Preface

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This preface describes the audience, organization, and conventions of the Cisco Nexus 5000 Series NX-OS FabricPath Configuration Guide. It also provides information on how to obtain related documentation.

This chapter includes the following sections:

•Audience

•Organization

•Document Conventions

•Related Documentation

•Obtaining Documentation and Submitting a Service Request

Audience

This publication is for experienced users who configure and maintain Cisco NX-OS switches.

Organization

This reference is organized as follows:

Chapter and Title	Description
Chapter 1 "Overview"	Describes an overview of the FabricPath feature.
Chapter 2 "Configuring FabricPath Switching"	Describes FabricPath encapsulation, Layer 2 IS-IS, and MAC address conversational learning. Also describes how to change timers for FabricPath and resolve switch ID conflicts.
Chapter 3 "Configuring FabricPath Interfaces"	Describes FabricPath interfaces and VLANs as well as how the feature interacts with Classical Ethernet networks and Spanning Tree Protocol.
Chapter 4 "Configuring FabricPath Forwarding"	Describes how the FabricPath network uses multiple paths to forward unicast, unknown unicast, broadcast, and multicast frames.
Chapter 5 "Configuring Advanced FabricPath Features"	Describes how to configure more advanced parameters for Layer 2 IS-IS.
Chapter A "Configuration Limits for Cisco NX-OS FabricPath"	Describes the configuration limits for FabricPath.

Document Conventions

Command descriptions use these conventions:

Convention	Description
boldface font	Commands and keywords are in boldface.
italic font	Arguments for which you supply values are in italics.
{ }	Elements in braces are required choices.
[ ]	Elements in square brackets are optional.
[ x | y | z ]	Optional alternative keywords are grouped in brackets and separated by vertical bars.
string	A nonquoted set of characters. Do not use quotation marks around the string or the string will include the quotation marks.

Screen examples use these conventions:

screen font	Terminal sessions and information that the switch displays are in screen font.
boldface screen font	Information you must enter is in boldface screen font.
italic screen font	Arguments for which you supply values are in italic screen font.
< >	Nonprinting characters, such as passwords, are in angle brackets.
[ ]	Default responses to system prompts are in square brackets.
!, #	An exclamation point (!) or a pound sign (#) at the beginning of a line of code indicates a comment line.

This document uses the following conventions:

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Note Means reader take note. Notes contain helpful suggestions or references to material not covered in the manual.

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Caution Means reader be careful. In this situation, you might do something that could result in equipment damage or loss of data.

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Tip Means the following information will help you solve a problem.

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Related Documentation

The entire Cisco NX-OS 5000 documentation set is available at the following URL:

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/ps9670/tsd_products_support_series_home.html

Release Notes

The release notes are available at the following URL:

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/ps9670/prod_release_notes_list.html

Configuration Guides

These guides are available at the following URL:

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/ps9670/products_installation_and_configuration_guides_list.html

The documents in this category include:

•Cisco Fabric Manager Configuration Guide

•Cisco Nexus 5000 Series NX-OS Software Configuration Guide

•Configuration Limits for Cisco NX-OS

•FabricPath Configuration Guide

•Fibre Channel over Ethernet Configuration Guide

•Layer 2 Switching Configuration Guide

•Multicast Routing Configuration Guide

•Operations Guide

•SAN Switching Configuration Guide

•Quality of Service Configuration Guide

•Security Configuration Guide

•System Management Configuration Guide

•Unicast Routing Configuration Guide

Maintain and Operate Guides

The Cisco Nexus 5000 Series NX-OS Operations Guide is available at http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/ps9670/prod_maintenance_guides_list.html.

Installation and Upgrade Guides

These guides are available at the following URL:

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/ps9670/prod_installation_guides_list.html

The documents in this category include:

•Hardware Installation Guides

•Software Upgrade and Downgrade Guides

•Regulatory Compliance and Safety Information

Licensing Guide

The License and Copyright Information for Cisco NX-OS Software is available at http://www.cisco.com/en/US/docs/switches/datacenter/sw/4_0/nx-os/license_agreement/nx-ossw_lisns.html.

Command References

These guides are available at the following URL:

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/ps9670/prod_command_reference_list.html

Technical References

The Cisco Nexus 5000 and Cisco Nexus 2000 MIBs Reference is available at http://www.cisco.com/en/US/docs/switches/datacenter/nexus5000/sw/mib/reference/NX5000_MIBRef.html.

Error and System Messages

The Nexus 5000 Series NX-OS System Message Reference is available at http://www.cisco.com/en/US/docs/switches/datacenter/nexus5000/sw/system_messages/reference/sl_nxos_book.html.

Troubleshooting Guide

The Cisco Nexus 5000 Troubleshooting Guide is available at http://www.cisco.com/en/US/docs/switches/datacenter/nexus5000/sw/troubleshooting/guide/N5K_Troubleshooting_Guide.html.

Obtaining Documentation and Submitting a Service Request

For information on obtaining documentation, submitting a service request, and gathering additional information, see the monthly What's New in Cisco Product Documentation, which also lists all new and revised Cisco technical documentation, at:

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/docs/general/whatsnew/whatsnew.html

Subscribe to the What's New in Cisco Product Documentation as a Really Simple Syndication (RSS) feed and set content to be delivered directly to your desktop using a reader application. The RSS feeds are a free service and Cisco currently supports RSS version 2.0.