Cisco Nexus 3500 Series NX-OS Release Notes, Release 6.0(2)A4(1)
Cisco Nexus 3500 Series Switches
SPAN and ERSPAN Truncation, Sampling and Filtering
Cisco Plug-in for OpenFlow Release 1.1.5
Upgrade and Downgrade Guidelines
Upgrade Path to Cisco NX-OS Release 6.x
Resolved Caveats in Cisco NX-OS Release 6.0(2)A4(1)
Open Caveats in Cisco NX-OS Release 6.0(2)A4(1)
Obtaining Documentation and Submitting a Service Request
Release Date: September 18, 2014
Current Release: Cisco NX-OS Release 6.0(2)A4(1)
This document describes the features, caveats, and limitations for Cisco Nexus 3500 Series switches. Use this document in combination with documents listed in the “Obtaining Documentation and Submitting a Service Request” section.
Note Release notes are sometimes updated with new information about restrictions and caveats. See the following website for the most recent version of the Cisco Nexus 3500 Series release notes: http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/support/switches/nexus-3000-series-switches/products-release-notes-list.html
Note Table 1 shows the online change history for this document.
Several new hardware and software features are introduced for the Cisco Nexus 3548 switch to improve the performance, scalability, and management of the product line. Cisco NX-OS Release 6.0 also supports all hardware and software supported in Cisco NX-OS Release 5.1 and Cisco NX-OS Release 5.0.
Cisco NX-OS offers the following benefits:
The Cisco Nexus 3500 platform is an extension of the Cisco Nexus 3000 Series of 100M, 1, 10, and 40 Gigabit Ethernet switches built from a switch-on-a-chip (SoC) architecture. Switches in the Cisco Nexus 3500 series include Algorithm Boost (or Algo Boost) technology that is built into the switch application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC). Algo Boost allows the Cisco Nexus 3548 switch to achieve Layer 2 and Layer 3 switching latencies of less than 200 nanoseconds (ns). In addition, Algo Boost contains several innovations for latency, forwarding features, and performance visibility, including two configurable modes for low latency:
Active buffer monitoring accelerates the collection of buffer utilization data in hardware, allowing significantly faster sampling intervals. Even on the lowest-latency switches, data packets can incur a millisecond or more of latency during periods of congestion. Previous buffer utilization monitoring techniques were based entirely on software polling algorithms with polling with higher polling intervals that can miss important congestion events.
The Cisco Nexus 3548 switch is the first member of the Cisco Nexus 3500 platform. As a compact one-rack-unit (1RU) form-factor 10 Gigabit Ethernet switch, the Cisco Nexus 3548 switch provides line-rate Layer 2 and Layer 3 switching at extremely low latency. The switch runs Cisco NX-OS software that has comprehensive features and functions that are widely deployed globally. The Cisco Nexus 3548 contains no physical layer (PHY) chips, which allows low latency and low power consumption. The switch supports both forward and reversed airflow and both AC and DC power inputs.
The Cisco Nexus 3524 switch is a Cisco Nexus 3548 switch, but with only 24 ports active and can be upgraded to use all 48 ports. As a compact one-rack-unit (1RU) form-factor 10 Gigabit Ethernet switch, the Cisco Nexus 3548 switch is the lowest entry point for main-stream top-of-rack (TOR) data center deployments which offers line-rate Layer 2 and Layer 3 switching with a comprehensive feature set, including Algo Boost technology, and ultra-low latency.
For information about the Cisco Nexus 3500 Series, see the Cisco Nexus 3500 Series Hardware Installation Guide.
This section includes the following topics:
Cisco NX-OS Release 6.0(2)A4(1) supports the Cisco Nexus 3500 Series switches. You can find detailed information about supported hardware in the Cisco Nexus 3500 Series Hardware Installation Guide.
Table 2 shows the hardware supported by Cisco NX-OS Release 6.0(2)A4(1) software.
This section describes the new features introduced in Cisco NX-OS Release 6.0(2)A4(1). This section includes the following topics:
Cisco NX-OS Release 6.0(2)A4(1) supports truncation, sampling and filtering of SPAN and ERSPAN traffic. You can filter out specific SPAN or ERSPAN traffic flows that must be monitored. By sampling source packets for each SPAN or ERSPAN session, you can now monitor only a configurable sample number of source packets. This helps reduce SPAN or ERSPAN bandwidth. You can also truncate source packets for each SPAN or ERSPAN session based on the size of their MTU. Truncation helps reduce SPAN or ERSPAN bandwidth by reducing the size of packets monitored.
The type III ERSPAN header carries a hardware generated 32-bit timestamp. This timestamp field wraps periodically. When the switch is set to 1 ns granularity, this field wraps every 4.29 seconds. Such a wrap time makes it difficult to interpret the real value of the timestamp.
To recover the real value of the ERSPAN timestamp, Cisco NX-OS Release 6.0(2)A4(1) introduces a periodical marker packet to carry the original UTC timestamp information and provide a reference for the ERSPAN timestamp. The marker packet is sent out in 1-second intervals. Therefore, the destination site can detect the 32-bit wrap by checking the difference between the timestamp of the reference packet and the packet order.
Starting with Cisco NX-OS Release 6.0(2)A4(1), you can configure BFD on BGP and PIM.
You can now configure a filter for IGMP snooping reports that is based on a prefix-list or route-map policy.
Dynamic Twice NAT support enables the translation of both source and destination addresses of a packet by dynamic filtration and dynamic allocation of an address from a NAT pool of addresses. This enables Twice NAT to have wide range of filtration for traffic and a wide range of NAT pool addresses.
TCP-aware NAT support enables NAT flow entries to follow the state of TCP sessions and get created and deleted accordingly. Cisco NX-OS Release 6.0(2)A4(1) adds support for syn-timeout and finrst-timeout.
MAC ACLs are ACLs that use information in the Layer 2 header of packets to filter traffic. MAC ACLs share many fundamental concepts with IP ACLs, including support for virtualization. Cisco NX-OS Release 6.0(2)UA(1) introduces support for MAC ACLs on Cisco Nexus 3500 Series switches.
Cisco NX-OS Release 6.0(2)A4(1) supports Cisco Plug-in Version 1.1.5 for OpenFlow. Cisco Plug-in for OpenFlow creates TCP/IP connections to controllers based on OpenFlow Switch Specification Version 1.0.1 (Wire Protocol 0x01) and OpenFlow Switch Specification Version 1.3.0 (Wire Protocol 0x04).
Cisco Plug-in for OpenFlow resides on the switch and the controllers reside on a server, external to the switch. Flow management and any network management are either part of the controller or accomplished through the controller. Cisco Plug-in for OpenFlow maintains databases for configurations on the logical switch, OpenFlow-enabled interfaces, and flows. The interface database contains the list of OpenFlow-enabled interfaces on the logical switch, and the flow database contains the list of flows on the logical switch as well as the interface programmed to forward traffic.
This release includes all the necessary infrastructure to support the OpenFlow Switch Specification Version 1.3.0. This release also includes the following enhancements:
This command configures the protocol version. The supported values for version-info are:
– 1.0—Configures device to connect to 1.0 controllers only
– 1.3—Configures device to connect to 1.3 controllers only
– negotiate—Negotiates the protocol version with the controller. The device uses 1.3 for negotiation.
The default value is negotiate.
With an Enterprise license and Border Gateway Protocol- (BGP)-enabled, Virtual Routing and Forwarding (VRF) route leaking is allowed in a VRF-lite scenario, based on certain configuration guidelines and limitations. With VRF route leaking, you can import IP prefixes from the global routing table (the default VRF) into any other VRF by using an import policy. The VRF import policy uses a route map to specify the prefixes to be imported into a VRF. IP prefixes that are imported into a VRF through this import policy cannot be reimported into another VPN VRF. The maximum number of prefixes that can be imported from the default VRF is controlled by a limit that you configure.
If a custom CoPP policy is applied after upgrading to Cisco NX-OS Release 6.0(2)A1(1) or later, and if the Nexus 3548 switch is downgraded to Cisco NX-OS Release 5.0, where changes to the CoPP policy are not permitted, the custom CoPP policy is retained and cannot be modified.
The following are the known limitations for Cisco NX-OS Release 6.0(2)A4(1):
1. Disable (shut) the 40G port
2. Change the speed from 40G to 10G
3. Perform an OIR on the cable or optics
Open and resolved caveat record numbers are provided with links to the Bug Search page where you can find details about each caveat.
This section includes the following topics:
Table 3 lists descriptions of resolved caveats in Cisco NX-OS Release 6.0(2)A4(1). The record ID links to the Cisco Bug Search page where you can find details about the caveat.
Table 1-4 lists open caveats in Cisco NX-OS Release 6.0(2)A4(1). The record ID links to the Cisco Bug Search page, where you can find details about the caveat.
The Cisco Management Information Base (MIB) list includes Cisco proprietary MIBs and many other Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) standard MIBs. These standard MIBs are defined in Requests for Comments (RFCs). To find specific MIB information, you must examine the Cisco proprietary MIB structure and related IETF-standard MIBs supported by the Cisco Nexus 3548 switch. The MIB Support List is available at the following FTP sites:
ftp://ftp.cisco.com/%2Fpub/mibs/supportlists/nexus3548/Nexus3548MIBSupportList.html
Documentation for the Cisco Nexus 3000 Series Switch is available at the following URL:
http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/ps11541/tsd_products_support_series_home.html
The documentation set is divided into the following categories:
The release notes are available at the follwing URL:
http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/ps11541/prod_release_notes_list.html
Installation and Upgrade Guides
The installation and upgrade guides are available at the following URL:
http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/ps11541/prod_installation_guides_list.html
The command references are available at the following URL:
http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/ps11541/prod_command_reference_list.html
The technical references are available at the following URL:
http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/ps11541/prod_technical_reference_list.html
The configuration guides are available at the following URL:
http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/ps11541/products_installation_and_configuration_guides_list.html
The system message reference guide is available at the following URL:
http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/ps11541/products_system_message_guides_list.html
To provide technical feedback on this document, or to report an error or omission, please send your comments to nexus3k-docfeedback@cisco.com. We appreciate your feedback.
For information on obtaining documentation, submitting a service request, and gathering additional information, see the monthly What’s New in Cisco Product Documentation, which also lists all new and revised Cisco technical documentation, at:
http://www.cisco.com/en/US/docs/general/whatsnew/whatsnew.html
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