Verified Scalability Limits

This document describes the Cisco NX-OS configuration limits for the Cisco Nexus 9508 switch with an X9636C-R, X9636C-RX, or X9636Q-R line card or a C9508-FM-R fabric module.

Introduction

The values provided in this guide should not be interpreted as theoretical system limits for Cisco Nexus 9000 Series hardware or Cisco NX-OS software. These limits refer to values that have been validated by Cisco. They can increase over time as more testing and validation is done.

Verified Scalability Limits

The tables in this section list the verified scalability limits for Cisco NX-OS Release 7.0(3)F3(3a). These limits are validated with a unidimensional configuration. The values provided in these tables focus on the scalability of one particular feature at a time.

Each number is the absolute maximum currently supported by this Cisco NX-OS release for the corresponding feature. If the hardware is capable of a higher scale, future software releases might increase this verified maximum limit. Results might differ from the values listed here when trying to achieve maximum scalability with multiple features enabled.

Table 1. Interfaces Verified Scalability Limits (Unidimensional)

Feature

Verified Limit

Port channel member links

32

SVIs

3,967

vPCs

255

Table 2. Label Switching Verified Scalability Limits (Unidimensional)

Feature

Verified Limit

Forwarding Equivalence Classes (FECs)

1,000

Equal-cost multipaths (ECMPs)

8

FECs ECMPs

8,000

IAS option B labels

450,000

Layer 3 VPN routes

450,000

ECMPs

2,000

Table 3. Layer 2 Switching Verified Scalability Limits (Unidimensional)

Feature

Verified Limit

MAC addresses

192,000

MST instances

64

MST virtual ports

236,000

RPVST virtual ports

13,750

VLANs

3,967

VLANs in RPVST mode

250

Table 4. Layer 3 Multicast Verified Scalability Limits (Unidimensional)

Feature

Verified Limit

IPv4 multicast routes

32,000 (Layer 3)

Outgoing interfaces (OIFs)

16 OIFs for 32K mroutes or 287 OIFs for 1000 mroutes

PIM neighbors

500

Table 5. Security Verified Scalability Limits (Unidimensional)

Feature

Verified Limit

IPv4 ingress access control entries (ACEs)

RACL-2048, PACL-1024 (without TCAM Carving) IPv4 52640 ACEs per system

IPv6 ingress access control entries (ACEs)

RACL-1024, PACL-1024 (without TCAM Carving) IPv4 25200 ACEs per system

Table 6. System Management Verified Scalability Limits (Unidimensional)

Feature

Verified Limit

SPAN and ERSPAN

Configurable SPAN or ERSPAN sessions

32

Active SPAN or ERSPAN sessions

32

Active localized SPAN or ERSPAN session per line card

32 sessions across ports on single line card

Active localized SPAN or ERSPAN session (Rx and Tx, Rx, or Tx)

32 sessions, 128 sources and 1 destination

Destination interfaces per SPAN session

1

Source VLANs per SPAN or ERSPAN

32

PTP ports

64

Table 7. Layer 3 Unicast Routing Verified Scalability Limits (Unidimensional)

Feature

Verified Limit

BFD sessions (echo mode)

288

BGP neighbors

272

HSRP groups

490

IPv4 ARP

48,000

IPv4 host routes

750,000 (X9636C-R)

1,000,000 (X9636C-RX)

IPv6 host routes

62,000

IPv6 ND

32,000

IPv4 unicast routes (LPM)

192,000 (X9636C-R)

1,000,000 (X9636C-RX)

IPv6 unicast routes (LPM)

62,000

256,000 (X9636C-RX)

OSPFv2 neighbors

1,000

OSPFv3 neighbors

1,000

OSPF/OSPFv3 LSA/LSDB size

100,000

OSPF/OSPFv3 areas

15

VRFs

3,967

VRRP groups per interface or I/O module

16

Table 8. Tunnels Verified Scalability Limits (Unidimensional)

Feature

Verified Limit

VXLAN BGP eVPN

Layer 3 VNIs / VRFs

100

VTEPs

256

IPv4 host routes

128,000

IPv6 host routes

32,000

Table 9. HSRP Verified Scalability Limits (Unidimensional)

Feature

Verified Limit

Groups with default timers (3s/10s) and multiple group optimization. [There are 2 primary, one for IPv4 and the other for IPv6, and 7926 secondary]

7,928

Groups with aggressive timers (1s/3s) and multiple groups optimization. [There are 2 primary, one for IPv4 and the other for IPv6, and 7926 secondary]1

7,928

Groups per interface or I/) module

Maximum 16 (Because 16 is the unique virtual MAC address limit)

1 If the user has Multi-protocol configuration, user should configure appropriate CoPP policies so as to avoid any control plane traffic drops.

Deployment Case Studies

This section provides sample topologies for some common deployments. For each topology, the scalability numbers are the limits with all of the listed features enabled at the same time.


Attention

These numbers are not the maximum verified values if each feature is viewed in isolation. For these numbers, see the "Verified Scalability Limits" section.

Verified Scalability Limits (Multidimensional)

The tables in this section list the verified scalability limits for Cisco NX-OS Release 7.0(3)F3(3a). These limits are validated with a multidimensional configuration. The values provided in these tables focus on the scalability of one particular feature at a time.

Each number is the absolute maximum currently supported by this Cisco NX-OS release for the corresponding feature. If the hardware is capable of a higher scale, future software releases might increase this verified maximum limit. Results might differ from the values listed here when trying to achieve maximum scalability with multiple features enabled.

Table 10. eBGP/ISIS Profile Verified Scalability Limits (Multidimensional)

Feature

Verified Limit

Number of 100G ports

288

ECMP

16-way (Upstream)

BGP neighbors

960

BGP IPv4 /32 unicast routes

30,000

BGP IPv4 VLSM unicast routes

18,000

BGP IPv6 /128 unicast routes

16,000

BGP IPv6 VLSM unicast routes

1,000

ISIS v2 neighbors

255

ISIS v3 neighbors

255

ISIS L2 adjacency

16

ISIS IPv4 /32 unicast routes

20,000

ISIS IPv4 VLSM unicast routes

1,000

ISIS IPv6 /128 unicast routes

20,000

ISIS IPv6 VLSM unicast routes

1,000

BFD sessions

272

PIM neighbors

256

ACL ACEs

15,000

500

Sub-interfaces

712

SPAN sessions

1 local SPAN session

Multicast SSM

20,000

Table 11. iBGP/OSPF/EIGRP Profile Verified Scalability Limits (Multidimensional)

Feature

Verified Limit

Number of 100G ports

180

Number of 40G ports

108

ECMP

16-way (Upstream)

BGP neighbors

16

BGP IPv4 VLSM unicast routes

18,000

BGP IPv6 VLSM uniast routes

10,000

OSPFv2 neighbors

276

OSPFv3 neighbors

276

OSPF IPv4 /32 unicast routes

75,000

OSPF IPv4 VLSM unicast routes

1,000

OSPFv3 IPv6 /128 unicast routes

30,000

OSPFv3 IPv6 VLSM unicast routes

1,000

EIGRP v4 neighbors

276

EIGRP v6 neighbors

276

EIGRP IPv4 /32 unicast routes

30,000

EIGRP IPv4 VLSM unicast routes

1,000

EIGRP IPv6 /128 unicast routes

30,000

EIGRP IPv6 VLSM unicast routes

1,000

BFD sessions

272

VRF

250

PIM neighbors

276

IPv4 (*,G) multicast routes

6,000

IPv4 (S,G) multicast routes

16,000

RACL

6,000 (IPv4)

6,000 (IPv6)

SPAN sessions

1 local SPAN session

Table 12. L2/L3 Boundary Verified Scalability Limits (Multidimensional)

Feature

Verified Limit

Number of 100G ports

72

Number of 40G ports

36

VPC Port channels

31

ECMP

8-way (Upstream)

OSPFv2 neighbors

47

OSPFv3 neighbors

47

OSPF IPv4 /32 unicast routes

45,000

OSPF IPv4 VLSM unicast routes

1,000

OSPF IPv6 /128 unicast routes

25,000

OSPF IPv6 VLSM unicast routes

1,000

BFD sessions

49

VRF

250

VLAN

3,750

SVI

3,750

VRRP v4 groups

1,996 VRRS / 4 VRRPv3

VRRP v6 groups

1,996 VRRS / 4 VRRPv3

HSRP IPv4

1,743 Secondary groups / 7 Primary groups

HSRP IPv6

1,743 Secondary groups / 7 Primary groups

PIM neighbors

396

IPv4 (*,G) multicast routes

3,080

IPv4 (S,G) multicast routes

26,600

IGMP snooping database entries

6,400

Sflow enabled interfaces

65

UDLD enabled interfaces

70

SPAN sessions

1 local SPAN session

Table 13. VXLAN Profile Verified Scalability Limits (Multidimensional)

Feature

Verified Limit

Number of ports

16

ECMP

8-way (Upstream)

BGP neighbors

200

BGP EVPN L2VPN host routes

64,000

BGP IPv4 VLSM unicast routes or ospf

10,000

BGP IPv6 VLSM unicast routes or ospf

6,000

BFD sessions

20

PIM neighbors

20

IPv4 (*,G) multicast routes (co-existing)

1,000

IPv4 (S,G) multicast routes (co-existing)

8,000

Layer 3 VNI

100

Layer 2 VNI

400

Local VTEP

1

Remote VTEPs

205

VLAN

400

SVI

100

MAC

60,000

vPC hosts

Not applicable

Table 14. MPLS Verified Scalability Limits (Multidimensional)

Feature

Verified Limit

MPLS Layer 3 VPN

3967

VPE

3967

PE nodes

3

PE routes

20,000

X9636C-RX line card: ACL scale-IPv4

95,000

X9636C-RX line card: ACL scale-IPv6

20,000

HSRP, HSRP VIP

3967 each for v4 and v6

vPC uRPF

3967

Strict uRPF

Yes

VRF

3967

SVI

3967

L3VPN routes IP ECMP

2,000

MPLS LSR ECMP

2,000

VPNv4 routes

400,000

VPNv6 routes

90,000

EBGP neighbors

750