Tuesday, April 3, 2018

Cisco Nexus 7000 and Nexus 7700 Supervisor Module

Cisco Nexus 7000 and Nexus 7700 Series switches have two slots that are available for supervisor modules.

Redundancy is achieved by having both supervisor slots populated.

Table 1-6 describes different options and specifications of the supervisor modules.

Key Topic

Table 1-6 Nexus 7000 and Nexus 7700 Supervisor Modules Comparison


Nexus 7700 Supervisor 2E
Nexus 7000 Supervisor 2E
Nexus 7000 Supervisor 2
Nexus 7000 Supervisor 1
CPU
Dual Quad-Core Xeon
Dual Quad-Core Xeon
Quad-Core Xeon
Dual-Core Xeon
Speed (GHz)
2.13
2.13
2.13
1.66
Memory (GB)
32
32
12
8
Flash memory
USB
USB
USB
Compact Flash
Fiber Channel over Ethernet (FCoE) on F2 module
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
CPU Share
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
Virtual Device Contexts (VDC)
8+1 admin VDC
8+1 admin VDC
4+1 admin VDC
4
Cisco Fabric Extender (FEX) Support
64 FEX/3072 ports
64 FEX/3072 ports
32 FEX/1536 ports
32 FEX/1536 ports
Connectivity Management Processor (CMP)
Not supported
Not supported
Not supported
Supported

Cisco Nexus 7000 Series Supervisor 1 Module

The Cisco Nexus 7000 supervisor 1 module shown in Figure 1-26 is the first-generation supervisor module for the Nexus 7000. As shown in Table 1-6, the operating system runs on a dedicated dual-core Xeon processor; dual supervisor engines run in active-standby mode with stateful switch over (SSO) and configuration synchronization between both supervisors. 

There are dual redundant Ethernet out-of-band channels (EOBC) to each I/O and fabric modules to provide resiliency for the communication between control and line card processors. An embedded packet analyzer reduces the need for a dedicated packet analyzer to provide faster resolution for control plane problems. The USB ports allow access to USB flash memory devices to software image loading and recovery.

Figure 1-26 Cisco Nexus 7000 Supervisor 1 Module


The Connectivity Management Processor (CMP) provides an independent remote system management and monitoring capability. It removes the need for separate terminal server devices for OOB management, and it offers complete visibility during the entire boot process. It has the capability to initiate a complete system restart and shutdown. Administrators must authenticate to get access to the system through CMP, and it also allows access to supervisor logs and full console control on the supervisor engine.

The Cisco Nexus 7000 supervisor 1 module incorporates highly advanced analysis and debugging capabilities. The Power-on Self Test (POST) and Cisco Generic Online Diagnostics (GOLD) provide proactive health monitoring both at startup and during system operation. This is useful in detecting hardware faults. If a fault is detected, corrective action can be taken to mitigate the fault and reduce the risk of a network outage.

Cisco Nexus 7000 Series Supervisor 2 Module

The Cisco Nexus 7000 supervisor 2 module shown in Figure 1-27 is the next-generation supervisor module. As shown in Table 1-6, it has a quad-core CPU and 12G of memory compared to the supervisor 1 module, which has single-core CPU and 8G of memory. The supervisor 2E module is the enhanced version of the supervisor 2 module with two quad-core CPUs and 32G of memory.

Figure 1-27 Cisco Nexus 7000 Supervisor 2 Module



The supervisor 2 module and supervisor 2E module have more powerful CPUs, larger memory, and next-generation ASICs that together will result in improved performance, such as enhanced user experience, faster boot and switchover times, and a higher control plane scale, such as higher VDC and FEX.

Both the supervisor 2 module and supervisor 2E module support FCoE; when you are choosing the proper line card, they support CPU shares, which will enable you to carve out CPU for higher priority VDCs. Sup2E supports 8+1 VDCs. Sup2 scale is the same as Sup1; it will support 4+1 VDCs.

NOTE: You cannot mix Sup1 and Sup2 in the same chassis. Note that this will be a disruptive migration requiring removal of supervisor 1. Sup2 and Sup2E can be mixed for migration only. This will be a nondisruptive migration.

Cisco Nexus 7000 and Nexus 7700 Fabric Modules

The Nexus 7000 and Nexus 7700 fabric modules provide interconnection between line cards and provide fabric channels to the supervisor modules. The Nexus 7000 has five fabric modules, and the Nexus 7700 has six; adding fabric modules increases the available bandwidth per I/O slot because all fabric modules are connected to all slots. Figure 1-28 shows the different fabric modules for the Nexus 7000 and Nexus 7700 products.

Figure 1-28 Cisco Nexus 7000 Fabric Module


In the case of Nexus 7000, when using Fabric Module 1, which is 46 Gbps, you can deliver a maximum of 230 Gbps per slot using five fabric modules. When using Fabric Module 2, which is 110 Gbps, you can deliver a maximum of 550 Gbps per slot. In Nexus 7700, by using Fabric Module 2, which is 220 Gbps per slot, you can deliver a maximum of 1.32 Tbps per slot.

All fabric modules support load sharing, and the architecture supports lossless fabric failover. In case of a failure or removal of one of the fabric modules, the remaining fabric modules will load balance the remaining bandwidth to all the remaining line cards.

Nexus 7000 supports virtual output queuing (VOQ) and credit-based arbitration to the crossbar to increase performance. VOQ and credit-based arbitration allow fair sharing of resources when a speed mismatch exists to avoid head-of-line (HOL) blocking.

The Nexus 7000 implements a three-stage crossbar switch. Fabric stage 1 and fabric stage 3 are implemented on the line card module, and stage 2 is implemented on the fabric module. Figure 1-29 shows how these stages are connected to each other. There are four connections from each fabric module to the line cards, and each one of these connections is 55 Gbps. When populating the chassis with six fabric modules, the total number of connections from the fabric cards to each line card is 24. It provides an aggregate bandwidth of 1.32 Tbps per slot.

Figure 1-29 Cisco Nexus 7700 Crossbar Fabric


There are two connections from each fabric module to the supervisor module. These connections are also 55 Gbps. When all the fabric modules are installed, there are 12 connections from the switch fabric to the supervisor module, providing an aggregate bandwidth of 275 Gbps.

NOTE: Cisco Nexus 7000 fabric 1 modules provide two 23Gbps traces to each fabric module, providing 230 Gbps of switching capacity per I/O slot for a fully loaded chassis. Each supervisor module has a single 23Gbps trace to each fabric module.


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