Cisco Nexus 5000 Series Configuration Limits for Cisco NX-OS Release 5.1(3)N1(1)

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Table of Contents

Cisco Nexus 5000 Series Configuration Limits for Cisco NX-OS Release 5.1(3)N1(1)

Contents

Introduction

Cisco Nexus 5500 Platform Switch Layer 2 Topology Configuration Limits

Cisco Nexus 5000 Platform Switch Layer 2 Topology Configuration Limits

Layer 2 and Layer 3 Topology Configuration Limits

Layer 2 Switching, Fibre Channel, and FCoE Topology Configuration Limits

Layer 2 Switching Adapter-FEX/VM-FEX Configuration Limits

Layer 2 Switching Cisco TrustSec Configuration Limits

Related Documentation

Release Notes

Configuration Guides

Maintain and Operate Guides

Installation and Upgrade Guides

Licensing Guide

Command References

Technical References

Error and System Messages

Troubleshooting Guide

Obtaining Documentation and Submitting a Service Request

Cisco Nexus 5000 Series Configuration Limits
for Cisco NX-OS Release 5.1(3)N1(1)

Release Date: February 17, 2012

Part Number: OL-25851 -01

Current Release: Cisco NX-OS Release 5.1(3)N1(1)

This document describes the Cisco Nexus 5000 Series switch configuration limits for Cisco NX-OS Release 5.1(3)N1(1). Use this document in combination with documents listed in the “Related Documentation” section.

Contents

This document includes the following sections:

Introduction

The Cisco Nexus 5000 Series switches include a family of line-rate, low-latency, lossless 10-Gigabit Ethernet, Cisco Data Center Ethernet, Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE), and now native Fibre Channel switches for data center applications. The Cisco Nexus 5000 Series includes the Cisco Nexus 5500 Platform and the Cisco Nexus 5000 Platform.

Cisco NX-OS Software Release 5.0(3)N2(1) introduces two new Cisco Nexus 5500 Platform switches that extend the versatility of the data-center class Cisco Nexus 5000 Series switches and provide higher density, lower latency, multilayer services.

The Cisco Nexus 5000 Platform includes the following switches:

  • Cisco Nexus 5020 switch
  • Cisco Nexus 5010 switch

For information about the Cisco Nexus 5000 Series, see the Cisco Nexus 5000 Series and Cisco Nexus 5500 Platform Hardware Installation Guide.

Cisco Nexus 5000 Series and Cisco Nexus 5500 Platform switches have been tested for scaling purposes under the following deployment scenarios:

  • Layer 2-only deployments
  • Layer 2 and Layer 3 combined deployments
  • Fibre Channel and FCoE deployments

Note Verification topologies included all listed features configured to theverified limits simultaneously. The maximum limit for a given feature is the configuration limit or the hardware limit on a specific platform.

Cisco Nexus 5500 Platform Switch Layer 2 Topology Configuration Limits

This section describes the configuration limits in topologies that include only Layer 2 feature configurations.

Table 1 shows the Layer 2 configuration limits for the Cisco Nexus 5500 Platform switch with Cisco NX-OS Release 5.1(3)N1(1).

 

Table 1 Cisco NX-OS Release 5.1(3) Layer 2 Topology Configuration Limits for the Cisco Nexus 5500 Platform Switch

Feature
Cisco Nexus 5500 Platform
Verified Topology 1
Maximum Limits 2

Active VLANs/VSANs per switch

10003

4013 (31 reserved for VSANs)

VLAN/VSAN ID space

4013 unreserved space

4013 unreserved space

Logical interfaces4

16,0005

32,0006

VLAN ACLs (VACLs) per switch

128 (10 Unique VACLs)

1024 (62 unique VACLs with upto 2048 ACE entries across all VACLs)

Port ACLs (PACLs) per switch

1152

1152

Member interfaces per EtherChannel

16

16

IGMP snooping groups

4000

4000

Maximum FEXs per Cisco Nexus 5500 Series Switch

24

24

Maximum FEXs dual homed to a vPC Cisco Nexus 5500 Series switch pair

24

24

MAC table size

25000 unicast entries and 4000 multicast entries

32000

Number of Switch port EtherChannels

48- Nexus 5548 or Nexus 5548UP switch

48-Nexus 5548 or Nexus 5548UP switch
96- Nexus 5596 switch

Number of FEX port channels/vPCs (across maximum number of FEXs)

576

1152

Number of SVIs

2

256

FabricPath VLANs

10007

4000

FabricPath Switch IDs

128

128

FabricPath multicast tree

2

2

Number of FabricPath topologies

1

1

Number of FabricPath core port-channels

4 core links with 4 ports each

16

1.Verified Topology—Indicates the verified scaling capabilities with all listed features enabled at the same time. The numbers listed here exceed that used by most customers in their topologies. The scale numbers listed here are not the maximum verified values if each feature is viewed in isolation.

2.Maximum Limits—Indicates the maximum scale capability tested for the corresponding feature individually. This number is the absolute maximum currently supported by Cisco NX-OS Release 5.1(3)N1(1) software for the corresponding feature. If the hardware is capable of a higher scale, future software releases may increase this maximum limit.

3.4013 VLANs have been verified in Layer 2 switching, Fibre Channel and FCoE topology configuration limits

4.Logical interfaces are a product of the number of VLANs times the number of ports. This parameter reflects the load of handling port programming, and is not dependent on the spanning-tree mode or configuration.

5.32,000 STP logical interfaces has been verified in topology.

6.32,000 PV scaling number applies to PVST, MST, and non STP modes.

7.4000 FabricPath VLANs have been tested in the unified fabric topology.

Cisco Nexus 5000 Platform Switch Layer 2 Topology Configuration Limits

This section describes the configuration limits in topologies that include only Layer 2 feature configurations.

Table 2 shows the Layer 2 configuration limits for the Cisco Nexus 5000 Platform switch with Cisco NX-OS Release 5.1(3)N1(1).

 

Table 2 Cisco NX-OS Release 5.1(3) Layer 2 Topology Configuration Limits for the Cisco Nexus 5000 Platform Switch
Feature
Cisco Nexus 5000 Platform
Verified Topology 8
Maximum Limits 9

Active VLANs/VSANs per switch

507

507 (504 when FCoE is enabled - 31 are set aside for SANs)

VLAN/VSAN ID space

4013 unreserved space

4013 unreserved space

Logical interfaces10

12,000

12,000

VLAN ACLs (VACLs) per switch

128 (10 unique VACLs)

1,024 (128 unique VACLs)

Port ACLs (PACLs) per switch

576

576

Member interfaces per EtherChannel

16

16

IGMP snooping Groups

1000

1000

Maximum FEXs per Cisco Nexus 5000 Series

12

12

Maximum FEXs dual homed to a vPC Cisco Nexus 5000 Series

12

12

MAC table size

13,800

16,000

Number of switchport EtherChannels

16 (with the combination not exceeding 16, and not more than a total of 16 ports per EtherChannel)

16 (with the combination not exceeding 16, and not more than a total of 16 ports per EtherChannel)

Number of FEX Port channels/vPCs (across maximum number of FEXs)

576

576

SPAN sessions

2 active sessions
32 source VLANs as a TX source

2 active sessions
32 source VLANs as a TX source

Configurable QoS groups (including class default)

5

5

No-drop qos-groups

1 class - FCoE no-drop

3 (including FCoE)

8.Verified Topology—Indicates the verified scaling capabilities with all listed features enabled at the same time. The numbers listed here exceed that used by most customers in their topologies. The scale numbers listed here are not the maximum verified values if each feature is viewed in isolation.

9.Maximum Limits—Indicates the maximum scale capability tested for the corresponding feature individually. This number is the absolute maximum currently supported by Cisco NX-OS Release 5.0(3)N2(1) software for the corresponding feature. If the hardware is capable of a higher scale, future software releases may increase this maximum limit.

10.Logical interfaces are a product of the number of VLANs times the number of ports. This parameter reflects the load of handling port programming, and is not dependent on the spanning-tree mode or configuration.

Layer 2 and Layer 3 Topology Configuration Limits

Table 3 shows the configuration limits when using a Layer 3 module (N55-D160L3, N55-M160L3) on the Cisco Nexus 5500 Platform switch with Cisco NX-OS Release 5.1(3)N1(1):

 

Table 3 Cisco NX-OS Release 5.1(3) Layer 2 and Layer 3 Configuration Limits for the Cisco Nexus 5500 Platform Switch

Feature
Cisco Nexus 5500 Platform
Verified Topology 11
Maximum Limits 12

Active VLANs/VSANs per switch

100013

4013 (31 are reserved for VSANs)

VLAN/VSAN ID space

4013 unreserved space

4013 unreserved space

STP instances

16,000

16,000

Member interfaces per EtherChannel

16

16

IGMP snooping groups

4000

4000

Maximum FEXs per Cisco Nexus 5500 Series switch

1614

16 4

Maximum FEXs dual homed to a vPC switch pair

16 4

16 4

MAC table size

23,400 unicast entries and 4000 multicast entries

32,00015 entries

Number of FEX port channels/vPCs (across the maximum number of FEXs)

470

768

SPAN Sessions

2 active sessions
32 source VLANs as a TX source

4 active sessions
32 source VLANs as a TX source

Number of SVIs

256

256

Dynamic routes16

7200

7200

Multicast routes

2000

4000

RACLs

62 Ingress RACLs with up to 1664 ACE entries across all the RACLs

62 Ingress RACLs with up to 1664 ACE entries across all the RACLs

VRFs

25

1000

ARPs

650017

8000

HSRP groups

256

256

VRRP groups

256

256

11.Verified Topology—Indicates the verified scaling capabilities with all listed features enabled at the same time. The numbers listed here exceed that used by most customers in their topologies. The scale numbers listed here are not the maximum verified values if each feature is viewed in isolation.

12.Maximum Limits—Indicates the maximum scale capability tested for the corresponding feature individually. This number is the absolute maximum currently supported by Cisco NX-OS Release 5.0(3)N2(1) software for the corresponding feature. If the hardware is capable of a higher scale, future software releases may increase this maximum limit.

13.4013 VLANs have been verified in Layer 2 switching, Fibre Channel and FCoE topology configuration limits.

14.24 FEXs have been verified in the Layer 2 topology.

15.24,000 entries are reserved for unicast MAC entries and 3,400 entries are reserved for IGMP groups.

16.Routing protocols including BGP/RIP/OSPF.

17.The maximum LPM entries plus ARP entries plus SVI route entries is 12,000 entries.

 

Layer 2 Switching, Fibre Channel, and FCoE Topology Configuration Limits

Table 4 shows the configuration limits in topologies that include Cisco Nexus 5500 series unified fabric switch with Layer 2 switching, Fibre Channel, and FCoE configurations.

 

Table 4 Cisco NX-OS Release 5.1(3) Layer 2 Switching, Fibre Channel, and FCoE Configuration Limits for the Cisco Nexus 5500 Platform Switch

Feature
Cisco Nexus 5500 Platform
Verified Topology 18
Maximum Limits 19

Active VLANs/VSANs per switch

4013

4,013
(31 are reserved for VSANs and the remaining are for VLANs)

VLAN/VSAN ID space

4013 unreserved space

4013 unreserved space

Logical interfaces20

32,000

32,000

IGMP snooping groups

4000

4000

Maximum FEXs per switch

9

24

MAC table size

2300021 unicast and
4000 multicast

32,000

Number of switchport EtherChannels

8

48—Nexus 5548P and Nexus 5548UP switch
96—Nexus 5596UP switch

SPAN Sessions

2 active sessions
32 source VLANs as a TX source

4 active sessions
32 source VLANs as a TX source

Number of FEX Port channels/vPCs (across maximum number of FEXs)

288

768

FabricPath VLANs

4000

4000

FabricPath Switch IDs

128

128

FabricPath multicast trees

2

2

Number of FabricPath topologies

1

1

Number of FabricPath core links

2

16

Native FC links per switch

8

8—Nexus 5548 switch
48—Nexus 5548UP switch
96—Nexus 5596UP switch

FLOGIs or FDISCs per NPV port group

180

255

Zone sets per switch

32

500

Zone members per physical fabric (includes all VSANs)

1280

8000

Zones per switch (includes all VSANs)

640

8000

Maximum diameter of a SAN Fabric

7

12

FSPF interface instances per switch

192

256—Nexus 5548 switch
1536—Nexus 5548UP switch
3072—Nexus 5596UP switch

ISL instances per switch

6

8—Nexus 5548 switch
48—Nexus 5548UP switch
96—Nexus 5596UP switch

VFC interfaces

288

288

Max FCIDs allocated

576

2048

Fibre Channel flows

32

32

SAN port channels

4

4

18.Verified Topology—Indicates the verified scaling capabilities with all listed features enabled at the same time. The numbers listed here exceed that used by most customers in their topologies. The scale numbers listed here are not the maximum verified values if each feature is viewed in isolation.

19.Maximum Limits—Indicates the maximum scale capability tested for the corresponding feature individually. This number is the absolute maximum currently supported by Cisco NX-OS Release 5.0(3)N2(1) software for the corresponding feature. If the hardware is capable of a higher scale, future software releases may increase this maximum limit.

20.Logical interfaces are a product of the number of VLANs times the number of ports. This parameter reflects the load of handling port programming, and is not dependent on the spanning-tree mode or configuration.

21.24,000 entries are reserved for unicast MAC entries and 3,400 entries are reserved for IGMP groups.

 

Table 5 shows the configuration limits in topologies that include Cisco Nexus 5000 series unified fabric switch with Layer 2 switching, Fibre Channel, and FCoE configurations.

 

Table 5 Cisco NX-OS Release 5.1(3) Layer 2 Switching, Fibre Channel, and FCoE Configuration Limits for the Cisco Nexus 5000 Platform Switch

Feature
Cisco Nexus 5000 Platform
Verified Topology 22
Maximum Limits 23

Active VLANs/VSANs per switch

504

507
(504 when FCoE is enabled) 31 are set aside for VSANs.

VLAN/VSAN ID space

4013 unreserved space

4013 unreserved space

STP instances

12,000

12,000

IGMP snooping groups

1000

1000

Maximum FEXs per switch

12

12

MAC table size

13,80024

16,000

Number of switchport EtherChannels

16 units

16 units (With the combination not exceeding 16, and not more than a total of 16 ports per EtherChannels)

SPAN Sessions

2 active sessions
32 source VLANs as a TX source

2 active sessions
32 source VLANs as a TX source

Configurable QoS groups (including class default)

6

6

No-drop qos-groups

2 (including FCoE)

3 (including FCoE)

VLAN ACLs (VACLs) per switch

128 (10 Unique VACLs)

1024 (128 unique VACLs)

Member interface per EtherChannel

16

16

Number of FEX Port channels/vPCs (across maximum number of FEXs)

496

576

Native FC links per switch

16

16

FLOGIs or FDISCs per NPV port group

106

255

Zones per virtual or physical F port (includes all VSANs)

32

32

Zone sets per switch (includes all VSANs)

32

500

Zone members per physical fabric (includes all VSANs)

640

8000

Zones per switch (includes all VSANs)

320

8000

Maximum diameter of a SAN Fabric

7

12

FSPF interface instances per switch

192 units

512 units

ISL instances per switch

6 units

16 units

VFC interfaces

160

160

Maximum number of FCIDs allocated

320

2048

Fibre Channel flows

32

32

22.Verified Topology—Indicates the verified scaling capabilities with all listed features enabled at the same time. The numbers listed here exceed that used by most customers in their topologies. The scale numbers listed here are not the maximum verified values if each feature is viewed in isolation.

23.Maximum Limits—Indicates the maximum scale capability tested for the corresponding feature individually. This number is the absolute maximum currently supported by Cisco NX-OS Release 5.0(3)N2(1) software for the corresponding feature. If the hardware is capable of a higher scale, future software releases may increase this maximum limit.

24.24,000 entries are reserved for unicast MAC entries and 3,400 entries are reserved for IGMP groups.

 

Layer 2 Switching Adapter-FEX/VM-FEX Configuration Limits

Table 6 shows the configuration limits in topologies that include Cisco Nexus 5500 series adapter-FEX/VM-FEX configurations.

 

Table 6 Cisco NX-OS Release 5.1(3) Layer 2 Switching Adapter-FEX/VM-FEX Configuration Limits

Feature
Cisco Nexus 5500 Platform
Verified Topology 25
Maximum Limits 26

Number of VFCs over Virtual Ethernet Interfaces

40

40

Cisco Nexus 5500 number of Port Profiles

1000

1000

Cisco Nexus 5500 number of Virtual Machines concurrently VMOTIONed

5 VMs with 10 vNICs each

5 VMs with 10 vNICs each

Number of Virtual Ethernet Interfaces enabled with VNIC shaping

2000

2000

Number of Virtual Ethernet Interfaces configured with Untagged Cos

2000

2000

Server - Number of adapters per server

1

1

Server - Number of VNICs per server

50

96

25.Verified Topology—Indicates the verified scaling capabilities with all listed features enabled at the same time. The numbers listed here exceed that used by most customers in their topologies. The scale numbers listed here are not the maximum verified values if each feature is viewed in isolation.

26.Maximum Limits—Indicates the maximum scale capability tested for the corresponding feature individually. This number is the absolute maximum currently supported by Cisco NX-OS Release 5.0(3)N2(1) software for the corresponding feature. If the hardware is capable of a higher scale, future software releases may increase this maximum limit.

 

Layer 2 Switching Cisco TrustSec Configuration Limits

Table 7 shows the configuration limits in topologies that include Cisco Nexus 5500 series Cisco TrustSec (CTS) configurations.

 

Table 7 Cisco NX-OS Release 5.1(3) Layer 2 Switching CTS Configuration Limits
Feature
Cisco Nexus 5500 Platform
Verified Topology 27
Maximum Limits 28

Security Group Access Control List ACEs

128

128

Security Group Access Control List VLANs

100

100

Security Group Access Control List SGT/DGT permission list

100

100

Number of SXP Connections

4

4

Number of IPv4-SGT mapping

2000

2000

Maximum number of CTS interfaces

192

192

27.Verified Topology—Indicates the verified scaling capabilities with all listed features enabled at the same time. The numbers listed here exceed that used by most customers in their topologies. The scale numbers listed here are not the maximum verified values if each feature is viewed in isolation.

28.Maximum Limits—Indicates the maximum scale capability tested for the corresponding feature individually. This number is the absolute maximum currently supported by Cisco NX-OS Release 5.0(3)N2(1) software for the corresponding feature. If the hardware is capable of a higher scale, future software releases may increase this maximum limit.

 

Related Documentation

Documentation for Cisco Nexus 5000 Series Switches and Cisco Nexus 2000 Series Fabric Extenders is available at the following URL:

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/ps9670/tsd_products_support_series_home.html

The following are related Cisco Nexus 5000 Series and Cisco Nexus 2000 Series Fabric Extender documents:

Release Notes

Cisco Nexus 5000 Series and Cisco Nexus 2000 Series Release Notes

Cisco Nexus 5000 Series Switch Release Notes

Configuration Guides

Cisco Nexus 5000 Series Configuration Limits for Cisco NX-OS Release 5.0(3)N1(1)

Cisco Nexus 5000 Series Configuration Limits for Cisco NX-OS Release 5.0(2)N1(1)

Cisco Nexus 5000 Series Configuration Limits for Cisco NX-OS Release 4.2(1)N1(1) and Release 4.2(1)N2(1)

Cisco Nexus 5000 Series NX-OS Fibre Channel over Ethernet Configuration Guide

Cisco Nexus 5000 Series NX-OS Layer 2 Switching Configuration Guide

Cisco Nexus 5000 Series NX-OS Multicast Routing Configuration Guide

Cisco Nexus 5000 Series NX-OS Quality of Service Configuration Guide

Cisco Nexus 5000 Series NX-OS SAN Switching Configuration Guide

Cisco Nexus 5000 Series NX-OS Security Configuration Guide

Cisco Nexus 5000 Series NX-OS System Management Configuration Guide

Cisco Nexus 5000 Series NX-OS Unicast Routing Configuration Guide

Cisco Nexus 5000 Series Switch NX-OS Software Configuration Guide

Cisco Nexus 5000 Series Fabric Manager Configuration Guide, Release 3.4(1a)

Cisco Nexus 7000 Series NX-OS Fundamentals Configuration Guide, Release 6.x

Cisco Nexus 2000 Series Fabric Extender Software Configuration Guide

Maintain and Operate Guides

Cisco Nexus 5000 Series NX-OS Operations Guide

Installation and Upgrade Guides

Cisco Nexus 5000 Series and Cisco Nexus 5500 Platform Hardware Installation Guide

Cisco Nexus 2000 Series Hardware Installation Guide

Cisco Nexus 5000 Series NX-OS Software Upgrade and Downgrade Guide, Release 4.2(1)N1(1)

Regulatory Compliance and Safety Information for the Cisco Nexus 5000 Series Switches and Cisco Nexus 2000 Series Fabric Extenders

Licensing Guide

Cisco NX-OS Licensing Guide

Command References

Cisco Nexus 5000 Series NX-OS FabricPath Command Reference

Cisco Nexus 5000 Series NX-OS Fabric Extender Command Reference

Cisco Nexus 5000 Series NX-OS Fibre Channel Command Reference

Cisco Nexus 5000 Series NX-OS Fundamentals Command Reference

Cisco Nexus 5000 Series NX-OS Layer 2 Interfaces Command Reference

Cisco Nexus 5000 Series NX-OS Multicast Routing Command Reference

Cisco Nexus 5000 Series NX-OS QoS Command Reference

Cisco Nexus 5000 Series NX-OS Security Command Reference

Cisco Nexus 5000 Series NX-OS System Management Command Reference

Cisco Nexus 5000 Series NX-OS TrustSec Command Reference

Cisco Nexus 5000 Series NX-OS Unicast Routing Command Reference

Cisco Nexus 5000 Series NX-OS vPC Command Reference

Technical References

Cisco Nexus 5000 Series and Cisco Nexus 2000 Series Fabric Extender MIBs Reference

Error and System Messages

Cisco Nexus 5000 Series NX-OS System Messages Reference

Troubleshooting Guide

Cisco Nexus 5000 Troubleshooting Guide

Obtaining Documentation and Submitting a Service Request

For information on obtaining documentation, using the Cisco Bug Search Tool (BST), submitting a service request, and gathering additional information, see What’s New in Cisco Product Documentation at: http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/general/whatsnew/whatsnew.html.

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©2011 Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved.

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