Verified Scalability Limits

This document describes the Cisco NX-OS configuration limits for the Cisco Nexus 9508 switch with an X9636C-R, X9636C-RX, 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)F3(1). 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

Port channel member links

32

SVIs

498 (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

192,000

MST instances

64

MST virtual ports

236,000

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 (X9636C-R)

1,000,000 (X9636C-RX)

IPv6 host routes

62,000

IPv6 ND

32,000

IPv4 unicast routes (LPM)

192,000 (X9636C-R)

1,000,000 (X9636C-RX)

IPv6 unicast routes (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

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)F3(1). 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. eBGP/ISIS Profile Verified Scalability Limits (Multidimensional)

Feature

Verified Limit

Number of 100G ports

288

ECMP

16-way (Upstream)

BGP neighbors

960

BGP IPv4 /32 unicast routes

30,000

BGP IPv4 VLSM unicast routes

18,000

BGP IPv6 /128 unicast routes

16,000

BGP IPv6 VLSM unicast routes

1,000

ISIS v2 neighbors

255

ISIS v3 neighbors

255

ISIS L2 adjacency

16

ISIS IPv4 /32 unicast routes

20,000

ISIS IPv4 VLSM unicast routes

1,000

ISIS IPv6 /128 unicast routes

20,000

ISIS IPv6 VLSM unicast routes

1,000

Multicast IPv4 SSM

20,000

BFD sessions

272

PIM neighbors

256

ACL ACEs

1,500

500

Sub-interfaces

512 (Per interface) total 712

SPAN sessions

1 local SPAN session
Table 10. iBGP/OSPF/EIGRP Profile Verified Scalability Limits (Multidimensional)

Feature

Verified Limit

Number of 100G ports

180

Number of 40G ports

108

ECMP

16-way (Upstream)

BGP neighbors

16

BGP IPv4 VLSM unicast routes

18,000

BGP IPv6 VLSM uniast routes

10,000

OSPFv2 neighbors

276

OSPFv3 neighbors

276

OSPF IPv4 /32 unicast routes

30,000

OSPF IPv4 VLSM unicast routes

1,000

OSPFv3 IPv6 /128 unicast routes

30,000

OSPFv3 IPv6 VLSM unicast routes

1,000

EIGRP IPv4 neighbors

276

EIGRP IPv6 neighbors

276

EIGRP IPv4 /32 unicast routes

30,000

EIGRP IPv4 VLSM unicast routes

1,000

EIGRP IPv6 /128 unicast routes

30,000

EIGRP IPv6 VLSM unicast routes

1,000

BFD sessions

272

VRF

250

PIM neighbors

276

IPv4 (*,G) multicast routes

6,000

IPv4 (S,G) multicast routes

16,000

RACL ACEs

6,000 IPv4

6,000 IPv6

SPAN sessions

1 local SPAN session
Table 11. Layer 2/Layer 3 Boundary Verified Scalability Limits (Multidimensional)

Feature

Verified Limit

Number of 100G ports

72

Number of 40G ports

36

ECMP

8-way (Upstream)

vPC port channels

31

OSPFv2 neighbors

47

OSPFv3 neighbors

47

OSPF IPv4 /32 unicast routes

45,000

OSPF IPv4 VLSM unicast routes

1,000

OSPF IPv6 /128 unicast routes

25,000

OSPF IPv6 VLSM unicast routes

1,000

BFD sessions

49

Subinterfaces

511 per interface

VRF

250

VLAN

3,750

SVI

3,750

VRRP IPv4 groups

1,996 VRRS / 4 VRRPv3

VRRP IPv6 groups

1,996 VRRS / 4 VRRPv3

HSRP IPv4

1,743 Secondary groups / 7 Primary groups

HSRP IPv6

1,743 Secondary groups / 7 Primary groups

PIM neighbors

396

IPv4 (*,G) multicast routes

1,940

IPv4 (S,G) multicast routes

12,600

IGMP snooping database entries

6,400

sFlow enabled interfaces

65

UDLD enabled interfaces

70

SPAM sessions

1 local SPAN session *
Table 12. VXLAN Profile Verified Scalability Limits (Multidimensional)

Feature

Verified Limit

Number of ports

36

ECMP

8-way (Upstream)

BGP neighbors

200

BGP EVPN IPv4 Layer 2 VPN host routes

64,000

BGP IPv4 VLSM unicast routes or ospf

10,000

BGP IPv6 VLSM unicast routes or ospf

6,000

BGD sessions

20

PIM neighbors

288

IPv4 (*,G) multicast routes

1,000

IPv4 (S,G) multicast routes

16,000

RACL (IPv4/IPv6 ACEs)

1500

500

VRFs (Layer 3 VNI VRFs)

100

Layer 3 VNI

100

Remote VTEPs

1