Cisco has had Fabric Extenders in their Nexus datacenter switch portfolio since 2009. Since there are various models and they all are still appearing in the datacenters here is a summary of all the different FEX models. Updated on 12-Oct-2014: Added Nexus 2348TQ. Updated on 22-Apr-2015: Added Nexus 2332TQ. Nexus 2148T Nexus 2148T was the […]
Tag: fabric extender
QSFP+ Specifics on Nexus 5500 and Nexus 6000 Series Switches
Some of you may be interested in QSFP+ connections with Cisco Nexus 5500 and Nexus 6000 series switches. The scope of this post is not to present all the different flavors of QSFP+ pluggables or all QSFP+ capable devices but I’ll present some special features that need to be understood and considered when deploying QSFP+ […]
Cisco Nexus 7000 Features Available on Modules
In the Cisco Nexus 7000 series switches there are several features that are bound to the hardware, meaning that your module selection restricts the features you can run on the switch ports. Thus, here is once again a summarization of the module-dependent features: Update 20-Apr-2013: Added OTV and LISP, clarified M1 FEX support. Update 22-Jul-2013: […]
Cat6500 FEX, or Smart Install?
I was surprised when I got a broschure in Cisco Live London 2013 that said Catalyst 6500 is supposed to support FEXes (Fabric Extenders) in the future. Does it make sense? A FEX is a device that looks like a data center LAN switch but it is not designated as a switch. FEX needs a […]
Private VLANs on Nexus 5000 Series
So it was a usual day in the wonderful world of networking and projects. Then I was suddenly lost in the Private VLANs. You know, the feature that has existed a long time in Cisco switches but still there are some known and unknown limitations in using it. Let’s talk about PVLANs. First the basics […]
Choosing Your Core Switches
When designing data center or campus LAN with Cisco products (see I made the point clear here immediately) a no-brainer solution is using Nexus 7000 switches in the core. There aren’t really many cases you can go wrong operationally with it in general-purpose data center or even campus environments. But, if you think they cost […]
Nexus 5000 Tips for Catalyst Admins
I kind of understand the pain that each network admin has when changing the platform, especially if you haven’t had enough time to get experience on the new system prior to production. This article is meant to help the Cisco Catalyst admins to get some hold of Nexus 5000 series switch. Don’t expect this to […]
Dual-homed FEXes and Switch Profiles
Using dual-homed FEXes with Cisco Nexus 5000 switches presents some new issues for the network admins. One important feature is that the FEX port configuration needs to exist on the both N5ks. Let’s see the topology example where the FEX is connected to the switches with vPC (= dual-homed FEX): The server is connected to […]
FEX Pre-provisioning
Today, in the highlight: FEX pre-provisioning. What is a FEX? It is Fabric Extender, a “remote line card” used in Cisco Nexus series switches. It is managed through its parent switch (like Nexus 5000 or Nexus 7000) but looks externally like a traditional data center access switch. In some cases you would like to configure […]
Dual-layer vPC on Nexus 5000
Doing some googling for the coming NX-OS 5.1(3)N1(1) for Nexus 5000 I found this: Cisco NX-OS Software Release 5.1(3)N1(1) for Cisco Nexus 5000 Series Switches and 2000 Series Fabric Extenders: https://www.cisco.com/en/US/prod/collateral/switches/ps9441/ps9670/product_bulletin_c25-686744.pdf Update: The same document in HTML: http://www.cisco.com/en/US/prod/collateral/switches/ps9441/ps9670/product_bulletin_c25-686744.html Yes there are the goodies like FabricPath and Adapter FEX and PTP, but who cares about those […]