Verified Scalability for Cisco Nexus 6000 Series NX-OS Release 6.0(2)N1(1) - Verified Scalability [Cisco Nexus 6000 Series Switches]

Contents
Verified Scalability
Overview of Verified Scalability
Verified Scalability for a Layer 2 Switching Deployment
Verified Scalability for a Layer 2 Switching and Layer 3 Routing Deployment
Verified Scalability for a Layer 3 Aggregation Routing Deployment
Verified Scalability for a Layer 2 Switching and Unified Fabric (FCoE) Deployment
Verified Scalability for Multicast Routing
Verified Scalability for Unicast Routing
Verified Scalability for a Layer 2 Switching and Virtualization (Adapter-FEX or VM-FEX) Deployment
Verified Scalability

This document includes the following sections:

Overview of Verified Scalability
Verified Scalability for a Layer 2 Switching Deployment
Verified Scalability for a Layer 2 Switching and Layer 3 Routing Deployment
Verified Scalability for a Layer 3 Aggregation Routing Deployment
Verified Scalability for a Layer 2 Switching and Unified Fabric (FCoE) Deployment
Verified Scalability for Multicast Routing
Verified Scalability for Unicast Routing
Verified Scalability for a Layer 2 Switching and Virtualization (Adapter-FEX or VM-FEX) Deployment

Overview of Verified Scalability

This document lists the Cisco verified scalability limits.

In the following tables, the Verified Topology column lists the verified scaling capabilities with all listed features enabled at the same time. The numbers listed here exceed those 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.

The Verified Maximum column lists the maximum scale capability tested for the corresponding feature individually. This number is the absolute maximum currently supported by the Cisco NX-OS Release software for the corresponding feature. If the hardware is capable of a higher scale, future software releases may increase this verified maximum limit.

Verified Scalability for a Layer 2 Switching Deployment

This table lists the verified scalability for a Layer 2 switching deployment.

Table 1 Verified Scalability for a Layer 2 Switching Deployment

Feature

Verified Topology

Verified Maximum

Active VLANs/VSANs per switch

1,000

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

VLAN/VSAN ID Space

4,013 Unreserved Space

4,013 Unreserved Space

Logical Interfaces¹

16,000
²
32,000
³

VLAN ACLs (VACLs) per switch

128 (10 Unique VACLs)

1,024 (512 unique VACLs with up to 1,024 ACE entries across all VACLs)

Member interfaces per EtherChannel

16

16

IGMP Snooping Groups

4,000 (in FEX deployments)

8,000 (in non-FEX deployments)

4,000 (in FEX deployments)

8,000 (in non-FEX deployments)

Maximum FEXs per Switch

24

24

Maximum FEXs dual homed to a vPC Switch Pair

24

24

MAC Table Size

64,000 entries

115,000

Number of Switchport EtherChannels

48

384

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

576

1,152

SVIs

2

256

FabricPath VLANs

1,000⁴

4,000

FabricPath Switch IDs

128

128

FabricPath Multicast Trees

2

2

Number of FabricPath Topologies

2

2

Number of FabricPath Core Port-Channels

4 core links with 4 ports each

16

¹ 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.
² 32,000 STP logical interfaces are verified in the unified fabric topology.
³ 32,000 PV scaling number applies to PVST, MST, and non-STP modes.
⁴ FabricPath VLANs are verified in the unified fabric topology

Verified Scalability for a Layer 2 Switching and Layer 3 Routing Deployment

This table contains the verified scalability for a Layer 2 switching and Layer 3 routing deployment.

Note
The currently tested values do not provide an indication for the maximum scalability of the control plane. These numbers vary based on the load of the system in terms of routing protocols, timers settings, and other values. Proof of concept testing should be used to determine the scalability of a given feature for your environment.

Table 2 Verified Scalability for a Layer 2 Switching and Layer 3 Routing Deployment
Feature

Verified Topology

Verified Maximum

Active VLANs/VSANs per Switch

1,000
⁵
4,013 (31 are set reserved for VSANs and the remaing are for VLANs)

VLAN/VSAN ID Space

4,013 Unreserved Space

4,013 Unreserved Space

STP Instances

16,000

16,000

Member Interfaces per EtherChannel

16

16

IGMP Snooping Groups

4,000 (in FEX deployments

8,000 (in non-FEX deployments

4,000 (in FEX deployments

8,000 (in non-FEX deployments

Maximum FEXs per vPC Switch Pair

24

24

Maximum FEXs Dual Homed to a vPC Switch Pair
⁶
24
⁷
24
⁸

MAC Table Size

32,000 entries
⁹
64,000
¹⁰

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

500

768

SPAN Sessions

4 active sessions

32 source VLANs as a RX source

16 active sessions

32 source VLANs as a RX source

Number of SVIs

256

256

Dynamic IPv4 Routes

8,000

24,000

Dynamic IPv6 Routes

4,000

8,000

Multicast IPv4 Routes
¹¹
4,000

8,000

ARPs (IPv4 Hosts)
¹²
32,000

64,000

IPv6 Hosts

16,000

32,000

VRFs

25

1,000

RACLs

64 Ingess RACLs with up to 1,152 ACE entries across all of the RACLs

896 Ingess RACLs with up to 1,152 ACE entries across all of the RACLs

HSRP Groups
¹³
256

500

VRRP Groups
¹⁴
256

500

⁵ 4,013 VLANs are verified in Layer 2 switching, Fibre Channel;, and FCoE topologies.
⁶ FEXs are verified in the Layer 2 topology
⁷ 24 FEXs are verified in the Layer 2 topology.
⁸ 24 FEXs are verified in the Layer 2 topology.
⁹ 128,000 entries are reserved for unicast MAC entries and 128,000 entries are reserved for IP host routes.
¹⁰ 128,000 entries are reserved for unicast MAC entries and 128,000 entries are reserved for IP host routes.
¹¹ This includes (*,G) entries, (S,G) entries, and the entries required for vPC with bind-vrf configured. When bind-vrf is configured, each (*,G) and (S,G) entry is replicated.
¹² The maximum number of hosts supported is listed under ARPs. This includes IPv4 and IPv6 hosts. IPv4 hosts take up one entry and IPv6 hosts take up 2 entries in hardware. So, for the verified limit, the switch supports one of the following: 32,000 IPv4 hosts and 0 IPv6 hosts, 16,000 IPv6 hosts and 0 IPv4 hosts, or a combination of IPv4 and IPv6 hosts.
¹³ The limit of the table that holds the Router MAC and Virtual MAC entries that determines whether the packet needs to be bridged or routed is 500 entries. The Virtual MAC entries can be shared across Layer 3 interfaces. So, we recommend that you configure the same group ID across all or multiple Layer 3 interfaces/SVIs. If multiple group IDs are configured on an Layer 3 interface, then we recommend that you configure the same set of group IDs across all or multiple Layer 3 interfaces. This way, HSRP/VRRP can be supported on more interfaces. Please refer to the unicast configuration guide for more information.
¹⁴ The limit of the table that holds the Router MAC and Virtual MAC entries for determining packet routing or switching is 500 entries. The Virtual MAC entries can be shared across Layer 3 interfaces. So, we recommend that you configure the same group ID across all or multiple Layer 3 interfaces/SVIs. If multiple group IDs are configured on an Layer 3 interface, then we recommend that you configure the same set of group IDs across all or multiple Layer 3 interfaces. This way, HSRP/VRRP can be supported on more interfaces. Please refer to the unicast configuration guide for more information.

Verified Scalability for a Layer 3 Aggregation Routing Deployment

This table lists the verified scalability for a Layer 3 aggregation routing deployment.

Feature

Verified Topology

Verified Maximum

Active VLANs/VSANs per Switch

1,000
¹⁵
4,000

VLAN/VSAN Space

4,013 unreserved space

4,013 unreserved space

STP Instances (vPC mode running MST)

64,000

64,000

Member Interfaces per EtherChannel

16

16

IGMP Snooping Groups

8,000 (in non-FEX deployments)

8,000 in non-FEX deployments)

MAC Table Size

64,000
¹⁶
115,000
¹⁷

SPAN Sessions

4 active sessions

32 source VLANs as a RX source

16 active sessions

32 source VLANs as a RX source

Number of SVIs

1,000

4,000

Dynamic IPv4 Routes
¹⁸
8,000

24,000

Dynamic IPv6 Routes
¹⁹
4,000

8,000

Multicast IPv4 Routes
²⁰
8,000

16,000

RACLs

64 ingress RACLs with up to 1152 ACE entries across all of the RACLs.

512 ingress RACLs with up to 1152 ACE entries across all of the RACLs.

VRFs

25

1,000

ARPs (IPv4 Hosts)
²¹
64,000

64,000

IPv6 Hosts

10,000

32,000

IGP Peers

64

100

HSRP Groups
²²
500

500

VRRP Groups
²³
500

500

FabricPath Switch IDs

128

128

FabricPath Multicast Trees

2

2

Number of FabricPath Topologies

2

2

Number of FabricPath Core Links

32

32

¹⁵ 4013 VLANs are verified in Layer 2 switching, Fibre Channel, and FCoE topologies.
¹⁶ 128,000 entries are reserved for unicast MAC entries, and 128,000 entries are reserved for IP host routes.
¹⁷ 128,000 entries are reserved for unicast MAC entries, and 128,000 entries are reserved for IP host routes.
¹⁸ Routing protocols include BGP, RIP, and OSPF.
¹⁹ Routing protocols include BGP, RIP, and OSPF.
²⁰ This includes (*,G) entries, (S,G) entires, and the entries required for vPC with bind-vrf configured. When bind-vrf is configured, each (*,G) and (S,G) entry is replicated. This includes (*,G) entries, (S,G) entries, and IGMP snooping entries combined.
²¹ The maximum number of hosts supported is listed under ARPs. This includes IPv4 and IPv6 hosts. IPv4 hosts take up one entry and IPv6 hosts take up 2 entries in hardware. So, for the verified limit, the switch supports one of the following: 32,000 IPv4 hosts and 0 IPv6 hosts, 16,000 IPv6 hosts and 0 IPv4 hosts, or a combination of IPv4 and IPv6 hosts.
²² The limit of the table that holds the Router MAC and Virtual MAC entries that determines whether the packet needs to be bridged or routed is 500 entries. The Virtual MAC entries can be shared across Layer 3 interfaces. So, we recommend that you configure the same group ID across all or multiple Layer 3 interfaces/SVIs. If multiple group IDs are configured on an Layer 3 interface, then we recommend that you configure the same set of group IDs across all or multiple Layer 3 interfaces. This way, HSRP/VRRP can be supported on more interfaces. Please refer to the unicast configuration guide for more information.
²³ The limit of the table that holds the Router MAC and Virtual MAC entries for determining packet routing or switching is 500 entries. The Virtual MAC entries can be shared across Layer 3 interfaces. So, we recommend that you configure the same group ID across all or multiple Layer 3 interfaces/SVIs. If multiple group IDs are configured on an Layer 3 interface, then we recommend that you configure the same set of group IDs across all or multiple Layer 3 interfaces. This way, HSRP/VRRP can be supported on more interfaces. Please refer to the unicast configuration guide for more information.

Verified Scalability for a Layer 2 Switching and Unified Fabric (FCoE) Deployment

This table lists the verified scalability for a Layer 2 switching and unified fabric (FCoE) deployment.

Table 3 Verified Scalability for a Layer 2 Switching and Unified Fabric (FCoE) Deployment

Feature

Verified Topology

Verified Maximum

Active VLANs/VSANs per switch

4,013

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

VLAN/VSAN ID Space

4,013 Unreserved Space

4,013 Unreserved Space

Logical Interfaces
²⁴
32,000

32,000

IGMP Snooping Groups

4,000 (in FEX deployments)

8,000 (in non-FEX deployments)

4,000 (in FEX deployments)

8,000 (in non-FEX deployments)

Maximum FEXs per Cisco Nexus 5500 Series Switch

9

24

Maximum FEXs Dual Homed to a vPC Cisco Nexus 6000 Series Switch Pair

24

24

MAC Table Size

32,000 unicast entries
²⁵
115,000 entries
²⁶

Number of Switchport EtherChannels

8

384

SPAN Sessions

4 active sessions

32 source VLANs as a RX source

16 active sessions

32 source VLANs as a RX source

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

288

768

FabricPath VLANs

4,000

4,000

FabricPath Switch IDs

128

128

FabricPath Multicast Trees

2

2

Number of FabricPath Topologies

2

2

Number of FabricPath Core Links

2

16

Number of FabricPath Topologies

1

1

Number of FabricPath Core Links

2

16

FLOGIs or FDISCs per NPV Port Group

180

255

Zone Sets per Switch

32

500

Zone Members per Physical Fabric (includes all VSANs)

1,280
`
8,000

Zones per Switch (includes all VSANs)

640

8,000

Maximum Diameter of a SAN Fabric

7 hops

12

FSPF Interface Instances per Switch

192

3,072

ISL Instances per Switch

6

96

VFC Interfaces

288

288

Maximum FCIDs Allocated

576

2,048

Fibre Channel Flows

32

32

²⁴ 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.
²⁵ 128,000 entries are reserved for unicast MAC entries and 128,000 entries are reserved for IP host routes.
²⁶ 128,000 entries are reserved for unicast MAC entries and 128,000 entries are reserved for IP host routes.

Verified Scalability for Multicast Routing

This table lists the verified scalability for multicast routing.

Table 4 Verified Scalability for Multicast Routing
Feature

Parameter

Verified Maximum

Protocol Independent Multicast (PIM)

Number of neighbors

500

Number of neighbors/total routes per system with aggressive hello timers (5 seconds)

16/4,000

Multicast Source Discovery Protocol (MSDP)

Number of MSDP Source-Active (SA) cache entries

6,000

Verified Scalability for Unicast Routing

This table lists the verified scalability for unicast routing.

Table 5 Verified Scalability for Unicast Routing
Feature

Parameter

Verified Maximum

OSPFv2

Number of active interfaces

256

Number of passive interfaces

256

Number of neighbors/total routes with aggressive timers (1 sec/ 3 sec)

16/6,000

OSPFv3

Number of active interfaces

256

Number of passive interfaces

256

EIGRP

Number of active interfaces

50

BGP

Number of peers (iBGP and eBGP, active)

256

Number of AS path entries

512

Number of prefix-list entries in a single prefix-list

10,000

HSRP

Number of groups with aggressive timers (1 sec/3 sec)

500

Verified Scalability for a Layer 2 Switching and Virtualization (Adapter-FEX or VM-FEX) Deployment

This table lists the verified scalability for a Layer 2 switching and virtualization (Adapter-FEX or VM-FEX) deployment.

Table 6 Scalability Limits for a Layer 2 Switching and Virtualization (Adapter-FEX or VM-FEX) Deployment
Feature

Verified Topology

Verified Maximum

Number of VFCs over Virtual Ethernet Interfaces

40

40

Number of Port Profiles

1,000

1,000

Number of Virtual Machines (VMs) Concurrently not VMotioned

5 VMs with 10 vNICs each

5 VMs with 10 vNICs each

Number of Virtual Ethernet Interfaces Enabled with vNIC Shaping

2,000

2,000

Number of Virtual Ethernet Interfaces Enabled with Untagged CoS

2,000

2,000

Server - Number of Adapters per Server

1

1

Server - Number of vNICs per Server

50

96