Cisco Nexus 9000 Series Switches

Build the Next-Generation Automated Data Center

The Cisco Nexus 9000 Series delivers proven high performance and density, low latency, and exceptional power efficiency in a broad range of compact form factors. Operating in Cisco NX-OS Software mode or in Application Centric Infrastructure (ACI) mode, these switches are ideal for traditional or fully automated data center deployments.

Features and Capabilities

The Cisco Nexus 9000 Series Switches offer both modular (9500 switches) and fixed (9300 switches) 1/10/40/100 Gigabit Ethernet (GE) configurations designed to operate in one of two modes:

• Cisco NX-OS mode for traditional architectures and consistency across the Cisco Nexus portfolio
• ACI mode to take full advantage of the policy-driven services and infrastructure automation features of the Cisco Application Centric Infrastructure

Architectural Flexibility

• Delivers high performance and density
• Can be deployed in an energy-efficient traditional three-tier or leaf-spine architecture
• Provides a highly flexible and scalable Virtual Extensible LAN (VXLAN) multitenancy solution
• Provides a foundation for Cisco ACI, automating application deployment and delivering simplicity, agility, and flexibility

Programmability

• You can use our intelligent APIs to manage the switch through remote-procedure calls over HTTP or HTTPS
• Linux shell access and a container environment allow you to customize management and monitoring
• Python scripting is available for programmatic access to the command-line interface (CLI).

Scalability

• Up to 60 Tbps of nonblocking performance with less than 5-microsecond latency
• Up to 2304 10-Gbps, 576 40-Gbps, or 128 100-Gbps Layer 2 and layer 3 Ethernet ports
• Wire-speed gateway, bridging, routing, and BGP-EVPN control plane for VXLAN

High Availability

• Software patching for continued operations
• Fully redundant and hot-swappable components
• A mix of third-party and Cisco ASICs for improved reliability and performance

Energy Efficiency

• Designed without a midplane in order to optimize airflow and reduce energy requirements
• Optimized to run with fewer ASICs, resulting in lower energy use
• Rated at 80 Plus Platinum in power supply efficiency

Investment Protection

• Allows for reuse of an existing 10 GE cabling plant for 40 GE with 40-Gb bidirectional transceiver
• Designed to support future ASIC generations
• Supports Cisco Nexus 2000 Series Fabric Extenders in both NX-OS and ACI modes
• Facilitates migration from NX-OS mode to ACI mode

Innovations

The new Cisco Nexus switches and connectivity options provide industry-leading multitenancy scalability and performance.

• BGP EVPN VXLAN: The Nexus 9000 delivers the industry's first Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) EVPN-based control plane for VXLAN. It supports highly scalable multitenancy, optimized resource use, and traffic routing for transparent workload mobility.
• Nexus 9500 100 GE module: The 8-port module delivers one of the industry’s highest densities per chassis for high-performance backbone and router connectivity deployments.
• Nexus 9300 100 GE module: The 4-port uplink connectivity to spine switches or routers supports both CompactFlash memory (CPF2) optics and Cisco CPAK 100 GE modules through converters.
• Nexus 93120TX Switch: High scalability in a 2RU compact form factor includes 96 10-Gbps connectivity and 40 Gigabit Ethernet uplinks for leaf-spine or three-tier deployments.
• DC power supplies (9500 and 9300): Further deployment flexibility has been added to the Nexus 9000 Series.

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