The Cisco Nexus® 7000 Series 32-Port 10Gb Ethernet Module (Figure 1) is a highly scalable, high-density module designed for performance driven mission-critical Ethernet networks.
The Cisco Nexus 7000 Series Switches comprise a modular data center-class product line designed for highly scalable 10 Gigabit Ethernet networks with a fabric architecture that scales beyond 15 terabits per second (Tbps). Designed to meet the requirements of the most mission-critical data centers, it delivers continuous system operation and virtualized pervasive services. The Cisco Nexus 7000 Series is based on a proven operating system, with enhanced features to deliver real-time system upgrades with exceptional manageability and serviceability. Its innovative design is purpose built to support end-to-end data center connectivity, consolidating IP, storage, and interprocess communication (IPC) networks onto a single Ethernet fabric.
Figure 1. Cisco Nexus 7000 Series 32-Port 10Gb Ethernet Module
Features and Benefits
The Cisco Nexus 7000 Series 32-Port 10Gb Ethernet Module with 80 Gb of bandwidth to the fabric is a high-performance, high-density 10 Gigabit Ethernet module designed for mission-critical Ethernet networks. Up to 512 ports of 10 Gigabit Ethernet are supported in a single system in the 18-slot chassis, providing a high-density, compact solution for the largest 10Gb Ethernet networks.
Populating the 10-slot chassis with this module delivers up to 256 ports of 10 Gigabit Ethernet in a single chassis, or up to 512 ports of 10 Gigabit Ethernet in a single rack. These configurations are ideal for the core layer or the aggregation layer of a data center network, where density, performance, and continuous system operation are critical. This module can also be used as a 10 Gigabit Ethernet uplink when employing the Cisco Nexus 7000 Series 48-port 10/100/1000 Module for the access layer. The physical interfaces on the Cisco Nexus 7000 32-Port 10Gb Ethernet Module support SFP+ pluggable optics to meet the needs of a variety of distances and types of fiber cable.
All Cisco Nexus 7000 Series I/O modules contain an integrated forwarding engine. This architecture scales the forwarding performance of the chassis linearly by the number of I/O modules employed. The forwarding engine on the Cisco Nexus 7000 32-Port 10Gb Ethernet Module is part of the Cisco Nexus 7000 M Series of forwarding engines. Because this is the first generation of the M Series, the engine is referred to as the M1 forwarding engine.
The M1 forwarding engine delivers 60 million packets per second (Mpps) of Layer 2 and 3 IPv4 unicast forwarding or 30 Mpps of IPv6 unicast forwarding across all ports on a single I/O module. An 18-slot chassis with 16 M1 I/O modules delivers up to 960 Mpps of IPv4 Unicast forwarding. Multicast forwarding is built into the I/O module performing egress replication. The M1 forwarding engine also delivers access control list (ACL) filtering, marking, rate limiting, and NetFlow with no effect on performance. Powerful ACL processing supports up to 64,000 entries per module, where entries can address Layer 2, 3, and 4 fields in addition to new Cisco® metadata fields that employ security group tags (SGTs).
The Cisco Nexus 7000 32-Port 10Gb Ethernet Module offers exceptional security with integrated hardware support for Cisco TrustSec. This includes line rate data confidentiality, data integrity and ACL processing for Security Group Tags. Data confidentiality and integrity conform to the IEEE MAC security standard (IEEE 802.1AE [MACsec]). All 32 ports on the module support the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) cipher using a 128-bit key. New security ACLs are enhanced through hardware support for Cisco metadata headers capable of carrying SGTs. Security group ACLs (SGACLs) use SGT information to provide hardware-based enforcement of security policies1. This removes dependencies on IP addresses thus improving scalability and simplifying manageability.
The fabric interface on the Cisco Nexus 7000 32-Port 10Gb Ethernet Module delivers 80 Gbps of bandwidth in each direction. Traffic destined for a different module is distributed across up to five fabric modules. At least two fabric modules are required in the chassis to realize the full 80 Gbps of bandwidth. Although this configuration offers fault tolerance, if one of the fabric modules fails, loss of bandwidth will occur. With three fabric modules installed in the chassis, one of the fabric modules can fail with no loss of bandwidth.
The 32-port 10 Gigabit Ethernet I/O module buffers data in virtual output queues before the data flows to the fabric. The data flow is controlled by a central arbiter on the supervisor module using a credit-based buffer design. This architecture offers a lossless fabric that delivers quality of service (QoS) and fairness across all ports, even during congestion.
The Cisco Nexus 7000 32-Port Ethernet Module can deliver 8 ports at line rate, or allow up to 32 ports to share 80 Gbps of bandwidth. The 32 ports are organized into eight groups of 4 ports. In dedicated mode, the first port in each group is active, delivering line rate performance while the other 3 ports are disabled. In shared mode, all 4 ports in the group are active. The software allows each group to be individually configured for dedicated mode or shared mode. Up to 64 and 128 ports of line rate 10 Gigabit Ethernet are supported on the Cisco Nexus 7010 and 7018 Switches respectively. Table 1 summarizes the features and benefits of the Cisco Nexus 7000 32-Port 10Gb Ethernet Module.
Table 1. Features and Benefits
Feature
Benefit
High-density 10 Gigabit Ethernet module
Offers up to 256 10 Gigabit Ethernet ports in the 10-slot chassis and 512 ports in the 18-slot chassis for efficient and scalable network designs
Performance mode allows up to 8 line-rate ports per module
Delivers up to 64 line-rate 10 Gigabit Ethernet ports in the Cisco Nexus 7010 and 128 line-rate 10 Gigabit Ethernet ports in the Cisco Nexus 7018 for the highest levels of 10 Gigabit Ethernet
Shared mode allows up to 32 ports per module
Supports flexible provisioning of performance and shared modes in groups of 4 ports
Virtual output queuing with centralized arbitration
Enables fairness when one or more destinations is congested and future support for lossless unified I/O
Load sharing across all fabric modules
Through its high-availability design, shares bandwidth across all fabric modules simultaneously for optimal performance
Distributed forwarding
Through its fully distributed data plane, offers high-performance parallel forwarding
Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS)
M1-based feature rich line cards support MPLS in the hardware and these MPLS functionalities will be enabled in future with software upgrades
Integrated hardware support for Cisco TrustSec
Simplifies and scales access control by using SGTs and SGACLs and delivers data confidentiality and data integrity on all 32-Ports using the IEEE 802.1AE standard
Online insertion and removal (OIR)
Supports hot insertion and removal for continuous system operation
Identification (ID) LED
Through the beacon feature, allows administrators to clearly identify the module for a service condition; ports on the I/O module can send beacons as well
Note: Not all Cisco Nexus 7000 Series 32-Port 10Gb Ethernet Module features are enabled in the first software release. Refer to the release notes for up-to-date software version information to see what features are supported.
Product Specifications
Table 2 lists the product specifications for the Cisco Nexus 7000 32-Port 10Gb Ethernet Module, and Table 3 lists specifications for pluggable optics.
Table 2. Product Specifications
Item
Specifications
System
Product compatibility
Supported in all Cisco Nexus 7000 Series chassis
Software compatibility
Cisco NX-OS Software Release 4.0 or later (minimum requirement)
Memory
1 GB DRAM
Front-panel LEDs
• Status: Green (operational), red (faulty), or orange (module booting)
• Link: Green (port enabled and connected), orange (port disabled), blinking orange (faulty port), off (port enabled and not connected), or blinking green and orange in conjunction with ID LED blue (port flagged for identification; beacon)
• ID: Blue (operator has flagged this card for identification; beacon) or off (module not flagged)
Programming interfaces
• Extensible Markup Language (XML)
• Scriptable command-line interface (CLI)
• Cisco Data Center Network Manager (DCNM) GUI
Network management
• Cisco DCNM 4.0
Physical Interfaces
Connectivity
32-Ports of 10 Gigabit Ethernet (SFP+ pluggable optic module)
Maximum port density
256 ports of 10 Gigabit Ethernet for 10-slot chassis
512 ports of 10 Gigabit Ethernet for 18-slot chassis
MAC security
All 32 ports have built-in IEEE 802.1AE MAC security and an AES cipher with a 128-bit key (requires a Cisco Advanced LAN license to enable)
Cisco Nexus 7000 Series 32-Port 10Gb Ethernet Module with 80Gbps Fabric (requires SFP+ optic module)
N7K-M132XP-12
Service and Support
Cisco offers a wide range of services to help accelerate your success deploying and optimizing Cisco Nexus 7000 Series Switches in your data center. Our innovative services are delivered through a unique combination of people, processes, tools, and partners, and are focused on helping you increase operational efficiency and improve your data center network. Cisco Advanced Services use an architecture-led approach to help you align your data center infrastructure to your business goals and provide long-term value. Cisco SMARTnet® Service helps you resolve mission critical problems with direct access anytime to Cisco network experts and award-winning resources. With this service, you can take advantage of the Smart Call Home service capability that offers proactive diagnostics, and real-time alerts on your Cisco Nexus 7000 switches. Spanning the entire network lifecycle, Cisco Services help maximize investment protection, optimize network operations, provide migration support, and strengthen your IT expertise. For more information about Cisco Data Center Services, visit: http://www.cisco.com/go/dcservices.
For More Information
For more information about the Cisco Nexus 7000 Series, visit the product homepage at: http://www.cisco.com/go/nexus or contact your local account representative.
1Requires Cisco Secure Access Control Server (ACS).