Verified Scalability Limits

This document describes the Cisco NX-OS configuration limits for the Cisco Nexus 9508 switch with an X9636C-R or X9636Q-R line card or a C9508-FM-R fabric module.

Introduction

The values provided in this guide should not be interpreted as theoretical system limits for Cisco Nexus 9000 Series hardware or Cisco NX-OS software. These limits refer to values that have been validated by Cisco. They can increase over time as more testing and validation is done.

Verified Scalability Limits

The tables in this section list the verified scalability limits for Cisco NX-OS Release 7.0(3)F2(2). These limits are validated with a unidimensional configuration. The values provided in these tables focus on the scalability of one particular feature at a time.

Each number is the absolute maximum currently supported by this Cisco NX-OS release for the corresponding feature. If the hardware is capable of a higher scale, future software releases might increase this verified maximum limit. Results might differ from the values listed here when trying to achieve maximum scalability with multiple features enabled.

Table 1. Interfaces Verified Scalability Limits (Unidimensional)

Feature

Verified Limit

DHCP servers/relay IPs per switch

5 (IPv4) + 5 (IPv6)

Port channel member links

32

SVIs

410 (with HSRP), 2000 without HSRP

vPCs

256
Table 2. Label Switching Verified Scalability Limits (Unidimensional)

Feature

Verified Limit

Forwarding Equivalence Classes (FECs)

1000

Equal-cost multipaths (ECMPs)

8

FECs ECMPs

8000
Table 3. Layer 2 Switching Verified Scalability Limits (Unidimensional)

Feature

Verified Limit

MAC addresses

92,000

MST instances

64

MST virtual ports

218,185

RPVST virtual ports

13,750

VLANs

4000

VLANs in RPVST mode

250
Table 4. Layer 3 Multicast Verified Scalability Limits (Unidimensional)

Feature

Verified Limit

IPv4 multicast routes

32,000 (Layer 3)

Outgoing interfaces (OIFs)

16 OIFs for 32K mroutes or 287 OIFs for 1000 mroutes

PIM neighbors

500
Table 5. Security Verified Scalability Limits (Unidimensional)

Feature

Verified Limit

IPv4 ingress access control entries (ACEs)

RACL-2048, PACL-1024 (without TCAM Carving) IPv4 52640 ACEs per system

IPv4 egress access control entries (ACEs)

N/A

IPv6 ingress access control entries (ACEs)

RACL-1024, PACL-1024 (without TCAM Carving) IPv4 25200 ACEs per system

IPv6 egress access control entries (ACEs)

N/A
Table 6. System Management Verified Scalability Limits (Unidimensional)

Feature

Verified Limit

SPAN and ERSPAN

Configurable SPAN or ERSPAN sessions

32

Active SPAN or ERSPAN sessions

32

Active localized SPAN or ERSPAN session per line card

32 sessions across ports on single line card

Active localized SPAN or ERSPAN session (Rx and Tx, Rx, or Tx)

32 sessions, 128 sources and 1 destination

Destination interfaces per SPAN session

1

Source VLANs per SPAN or ERSPAN

32
Table 7. Layer 3 Unicast Routing Verified Scalability Limits (Unidimensional)

Feature

Verified Limit

BFD sessions (echo mode)

288

BGP neighbors

256

HSRP groups

498

IPv4 ARP

80,000

IPv4 host routes

750,000

IPv6 host routes

62,000

IPv6 ND

32,000

IPv4 unicast routs (LPM)

192,000

IPv6 unicast routs (LPM)

62,000

OSPFv2 neighbors

1000

OSPFv3 neighbors

1000

OSPF/OSPFv3 LSA/LSDB size

100,000

OSPF/OSPFv3 areas

15

VRFs

1000

VRRP

VRRP groups per interface or I/O module

15

Table 8. Tunnels Verified Scalability Limits (Unidimensional)

Feature

Verified Limit

VxLAN BGP eVPN

Layer 3 VNIs / VRFs

100

VTEPs

256

IPv4 host routes

128,000

IPv6 host routes

32,000

IPinIP Tunneling

4000

Deployment Case Studies

This section provides sample topologies for some common deployments. For each topology, the scalability numbers are the limits with all of the listed features enabled at the same time.


Attention

These numbers are not the maximum verified values if each feature is viewed in isolation. For these numbers, see the "Verified Scalability Limits" section.

Verified Scalability Limits (Multidimensional)

The tables in this section list the verified scalability limits for Cisco NX-OS Release 7.0(3)F2(2). These limits are validated with a multidimensional configuration. The values provided in these tables focus on the scalability of one particular feature at a time.

Each number is the absolute maximum currently supported by this Cisco NX-OS release for the corresponding feature. If the hardware is capable of a higher scale, future software releases might increase this verified maximum limit. Results might differ from the values listed here when trying to achieve maximum scalability with multiple features enabled.

Table 9. MSDC iBGP/OSPF Profile Verified Scalability Limits (Multidimensional)

Feature

Verified Limit 1

Number of 100G ports

144

Number of 40G ports

144

ECMP

16-way (Upstream)

BGP neighbors

16

BGP IPv4 VLSM unicast routes

18,000

BGP IPv6 VLSM unicast routes

10,000

OSPFv2 neighbors

264

OSFPv3 neighbors

264

OSPF IPv4 /32 unicast routes

26,000

OSPF IPv4 VLSM unicast routes

1200

OSPF IPv6 /128 unicast routes

26,000

OSPF IPv6 VLSM unicast routes

1200

BFD sessions

264

VRF

250

PIM neighbors

264

IPv4 (*,G) multicast routes

1500

IPv4 (S,G) multicast routes

3000

RACL

1500

500

SPAN sessions

1 local SPAN sessions
1 A fully loaded chassis consisting of 4 X9636C-R line cards and 4 X9636Q-R line cards and 6 C9508-FM-R fabric modules and 2 System controllers and 2 Supervisor modules
Table 10. MSDC eBGP Profile Verified Scalability Limits (Multidimensional)

Feature

Verified Limit 2

Number of 100G ports

288

ECMP

16-way (Upstream)

BGP neighbors

268

BGP IPv4 /32 unicast routes

30,000

BGP IPv4 VLSM unicast routes

18,000

BGP IPv6 /128 unicast routes

30,000

BGP IPv6 VLSM unicast routes

10,000

BFD sessions

272

VRF

250

PIM neighbors

256

IPv4 (*,G) multicast routes

1000

IPv4 (S,G) multicast routes

2500

RACL

1500

500

SPAN sessions

1 local SPAN sessions
2 A fully loaded chassis consisting of 8 X9636C-R line cards and 6 C9508-FM-R fabric modules and 2 System controllers and 2 Supervisor modules
Table 11. L2/L3 Aggregation Verified Scalability Limits (Multidimensional)

Feature

Verified Limit 3

Number of 100G ports

36

ECMP

16-way (Upstream)

OSPFv2 neighbors

17

OSPFv3 neighbors

17

OSPF IPv4 /32 unicast routes

30,000

OSPF IPv4 VLSM unicast routes

1000

OSPF IPv6 /128 unicast routes

30,000

OSPF IPv6 VLSM unicast routes

1000

BFD sessions

17

VRF

250

VLAN

2000

SVI

2000

VRRP v4 Groups

2000 VRRS / 16 VRRPv3

VRRP v6 Groups

2000 VRRS / 16 VRRPv3

PIM neighbors

17

IPv4 (*,G) multicast routes

1500

IPv4 (S,G) multicast routes

20,000

RACL

1500

500

SPAN sessions

2 local SPAN sessions
3 A fully loaded chassis consisting of 1 X9636C-R line cards and 2 C9508-FM-R fabric modules and 2 System controllers and 2 Supervisor modules
Table 12. VxLAN Profile Verified Scalability Limits (Multidimensional)

Feature

Verified Limit 4

Number of ports

36

ECMP

8-way (Upstream)

BGP neighbors

258

BGP EVPN L2VPN host routes

64,000

BGP IPv4 VLSM unicast routes or OSPF

10,000

BGP IPv6 VLSM unicast routes or OSPF

6000

BFD sessions

31

PIM neighbors

288

IPv4 (*,G) multicast routes

2000

IPv4 (S,G) multicast routes

16,000

RACL

1500

500

SPAN sessions

2 local SPAN sessions
4 A fully loaded chassis consisting of 1 X9636C-R line cards and 2 C9508-FM-R fabric modules and 2 System controllers and 2 Supervisor modules
Table 13. vPC Verified Scalability Limits (Multidimensional)

Feature

Verified Limit

Physical interfaces enabled

268

IPv4 unicast routes (LPM)

60,060

IPv6 unicast routes (LPM)

15,676

IPv4 ARP

40,000

IPv6 ND

40,000

MAC addresses

90,000

VLANs

625

vPCs

255

OSPFv2 neighbors

20 Active + 512 Passive

OSPFv3 neighbors

20 Active + 512 Passive

BGP (IPv4) neighbors

16 Upstream ECMP and 1 EBGP, total of 17

BGP (IPv6) neighbors

16 Upstream ECMP and 1 EBGP, total of 17

SVIs

512

HSRP VLANs (IPv4/IPv6)

512 IPV4 and 512 IPv6

Virtual ports

450

Port channel member links

8,4,2,1 VPC member ports