Cisco Catalyst 6500 Series Switches

The Cisco® Catalyst® Operating System (Catalyst OS) Software Release 8.4 for the supervisor engine supports the Cisco Catalyst 6500 Series multilayer switches.

OVERVIEW

• Cisco Catalyst OS 8.4 introduces support for the Supervisor Engine 32 with Policy Feature Card 3B, bringing the Supervisor Engine 720 level of advanced services into the access layer. Supervisor Engine 32 provides investment protection for current Cisco Catalyst 6500 deployments by supporting all existing classic and Cisco Express Forwarding 256-based modules and helping enable new applications.

• Cisco Catalyst OS 8.4 enhances the suite of Cisco Catalyst 6500 wiring-closet interface modules by introducing the support for:

– Cisco Catalyst 6500 48-Port 10/100/1000 Classic Interface Module (part number WS-X6148A-GE-TX) with Power over Ethernet (PoE) option-Refreshed module that now supports jumbo frames and enhanced QoS capabilities (deeper and more per-port queues). Continues to support time-domain-reflectometer (TDR) for rapid cable fault detection

– Cisco Catalyst 6500 48-Port 10/100 Classic Interface Module (part number WS-X6148A-RJ-45) with PoE option-Adds integrated time-domain-reflectometer (TDR) support for rapid cable fault detection

– Cisco Catalyst 6500 96-Port 10/100 (RJ-21) Classic Interface Module (part number WS-X6196-RJ-21) with PoE option-The industry's highest density PoE-enabled module now supports RJ-21 interfaces for simplified, structured cable management

– Cisco Catalyst 6500 48-Port 100BASE-X SFP Classic Interface Module (part number WS-X6148-FE-SFP)-New module that supports a range of modular SFP's on a 100BASE interface module for customers that want flexible 100 Mbps fiber connectivity options to desktops or other devices

• Cisco Catalyst OS 8.4 adds support for the 6000-WAC power supply on Cisco Catalyst 6500 Series chassis to meet increasing demand for power to support the IEEE 802.3af Power over Ethernet standard.

• Cisco Catalyst OS 8.4 simplifies operational complexity with the introduction of Cisco Smartports Macro enhancements, Configuration Rollback, Switch Profiles, and Multiple Switched Port Analyzer (SPAN) destinations, increasing configuration consistency, reducing provisioning overhead and helping businesses use the full potential of their networks.

• Cisco Catalyst OS 8.4 offers new campus security enhancements, including 802.1x-based port access control lists (PACLs), 802.1x with Authorization Failed VLAN, ACL and sampled ACL hit counters, Compression and Reordering of ACL Masks (CRAM) algorithm, and 4k ACL Label support.

• NetFlow gets significant enhancements in the Cisco Catalyst OS 8.4 with the introduction of NetFlow Top Talkers, NetFlow support per VLAN, and NetFlow Export with autonomous system, giving users increased flexibility in recording network performance data.

• Cisco Catalyst OS 8.4 introduces consistent TDR across 10/100 and 10/100/1000 interfaces for rapid cable fault detection.

• Metropolitan (Metro) Ethernet deployments are enhanced with the introduction of cutting-edge features in Cisco Catalyst OS 8.4-VLAN translation, MAC-based ACLs, and Layer 2 Tunneling Protocol (L2PT) enhancements. With Cisco Catalyst OS 8.4, the Cisco Catalyst 6500 extends its leadership in Layer 2 metro Ethernet deployments.

• The Cisco Catalyst 6500 with Cisco Catalyst OS 8.4 continues delivery of leading high-availability solutions with the introduction of Cisco EtherChannel® enhancements for highly available switching deployments.

• Most importantly, the Cisco Catalyst 6500 with Cisco Catalyst OS 8.4 provides more compelling reasons for customers to continue migration from their Cisco Catalyst 5000 or Cisco Catalyst 5500 to Cisco Catalyst 6500 converged networks.

NEW HARDWARE SUPPORTED

Table 1. New Hardware Support Matrix Summary

Note: Distributed forwarding with a distributed forwarding card (DFC) and DFC3A, DFC3B, and DFC3BXL is not supported using Cisco Catalyst OS Software releases.

NEW SOFTWARE FEATURES

Table 2. Software Features of Cisco Catalyst OS Software Release 8.4

SOFTWARE SUPPORT MATRIX

Table 3. Cisco Catalyst OS Software-Only Deployments

Table 4. Hybrid Environment

Table 5. Software Ordering Information

Note: The image names (image version suffixes such as 8-4-1, 8-4-2, and 8-4-3) differ based on the latest available maintenance release for Cisco Catalyst OS Software Release 8.4; the image names in this table reflect Version 8.4(1) of Release 8.4.

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