistered L3 multicast traffic is
dropped.
134. Do the Cisco Nexus 5500 Series switches support the PIM Protocol?
Response:
Yes. PIM-SM and PIM-SSM are supported on the Cisco Nexus 5548 and Cisco Nexus
5596 switches. To support PIM, the L3 module and L3 license are required.
Management Features
135. What are the management features for the Cisco Nexus 5500 Series switches?
Response:
features:
The proposed Cisco Nexus 5500 Series switches have the following management

NX-OS CLI

SNMP MIBS and TRAPS
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
Fabric Manager to manage Fibre Channel aspects of the switch

Netconf/XML API Interface (for Ethernet)

Device Manager

DCNM
136. Do the Cisco Nexus 5500 Series switches support RBAC?
Response:
Yes.
Security Features
137. What security features do the Cisco Nexus 5500 Series switches support?
Response:
The proposed Cisco Nexus 5500 Series switches support the following security features:

Ingress ACLs (standard and extended) on Ethernet and virtual Ethernet ports

Standard and extended L2 ACLs such as MAC addresses and protocol type

Standard and extended L3 to L4 ACLs such as IPv4 and IPv6, ICMP, TCP, and UDP

VACLs

Named ACLs

ACL and statistics

Optimized ACL distribution

ACLs on VTYs

DHCP snooping with Option 82

Dynamic ARP inspection

IP source guard

DHCP relay

IEEE 802.1X

Port security

TrustSec
PHYSICAL DESIGN AND COMPONENTS
138. What are the physical specifications and required operating environment for the
Cisco Nexus 5500 and 5600 Series switches?
Response:
The physical specifications and operating environment for the proposed Cisco Nexus
5500 and 5600 Series switches are given below:
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Specifications for Cisco Nexus 5500 Series Switches
Property
Cisco Nexus 5548 Switch
Cisco Nexus 5596 Switch
Physical (height x width 1.72 x 17.3 x 30.0 in.
x depth)
(4.4 x 43.9 x 76.2 cm)
3.47 x 17.3 x 30.0 in.
(8.8 x 43.9 x 76.2 cm)
Operating temperature
32 to 104°F (0 to 40°C)
32 to 104°F (0 to 40°C)
Non-operating
temperature
-40 to 158°F (-40 to 70°C)
-40 to 158°F (-40 to 70°C)
Humidity
5 to 95% (non-condensing)
5 to 95% (non-condensing)
Altitude
0 to 10,000 ft (0 to 3000m)
0 to 10,000 ft (0 to 3000m)
Specifications for Cisco Nexus 5600 Series Switches
Cisco Nexus
56128 Switch
Cisco Nexus
5624Q Switch
Physical
1.75 x 17.3 x 30.0
(height x width in.
x depth)
(4.4 x 43.9 x 76.2
cm)
3.5 x 17.3 x 30.0
in.
(8.8 x 43.9 x
76.2 cm)
1.75 x 17.5 x 30
in.
(4.4 x 44.4 x
76.2 cm)
3.5 x 17.5 x 30
in.
(8.9 x 44.4 x
76.2 cm)
6.97 x 17.3 x 30
in.
(17.7 x 43.9 x
76.2 cm)
Operating
temperature
32 to 104°F
(0 to 40°C)
32 to 104°F
(0 to 40°C)
32 to 104°F
(0 to 40°C)
32 to 104°F
(0 to 40°C)
Non-operating -40 to 158°F
temperature
(-40 to 70°C)
-40 to 158°F
(-40 to 70°C)
-40 to 158°F
(-40 to 70°C)
-40 to 158°F
(-40 to 70°C)
-40 to 158°F
(-40 to 70°C)
Humidity
5 to 95% (noncondensing)
5 to 95% (noncondensing)
5 to 95% (noncondensing)
5 to 95% (noncondensing)
5 to 95% (noncondensing)
Altitude
0 to 10,000 ft
(0 to 3000m)
0 to 10,000 ft
(0 to 3000m)
0 to 10,000 ft
(0 to 3000m)
0 to 10,000 ft
(0 to 3000m)
0 to 10,000 ft
(0 to 3000m)
Property
Cisco Nexus 5672
Switch
32 to 104°F
(0 to 40°C)
Cisco Nexus
5648Q Switch
Cisco Nexus
5696Q Switch
The following tables provide the weights of the proposed Cisco Nexus 5500 and 5600 Series switches.
Weights for Cisco Nexus 5500 Series Switches
Component
Cisco Nexus 5548 with 2 750W AC power supplies, 1 expansion module,
and 2 fan modules
Weight
35 lb (15.88 kg)
Cisco Nexus 5596 with 2 1100W AC power supplies, 3 expansion modules, 47.5 lb (21.55 kg)
and 4 fan modules
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Weights for Cisco Nexus 5600 Series Switches
Component
Weight
Cisco Nexus 5672 with 2 power supplies
32 lb (14.52 kg)
Cisco Nexus 56128 with 2 expansion modules and 4 power supplies
60 lb (27.22 kg)
Cisco Nexus 5624Q with 2 power supplies
36 lb (16.33 kg)
Cisco 5648Q with 4 power supplies
61.5 lb (27.9 kg)
Cisco Nexus 5696Q with 4 power supplies
134 lb (60.78 kg)
POWER REQUIREMENTS
139. Please describe the power requirements for the Cisco Nexus 5500 and 5600
Series switches.
Response:
The following tables detail the power supply requirements for <<PartnerName>>’s
proposed Cisco Nexus 5500 and 5600 Series switches.
Cisco Nexus 5548 and Cisco Nexus 5596 AC Power Supply Requirements
AC Power Supply Properties Cisco Nexus 5548 Switch
Cisco Nexus 5596 Switch Cisco Nexus 5596T Switch
Typical operating power
390W
660W
900W
Maximum power (Layer 2)
600W (without Layer 3
daughter card)
882W (without Layer 3
expansion module)
1050W (with 3x 10G
BASE-T (Cu) expansion
module)
Maximum power (Layer 3)
730W (with Layer 3
daughter card)
972W (with 3x Layer 3
expansion module)
1050W (with 3x 10G
BASE-T (Cu) expansion
module)
Input voltage
100 to 240 VAC
100 to 240 VAC
100 to 240 VAC
Frequency
50 to 60 Hz
50 to 60 Hz
50 to 60 Hz
Efficiency
95 to 98% (50 to 100%
load)
95 to 98% (50 to 100%
load)
95 to 98% (50 to 100%
load)
RoHS compliance
Yes
Yes
Yes
Hot swappable
Yes
Yes
Yes
Typical heat dissipation
1331 BTU/hr
2252 BTU/hr
3071 BTU/hr
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Cisco Nexus 5548 and Cisco Nexus 5596 DC Power Supply Requirements
DC Power Supply
Properties
Cisco Nexus 5548P and
5548UP Switches
Cisco Nexus 5596UP
Switch
Cisco Nexus 5596T Switch
Typical operating power
390W
680W
900W
Maximum power (Layer 2)
680W (without Layer 3
daughter card)
882W (without Layer 3
expansion module)
1050W (with 3x 10G
BASE-T (Cu) expansion
module)
Maximum power (Layer 3)
730W (with Layer 3
daughter card)
1079W (with 3x Layer 3
expansion module)
1079W (with 3x 10G
BASE-T (Cu) expansion
module)
Input voltage
-40 to -72 VDC
-40 to -72 VDC
-40 to -72 VDC
Frequency
N/A
N/A
N/A
Efficiency
88%
88%
88%
RoHS compliance
Yes
Yes
Yes
Hot swappable
Yes
Yes
Yes
Heat dissipation
1331 BTU/hr
2320 BTU/hr
3071 BTU/hr
Front-to-back airflow power Yes
supply
Yes
Yes
Back-to-front airflow power No
supply
No
No
Cisco Nexus 5672 and Cisco Nexus 56128 AC Power Supply Requirements
AC Power Supply
Properties
Cisco Nexus
5672 Switch
Cisco Nexus
56128 Switch
Cisco Nexus
5624Q Switch
Cisco Nexus
5648Q Switch
Cisco Nexus
5696Q Switch
Typical operating
power
400W
704W
750W
1000W
2800W
Maximum power
450W
880W
1100W
1600W
3300W
Input voltage
90 to 264 VAC
90 to 264 VAC
90 to 264 VAC
90 to 264 VAC
90 to 264 VAC
Frequency
47 to 63 Hz
47 to 63 Hz
47 to 63 Hz
47 to 63 Hz
47 to 63 Hz
Efficiency
94% (at 50%
load)
94% (at 50%
load)
94% (at 50%
load)
94% (at 50%
load)
94% (at 50%
load)
RoHS compliance
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Hot swappable
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
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AC Power Supply
Properties
Front-to-back air
flow power supply
(port-side exhaust)
Cisco Nexus
5672 Switch
Cisco Nexus
56128 Switch
Cisco Nexus
5624Q Switch
Cisco Nexus
5648Q Switch
Cisco Nexus
5696Q Switch
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Back-to-front air flow Yes
power supply (portside intake airflow)
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
HEAT DISSIPATION AND VENTILATION REQUIREMENTS
140. What are the climatic and environmental requirements of the Cisco Nexus 5500
and 5600 Series switches?
Response:
The following tables detail the climatic and environmental requirements for
<<PartnerName>>’s proposed Cisco Nexus 5500 and 5600 Series switches.
Cisco Nexus 5548 and Cisco Nexus 5596 Climatic and Environmental Requirements
Property
Cisco Nexus 5548 Switch
Cisco Nexus 5596 Switch
Physical
1.72 x 17.3 x 29.5 in.
(height x width x depth) (4.4 x 43.9 x 74.9 cm)
3.47 x 17.3 x 29.5 in.
(8.8 x 43.9 x 74.9 cm)
Operating temperature
32 to 104°F (0 to 40°C)
32 to 104°F (0 to 40°C)
Non-operating
temperature
-40 to 158°F (-40 to 70°C)
-40 to 158°F (-40 to 70°C)
Humidity
5 to 95% (non-condensing)
5 to 95% (non-condensing)
Altitude
0 to 10,000 ft (0 to 3000 m)
0 to 10,000 ft (0 to 3000 m)
Specifications for Cisco Nexus 5600 Series Switches
Property
Cisco Nexus
5672 Switch
Cisco Nexus
56128 Switch
Cisco Nexus
5624Q Switch
Cisco Nexus
5648Q Switch
Cisco Nexus
5696Q Switch
Physical
(height x width x
depth)
1.75 x 17.3 x
30.0 in.
(4.4 x 43.9 x
76.2 cm)
3.5 x 17.3 x
30.0 in.
(8.8 x 43.9 x
76.2 cm)
1.75 x 17.5 x 30
in.
(4.4 x 44.4 x
76.2 cm)
3.5 x 17.5 x 30
in.
(8.9 x 44.4 x
76.2 cm)
6.97 x 17.3 x 30
in.
(17.7 x 43.9 x
76.2 cm)
Operating
temperature
32 to 104°F
(0 to 40°C)
32 to 104°F
(0 to 40°C)
32 to 104°F
(0 to 40°C)
32 to 104°F
(0 to 40°C)
32 to 104°F
(0 to 40°C)
Non-operating
temperature
-40 to 158°F
(-40 to 70°C)
-40 to 158°F
(-40 to 70°C)
-40 to 158°F
(-40 to 70°C)
-40 to 158°F
(-40 to 70°C)
-40 to 158°F
(-40 to 70°C)
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Property
Cisco Nexus
5672 Switch
Cisco Nexus
56128 Switch
Cisco Nexus
5624Q Switch
Cisco Nexus
5648Q Switch
Cisco Nexus
5696Q Switch
Humidity
5 to 95% (noncondensing)
5 to 95% (noncondensing)
5 to 95% (noncondensing)
5 to 95% (noncondensing)
5 to 95% (noncondensing)
Altitude
0 to 10,000 ft
(0 to 3000m)
0 to 10,000 ft
(0 to 3000m)
0 to 10,000 ft
(0 to 3000m)
0 to 10,000 ft
(0 to 3000m)
0 to 10,000 ft
(0 to 3000m)
CABLE CAPABILITIES
141. What interconnect media options are available for switch-to-server connectivity
currently on the Cisco Nexus 5500 Series switches?
Response:
The following SFP+ interfaces are available for 10-GbE/FCoE interfaces on the proposed
Cisco Nexus 5500 Series switches:

SFP+ SR (short range) optical transceivers

SFP+ FET (up to 100m) optical transceivers

Twinax passive cable assembly with 1, 3, or 5 m lengths

Twinax active cable assembly with 7 or 10 m lengths

1/2/4/8 Gb SFP for native Fibre Channel interface
142. Can users connect SFP+ interfaces on the Cisco Nexus 5500 Series switches to
Catalyst X2 10 Gb interfaces?
Response:
Yes. SFP+ interfaces can be connected to X2 10 Gb interfaces using LC-to-SC fibre.
143. Can users connect SFP+ interfaces on the Cisco Nexus 5500 Series switches to
XFP interfaces?
Response:
Yes. SFP+ interfaces can be connected to XFP 10 Gb interfaces using LC-to-LC fibre,
provided the transceivers have correct signal strengths.
144. Are third-party SFP+ 10 Gb optics supported on the Cisco Nexus 5500 Series
switches?
Response:
supported.
No. Only Cisco-provided SFP+ 10 Gb optics, available through <<PartnerName>>, are
145. Will there be a 10GBASE-T version of the Cisco Nexus 5500 Series switches at
first customer shipment?
Response:
Yes. The 10GBASE-T version is available.
146. Do the Cisco Nexus 5500 Series switches support SFP+ optics?
Response:
The proposed Cisco Nexus 5500 Series products support SFP+ copper twinax cables and
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SFP+ FET optics for short distances and SFP+ optics for longer distances. SFP+ has several advantages
compared to other 10-GbE connectivity options:

Smallest form factor

Optical interoperability with XENPAK, X2, and XFP interface types

Lowest power consumption

Hot-swappable capacity
SYSTEM STANDARDS AND COMPLIANCE
147. Are the Cisco Nexus 5500 Series switches NEBS Level 3 compliant?
Response:
The proposed Cisco Nexus 5500 Series switches are targeted to be NEBS compliant.
Testing is currently in progress.
148. With which industry standards do the Cisco Nexus 5500 Series switches comply?
Response:
The proposed Cisco Nexus 5500 Series switches are designed to meet the following
industry standards:

IEEE 802.1D: Spanning Tree Protocol

IEEE 802.1p: CoS prioritization

IEEE 802.1Q: VLAN tagging

IEEE 802.1s: Multiple VLAN instances of Spanning Tree Protocol

IEEE 802.1w: Rapid reconfiguration of Spanning Tree Protocol

IEEE 802.3: Ethernet

IEEE 802.3ad: LACP

IEEE 802.3ae: 10 GbE

SFP+ support

RMON
149. What are the regulatory and compliance statuses of the Cisco Nexus 5500 Series
switches?
Response:
The proposed Cisco Nexus 5500 Series switches are designed to meet regulatory
standards compliances as listed in the following table.
Regulatory Standards Compliance Safety and EMC
Specification
Regulatory compliance
Description
Products should comply with CE markings according to directives 2004/108/EC and
2006/95/EC
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Specification
Description
Safety
UL 60950-1
CAN/CSA-C22.2 No. 60950-1
EN 60950-1
IEC 60950-1
AS/NZS 60950-1
GB4943
EMC: Emissions
47CFR Part 15 (CFR 47) Class A
AS/NZS CISPR22 Class A
CISPR22 Class A
EN55022 Class A
ICES003 Class A
VCCI Class A
EN61000-3-2
EN61000-3-3
KN22 Class A
CNS13438 Class A
EMC: Immunity
EN50082-1
EN61000-6-1
EN55024
CISPR24
EN300386
KN 61000-4 series
Security
FIPS 140-2 Level 1
RoHS
The product is RoHS 5-compliant with exceptions for leaded ball grid array balls and
lead press-fit connectors.
SCALABILITY, PERFORMANCE, AND QOS
Performance
150. Please describe the performance characteristics of the Cisco Nexus 5500 Series
switches.
Response:
<<PartnerName>>’s proposed Cisco Nexus 5500 Series switches offer a unified fabric
architecture that provides single transport for all forms of network traffic, including LAN, FC SAN, and
FCoE.
This single unified network is supported by 10-GbE and offers the following:

Cisco Nexus 5596: L2 forwarding at 960 Gbps
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
Cisco Nexus 5548: L2 forwarding at 480 Gbps

With L3 module, Cisco Nexus 5548 and Cisco Nexus 5596 offer 160 Gbps L3 throughput

25,000 MAC address table entries

Low cut-through latency

Predictable performance: Consistent traffic latency regardless of packet size, traffic pattern, or
enabled-features
151. What is the switching capacity of the switching fabric?
Response:
1.92 Tbps
152. How many ports can be run at 10-Gb line-rate simultaneously?
Response:
In L2 mode, all ports on Cisco Nexus 5548 and Cisco Nexus 5596 switches can run at
10-Gbps line-rate simultaneously.
153. What is the oversubscription ratio for the FC ports?
Response:
All the FC ports forward traffic at line-rate.
QoS
154. What is a system class?
Response:
A system class is a new, MQC-based target where traditional, interface-based policies can
be applied globally for all interfaces of the switch. A packet is classified into one of the system’s classes as
soon as it enters the system. Once classified, this class assignment travels with the packet through the
entire system to select per-class treatment at every step.
155. How many system classes are supported on the Cisco Nexus 5500 Series
switches?
Response:
The proposed Cisco Nexus 5500 Series switches support up to eight system classes.
There are three pre-configured classes:

Sup-hi: All high-priority control plane traffic, such as: Ethernet STP, BPDUs, and FC FSPF; is placed into
this system class.

Sup-low: Low-priority control plane traffic such as Cisco Discovery Protocol is placed into this system
class.

Eth-default: All Ethernet traffic is placed into this system class by default. This is a best-effort class
with traditional drop behavior in case of congestion.
Users cannot remove Sup-hi and Sup-low. Users can configure up to six system classes, including the
predefined Eth-default class.
156. How many queues per port do the Cisco Nexus 5500 Series switches support?
Response:
There are eight system classes in the proposed Cisco Nexus 5500 Series switches. This
results in eight egress queues and eight ingress packet resource pools. Due to the VOQ crossbar
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architecture, each ingress port has eight unicast queues for each egress port.
157. How are packets queued in the Cisco Nexus 5500 Series switches?
Response:
At ingress after the forwarding decision is made, packets are queued in one of the VOQs
based on egress port and priority. At egress, packets are queued in one of eight egress queue based on
priority.
158. What QoS features do the Cisco Nexus 5500 Series switches support?
Response:
The proposed Cisco Nexus 5500 Series switches support the following QoS features:

Layer 2 IEEE 802.1p (CoS)

Eight hardware queues per port

Per-port QoS configuration

CoS trust

Modular QoS CLI compliance

Color-aware aggregate policing

Policed drop

CoS-based egress queuing

Egress strict-priority queuing

Egress port-based scheduling: Weighted Round-Robin

Ingress policing
159. What types of congestion avoidance mechanisms do the Cisco Nexus 5500
Series switches support?
Response:
The proposed Cisco Nexus 5500 Series switches support standard 802.3x PAUSE
mechanisms. With this feature turned on, the switches can use the pause frame to slow a sender down.
These switches also support PFC, which allows the PAUSE frame to be sent per class of service.
160. Is backward congestion notification supported?
Response:
IEEE has deprecated backward congestion notification and therefore it will no longer be
supported on the current generation of the proposed Cisco Nexus 5500 Series platform.
161. What types of queue scheduling mechanisms do the Cisco Nexus 5500 Series
switches support?
Response:
The proposed Cisco Nexus 5500 Series switches support strict priority queuing and
Deficit Weight Round Robin. Out of eight queues, one queue for user data can be configured as strict
priority queue. The remaining queues will be scheduled using DWRR. With DWRR, each queue has a
weight, and the queues are scheduled based on that weight.
To avoid starvation of low priority queues, DWRR keeps track of low-priority queues under transmission
and compensates for this in the next round. If a queue is not able to send a packet because its packet size
is larger than the available bytes, then the unused bytes are credited to the next round.
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162. What packet classification mechanisms are supported on the Cisco Nexus 5500
Series switches?
Response:
Packets can be classified using the following criteria:

802.1p priority

DSCP

IP precedence

VLAN ID

User configured ACL
163. Do the Cisco Nexus 5500 Series switches support ingress rate policers?
Response:
Yes. The hardware of the Cisco Nexus 5548 and Cisco Nexus 5596 switches support
ingress policing with software release 6.0(2) or later.
164. Do the Cisco Nexus 5500 Series switches support class of service marking?
Response:
Yes.
165. Do the Cisco Nexus 5500 Series switches support strict priority queuing?
Response:
Yes. One queue can be configured as a strict priority queue.
166. How is DWRR configured on an interface?
Response:
DWRR is configured through the modular QoS CLI. A service policy is given a name; then a
class of service is selected, followed by the parameters for that service such as bandwidth and drop
policies.
PFC
167. What is PFC?
Response:
PFC is a proposal that enables link-level flow control (802.3x PAUSE) capabilities on the
user priorities or classes of service that are defined by the 802.1Q specification. IEEE 802.1Q defines a
three-bit field that can be used to create up to eight user priorities within a single physical link.
With the ability to enable PAUSE on a per-user priority basis, administrators can create lossless lanes for
Fibre Channel while retaining packet-drop congestion management for IP traffic. In this example, a link
divided into eight lanes can use PAUSE on a single lane without affecting traffic on the others. This
reduces the overall impact of a PAUSE command because it affects only a fraction of the link’s traffic.
168. Can I configure a “no-drop” traffic class with a standard 10 GbE network interface
card?
Response:
A “no-drop’’ class can be configured with a standard 10 GbE NIC if it supports PFC. If the
NIC supports only 802.3x PAUSE, all traffic is subject to link-level flow control.
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169. How many “no-drop” classes can be configured on the Cisco Nexus 5500 Series
switches in addition to the FCoE class?
Response:
Switch resources, such as: buffers, VOQs, and egress queues; are partitioned based on
the default and configured system classes. The switch software automatically adjusts resource allocation
to accommodate the configured system classes.
To maintain optimal switch performance, note the following guidelines for configuring system classes and
policies:

“No-drop” cannot be enabled for more than two Ethernet classes. Only one “no-drop” system class can
be configured with Jumbo MTU.

Priority-based flow control and 802.3x PAUSE are mutually exclusive. Once PFC is enabled for an
interface, 802.3x PAUSE is not used.

All FCoE traffic on an Ethernet interface is mapped to one “no-drop” system class. By default, this
class is associated with a CoS value of three, although you can configure a different value. If you
configure standard Ethernet traffic to use the same CoS value as FCoE, the switch does not apply PFC
to the standard Ethernet traffic. This traffic is mapped to the default drop system class.
170. Can PFC support “no-drop” behavior similar to buffer-to-buffer credit in FC?
Response:
Buffer-to-buffer credit and PFC are two mechanisms designed to perform the same
function: link-level flow control. PFC differs mainly in that it can flow-control one system class while
allowing other system classes to proceed unaffected.
171. What happens when one connects to a device that does not understand PFC?
Response:
The proposed Cisco Nexus 5500 Series switches use a negotiation protocol, DCBX, which
detects the capabilities of end systems. If the end system does not support DCBX and PFC, then a user
would need specific configuration in the interface context to enable FCoE and link-level PAUSE. If the end
system supports DCBX protocol but does not support PFC, then a user would need to enable link-level
PAUSE under the interface context.
Serviceability
172. What type of EEM policies are supported on the Cisco Nexus 5500 Series
switches?
Response:
EEM is supported with software release 6.0(2)N2(1) or later.
173. What types of GOLD tests are supported on the Cisco Nexus 5500 Series
switches?
Response:
test at startup:
The proposed Cisco Nexus 5500 Series switches perform a comprehensive power-on self-

During runtime the switch continuously monitors faults detected by all ASICs

Switch software continuously monitors all environment alarms, such as fan presence and
temperatures, in different places within the chassis

User-configurable tests are not currently supported
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174. Do the Cisco Nexus 5500 Series switches support Smart Call Home?
Response:
Yes.
175. What is Ethanalyzer?
Ethanalyzer helps preserve and improve the operational continuity of the network infrastructure.
176. Can Ethanalyzer capture FCoE packets?
Yes, Ethanalyzer can capture FCoE packets.
177. What interface types are supported in Ethanalyzer?
Response:
The following interfaces are supported in Ethanalyzer:

inbound-low: SUP-low (for example, ARP/IP over SVI and IGMP Snooping)

inbound-hi: SUP-high (for example, STP, FC, CDP, LLDP/DCX, and LACP)

mgmt: Out-of-band (anything through mgmt0 interface)
Note: The interface option “inbound” gives an impression that only inbound traffic is supported, but this
feature works for both ingress and egress traffic.
178. How does one export Ethanalyzer capture?
Response:
Use the following CLI syntax:
Cisco Nexus5500# copy bootflash:///ethanalyzer-filtering-fc-frames.cap
scp://abc@172.216.138.11/sw2/abc/pcap/ vrf management
179. How many packets can be captured using Wireshark?
Response:
By default, the command stops after 100 frames are captured. To increase the frame
limit, use command option “limit-captured-frames”:
Ethanalyzer local interface inbound-low brief limit-captured-frames 0 [0 means no limit]
SPAN
180. How many SPAN sessions are supported on the Cisco Nexus 5500 Series
switches?
Response:
The proposed Cisco Nexus 5500 Series switches support two active SPAN sessions. A
user can configure up to 18 SPAN sessions.
181. What SPAN sources and SPAN destinations are supported on the Cisco Nexus
5500 Series switches?
Response:
The following Source SPAN and destination SPAN pairs are supported on the proposed
Cisco Nexus 5500 Series switches.
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Supported Source SPAN and Destination SPAN Pairs
Source SPAN
Destination SPAN
Ethernet
Ethernet
Fibre Channel
Fibre Channel
Fibre Channel
Ethernet (FCoE)
Virtual Ethernet
Ethernet
Virtual Fibre Channel
Fibre Channel
Virtual Fibre Channel
Ethernet (FCoE)
182. Where are packets replicated for SPAN?
Response:
Packets for SPAN are replicated in ingress within the unified port controller ASIC.
Different packet descriptors get enqueued to different VOQs based on the configuration of the span
session.
183. Do the Cisco Nexus 5500 Series switches support R-SPAN and ER-SPAN?
Response:
The proposed Cisco Nexus 5500 Series switches do not support R-SPAN. ER-SPAN is
currently supported.
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