Cisco Network Convergence System 540 Large Density Router Data Sheet

Data Sheet

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Updated:February 11, 2025

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The documentation set for this product strives to use bias-free language. For the purposes of this documentation set, bias-free is defined as language that does not imply discrimination based on age, disability, gender, racial identity, ethnic identity, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, and intersectionality. Exceptions may be present in the documentation due to language that is hardcoded in the user interfaces of the product software, language used based on RFP documentation, or language that is used by a referenced third-party product. Learn more about how Cisco is using Inclusive Language.

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Overview

The Cisco Network Convergence System (NCS) 540 large density routers are a 1RU platforms that support QSFP28 and QSFP56-DD ports and offer customers a 400G coherent optics transport solution. The NCS 540 large density platform enhances the existing NCS 540 portfolio by offering high throughput and flexible port interfaces ranging from 1G up to 400G.

Service providers are challenged by rapid traffic growth from mobile and fixed broadband users, a lack of an easily scalable network infrastructure, and siloed operational support and operational complexity. These challenges can be overcome by building a converged IP network. A single network infrastructure that is simple to operate, one that is capable of quickly scaling with growing demand and utilizes automation to increase flexibility and control will allow service providers to remove complexity and launch new revenue generating services. Aligning with Cisco® Routed Optical Networking Architecture to utilize coherent pluggable optics, the Cisco NCS 540 large density routers can be used as part of a converged IP transport solution. The NCS 540 large density routers are the leading platform in the industry supporting SFP56 interfaces, which is the same form factor as SFP/SFP+/SFP28 and leverages the PAM4 technology used for 400GE.

Cisco NCS 540 large density routers are temperature-hardened, small form factor, power-efficient devices suitable for both outdoor and indoor deployments. The NCS 540 large density platform offers 1Tbps throughput and best-in-class security both from a hardware and software standpoint. Powered by the industry-leading Cisco IOS® XR software, the platform offers not only operational efficiency and service agility, but also advanced features such as segment routing, EVPN, programmability, application awareness, network visibility, and can integrate automation tools.

Key product highlights

      1RU small form factor with a 299-mm depth

      Front-to-back airflow

      Environmentally hardened, suitable for deployments in indoor or outdoor sealed cabinets

      Versatile Ethernet interface options: 1/10/25/40/50/100/200/400G

      Low latency forwarding, Class C compliant

      400G/100G ZR/ZR+ optics support

      Precise frequency and phase/time synchronization using the latest industry standards

      Integrated GNSS receiver

      Rich quality-of-service capabilities for different SLAs

      Security-Trust Anchor module infrastructure, secure boot, image signing, run-time defense

      MEF 3.0 Compliant

      Excellent manageability

      Flexible consumption model

N540-24Q8L2DD-SYS: Cisco NCS 540 Large Density Router Family

Figure 1.            

N540-24Q8L2DD-SYS: Cisco NCS 540 Large Density Router Family

N540-24Q2C2DD-SYS: Cisco NCS 540 Large Density Router Family

Figure 2.            

N540-24Q2C2DD-SYS: Cisco NCS 540 Large Density Router Family

Model details

Chassis PID

N540-24Q8L2DD-SYS

N540-24Q2C2DD-SYS

CPU Memory Storage

4-core 1.5Ghz x86 CPU

16GB DRAM

64GB storage

4-core 1.5Ghz x86 CPU

16GB DRAM

64GB storage

Interfaces

24x 25GE/10GE/1GE

8x 50GE/25GE/10GE/1GE

2x 400GE/3x100GE/200GE*/2x100GE/100GE/40GE

24x 25GE/10GE/1GE

2x 100GE/40GE

2x 400GE/3x100GE/200GE*/2x100GE/100GE/40GE

Performance

Up to 600 Mpps

Up to 600 Mpps

Power supplies Fans Airflow

2 hot-swappable AC/DC power supplies provide 1+1 redundancy. AC & DC PSU combination is supported.

6 fixed fans (5+1)

Front to back

2 hot-swappable AC/DC power supplies provide 1+1 redundancy. AC & DC PSU combination is supported.

6 fixed fans (5+1)

Front to back

Surge rating As per IEC 61000-4-5

AC: 1kV DM, 2kV CM

DC: 1kV DM, 1kV CM

AC: 1kV DM, 2kV CM

DC: 1kV DM, 1kV CM

Timing

SyncE, PTP

Internal GNSS receiver (GPS, Galileo, Glonass, BeiDou)

Interfaces: 1pps, 10MHz, ToD, antenna for GNSS

Class C (400G/50G)

SyncE, PTP

Internal GNSS receiver (GPS, Galileo, Glonass, BeiDou)

Interfaces: 1pps, 10MHz, ToD, antenna for GNSS

Class C (100G, 400G)

Physical specification

1RU

Depth: 299 mm

Dimension: 299 (D) x 439.42 (W) x 43.6 mm (H)

Weight: chassis, 5.8 kg; single PSU, 0.6 kg

1RU

Depth: 299 mm

Dimension: 299 (D) x 439.42 (W) x 43.6 mm (H)

Weight: chassis, 5.8 kg; single PSU, 0.6 kg

Software feature support on NCS 540 in Cisco IOS XR:

Description

Specification

Layer 2

Layer 2 forwarding and bridging

Bridge Domains (BD)

Ethernet Flow Point (EFP)

IEEE 802.1Q VLANs and Q-in-Q

Ethernet Link Aggregation Group (LAG)

Link Aggregation Control Protocol (LACP) 802.3ad

G.8032

Spanning Tree Protocol

Jumbo frames on all ports

Layer 3

IPv4 and IPv6 unicast routing

Layer 3 interfaces: physical interfaces and sub-interfaces

Virtual Routing and Forwarding (VRF)

Open Shortest Path First (OSPFv2, OSPFv3)

Intermediate System to Intermediate System (ISIS, ISISv6)

Multiprotocol Border Gateway Protocol (MP-BGP)

Equal-Cost Multipath (ECMP)

Bidirectional Forwarding Detection (BFD)

Virtual Router Redundancy Protocol (VRRP)

Integrated Routing Bridging (IRB) with Bridge Virtual Interface (BVI)

Generic Routing Encapsulation (GRE)

MPLS

Label switching (LER, LSR)

Label Distribution Protocol (LDP)

BGP Labeled Unicast (BGP-LU)

MPLS Traffic Engineering with RSVP-TE

Point-to-point L2VPN – Static, T-LDP, EVPN-VPWS

Multipoint L2VPN – VPLS, EVPN

L2/L3 EVPN with Anycast IRB

6PE, 6VPE

IP Loop-Free Alternate (LFA) Fast Reroute (FRR)

RSVP-TE Fast Reroute (FRR)

Segment Routing (SR)*

ISIS, OSPF, BGP extensions to segment routing

Segment Routing with MPLS data plane (SR-MPLS)

Segment Routing with IPv6 data plane (SRv6)

BGP Egress Peering Engineering (BGP-EPE)

Segment Routing Traffic Engineering (SRTE)

Segment Routing IGP Flexible Algorithms (Flex-Algo)

Segment Routing Path Computation Element (SR-PCE)

Topology Independent Loop-Free Alternate (TI-LFA)

Segment Routing On-Demand Next-hop (SR-ODN)

Segment Routing Performance Measurement (SR-PM)

Multicast

IPv4 and IPv6 multicast routing

PIM-SM, PIM-SSM

IGMPv3, MLDv2

mLDP profiles 6, 7, and 14

mVPN

P2MP-TE profiles 8 and 10

Quality of Service (QoS)

Class-based 3-level Hierarchical QoS

Virtual Output Queueing (VOQ)

Policing, Shaping

Multi-level priority queuing

Classification based on L2/L3/L4 fields

Remarking

Weighted Random Early Detection (WRED)

Deep packet buffer

Timing

SyncE with ESMC

Integrated GNSS receiver (GPS, Galileo, Glonass, BeiDou)

IEEE 1588-2008 PTP T-GM, T-BC, T-TSC, A-PTS, Virtual Port

G.8265.1, G.8275.1, G.8275.2, Multi-profile

G.8273.2 Class C

Security

Control-plane and management plane protection

Local Packet Transport Services (LPTS)

Authentication, Authorization, and Accounting (AAA)

Terminal Access Controller Access-Control System Plus (TACACS+)

Secure Shell (SSH)

Layer 3 ingress and egress ACLs for IPv4 and IPv6

Layer 2 ingress ACLs

Unicast Reverse Path Forwarding (Unicast RPF)

OAM

CDP, LLDP, ICMP, DHCP Relay

IP SLA

MPLS OAM

Ethernet OAM: CFM, Y.1731 DM/SLM

TWAMP and TWAMP-Light Responders

HW-based timestamping

Y.1564

Model/Event-Driven Telemetry

NetFlow

SPAN/ERSPAN/PW-SPAN

Manageability

CLI

SNMP MIB

NETCONF/gRPC (XML, JSON, GPB)

YANG models (native, open: OpenConfig, IETF)

RPM-based SW infrastructure

ZTP

Third-party application hosting

Supported transceiver modules

Please refer to Transceiver Module Group (TMG) Compatibility Matrix for the NCS 540 Series supported transceivers.

Additional features

The NCS 540 Series Router also supports the Cisco DDoS Edge Protection solution.

Add leading DDoS protection directly to the NCS 540 Series Router to detect and block DDoS attacks on-box cost-effectively, without any impact on application latency.

DDoS edge protection can be leveraged for mobility traffic (GTP) and other traffic (IPv4/v6, MPLS, etc.) depending on the use case for the NCS 540 Series Router deployment.

Learn more about Cisco DDoS Edge Protection.

Environment

      Environmental properties for NCS 540 fixed systems

Description

NCS 540 Large Density Router

Operating environment and altitude

–40°C to +65°C up to 300 m

–40°C to +60°C up to 1800 m

–40°C to +50°C up to 3900 m

Nonoperating (storage) temperature

–40 to 70°C (–40 to 158°F)

Operating humidity

5% to 85% (noncondensing)

Storage (relative) humidity

5% to 95% at 40°C per NEBS GR-63-Core

Altitude

0 to 3900 m

Acoustics

NEBS GR-63-CORE Issue 5 - ISO 3744

Power

Worldwide ranging AC (90–264V; 50/60 Hz)

Worldwide ranging DC (–40V to –72V)

Outside plant installation

It is required that the router be protected against airborne contaminants, dust, moisture, insects, pests, corrosive gases, polluted air, or other reactive elements present in the outside air. To achieve this level of protection, it is recommended that the unit be installed in an environmentally sealed enclosure with heat exchanger. Cabinets that conform to GR-487 are considered environmentally sealed. In addition, closures with a minimum NEMA rating of 4 or a minimum IP 66 rating can be considered environmentally sealed.

Regulatory standards compliance

      Regulatory standards compliance: safety and EMC

Specification

Description

Regulatory compliance

Products should comply with CE markings according to directives 2004/108/EC and 2006/95/EC

Network Equipment Building Standards (NEBS)

Designed to meet GR-63-CORE and GR-1089-CORE

Safety

ANSI/UL 60950-1

CAN/CSA C22.2 No. 60950-1

ANSI/UL 62368-1

CAN/CSA C22.2 No. 62368-1

EN/IEC 62368-1

EMC standards

47CFR Part 15 (CFR 47) Class A

AS/NZS CISPR22 Class A

CISPR22 Class A

EN55022 Class A

ICES003 Class A

VCCI Class A

EN61000-3-2

EN61000-3-3

KN22 Class A

CNS13438 Class A

EMC immunity

EN55024

CISPR24

EN300386

KN 61000-4 series

ETSI

ETS/EN 300 119 Part 4

ETS/EN 300 019 - Storage: Class 1.2, Transportation: Class 2.3, In-Use/Operational: Class 3.2

ETS/EN 300 753

RoHS

The product is RoHS-6 compliant with exceptions for leaded-ball grid-array (BGA) balls and lead press-fit connectors.

Ordering information

Router PID

N540-24Q8L2DD-SYS

N540-24Q2C2DD-SYS

Description

NCS540-2x400G QSFP-DD+8x50G+24x25G

NCS540-2x400G QSFP-DD+2x100G+24x25G

Power supplies

Power supply:

N540-PWR400-A

N540-PWR400-D

Power supply:

N540-PWR400-A

N540-PWR400-D

Accessories

Rackmounts:

N540DD-RKM-19

N540-RKM-23-FHC

N540-RKM-ETSI-FHC

Cable brackets:

N540-CBL-BRKT-FHC

Rackmounts:

N540DD-RKM-19

N540-RKM-23-FHC

N540-RKM-ETSI-FHC

Cable brackets:

N540-CBL-BRKT-FHC

Software

XR-7.4-K9-AC-TRK

TRK-7.4-54l-K9

XR-25.1-K9-AC-TRK

TRK-25.1-54l-K9

Ordering information for software licenses available on NCS 540

Part number

Description

ESS-AC-10G-RTU-1

Access Essentials SW Right-to-Use v1.0 per 10G

ADV-AC-10G-RTU-1

Access Advantage w/o Essentials SW RTU v1.0 10G

ADN-AC-10G-RTU-1

Access Advantage w/ Essentials SW RTU v1.0 10G

ESS-ADN-AC-10G-RT

Access Essentials to Advantage Upgrade RTU per 10G

ESS-AC-10G-SIA-3

Access Essentials SIA 10G 3-5 year term

ESS-AC-10G-SIA-5

Access Essentials SIA 10G 5-10 year term

ADV-AC-10G-SIA-3

Access Advantage w/o Essentials SIA 10G 3-5 year term

ADV-AC-10G-SIA-5

Access Advantage w/o Essentials SIA 10G 5-10 year term

ADN-AC-10G-SIA-3

Access Advantage w/ Essentials SIA 10G 3-5 year term

ADN-AC-10G-SIA-5

Access Advantage w/ Essentials SIA 10G 5-10 year term

ESS-ADN-AC-10G-S3

Access Essentials to Advantage Upgrade SIA 10G 3-5 yrs

ESS-ADN-AC-10G-S5

Access Essentials to Advantage Upgrade SIA 10G 5 – 10 yrs

N540-24Z8Q2C-FC-SW

NCS 540 Series additional Software Licenses (RTU, SIA)

Ordering information for power cables supported on NCS 540

Part number

Description

CAB-AC-SA

Power Cord - South Africa, 16/10A, 250V, 1830 mm, –40C to +85C

CAB-AC-ARG

Power Cord - Argentina, 10A, 250V, 2500 mm, –40C to +85C

CAB-AC-ISR

Power Cord - Israel, 16/10A, 250V, 2500 mm, –40C to +85C

CAB-AC-TAI

Power Cord - Taiwan, 15/10A, 125V, 2500 mm, –40C to +85C

CAB-AC-CHI

Power Cord - China, 10A, 250V, 2500 mm, –40C to +85C

CAB-AC-KOR

Power Cord - Korea, 16/10A, 125V, 2500 mm, –40C to +85C

CAB-AC-EUR

Power Cord - Europe, 16/10A, 250V, 2500 mm, –40C to +85C

CAB-AC-ITL

Power Cord - Italy, 10A, 250V, 2500 mm, –40C to +85C

CAB-AC-UK

Power Cord - UK, 13/10A, 250V, 2500 mm, –40C to +85C

CAB-AC-AUS

Power Cord - Australia, 10A, 250V, 2500 mm, –40C to +85C

CAB-AC-US

Power Cord - US, 15A, 125V, 2500 mm, –40C to +85C

CAB-AC-BRA

Power Cord - Brazil, 10A, 250V, 2500 mm, –40C to +85C

CAB-AC-IND

Power Cord - India, 16/10A, 250V, 2500 mm, –40C to +85C

CAB-AC-SUI

Power Cord - Swiss, 10A, 250V, 2500 mm, –40C to +85C

CAB-AC-SA

Power Cord - South Africa, 16/10A, 250V, 1830 mm, -40C to +85C

CAB-AC-ARG

Power Cord - Argentina, 10A, 250V, 2500 mm, -40C to +85C

CAB-AC-ISR

Power Cord - Israel, 16/10A, 250V, 2500 mm, -40C to +85C

Service and support

Cisco offers a wide range of services to help accelerate your success in deploying and optimizing the Cisco NCS 540. These innovative Cisco Services offerings are delivered through a unique combination of people, processes, tools, and partners, and they are focused on helping you increase operating efficiency and improve your network operation. Cisco Advanced Services uses an architecture-led approach to help you align your data center infrastructure with your business goals and achieve long-term value. Cisco Services helps you resolve mission-critical problems with direct access at any time to Cisco network experts and award-winning resources. With this service, you can take advantage of the Cisco Smart Call Home service, which offers proactive diagnostics and real-time alerts on your Cisco NCS 540. Spanning the entire network lifecycle, Cisco Services offerings help increase investment protection, optimize network operations, support migration operations, and strengthen your IT expertise.

Warranty

The Cisco NCS 540 has a one-year limited hardware warranty. The warranty includes hardware replacement with a 10-day turnaround from receipt of a Return Materials Authorization (RMA).

Product Sustainability

Information about Cisco’s Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) initiatives and performance is provided in Cisco’s CSR and sustainability reporting.

Table 1.        Cisco Environmental Sustainability Information

Sustainability Topic

Reference

General

Information on product-material-content laws and regulations

Materials

Information on electronic waste laws and regulations, including our products, batteries and packaging

WEEE Compliance

Information on product takeback and reuse program

Cisco Takeback and Reuse Program

Sustainability Inquiries

Contact: csr_inquiries@cisco.com

Material

Product packaging weight and materials

Contact: environment@cisco.com

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Document history

New or revised topic

Described In

Date

Updated Worldwide Ranging AC Power

Environment - Environmental properties for NCS 540 fixed systems

February 7,2025

Updated CPU Memory Storage

Model details

February 7,2025

 

 

 

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