Cisco launched
the star Catalyst Switches-Cisco Catalyst 9000 Series Switches.
The new Cisco
Catalyst 9000 Family of switches consists of the best stackable access switch,
Catalyst 9300; the only modular chassis that supports In-Service Software
Upgrade (ISSU) in the campus space, Catalyst 9400; and the first 40G
aggregation switch in the enterprise space, Catalyst 9500.
The Catalyst
9000 Family solves some persistent challenges of enterprise networks by
utilizing platform innovations built around four key areas: security, Internet
of Things (IoT) convergence, mobility and cloud readiness.
Catalyst 9000
series is a “beautiful” switch. And there are some of the design choices that
make the
Catalyst 9000 the industry’s most aesthetic switches.
- Rounded frame without sharp corners – “yes” you can keep touching!
- Ergonomic pullout handles on the Catalyst 9400 enable better weight distribution – you will not break your back lifting these switches!
- Innovative slide-out ejectors with latch on the uplink modules of Catalyst 9500 – no more screwdrivers!
- Molded plastic covers ejectors, screws and handles on field replaceable units – no gloves required!
- Industry standard icons now advertise the capabilities of the switch – a truly universal switch!
The Catalyst
9000 series of switches redefines convenience and usability – it is time to
make the switch.
Design Change we can make in the
Cisco Catalyst 9000 switches
Catalyst 9400 Switch
The fan tray
design on the Catalyst 9400 switch
Historically,
front accessibility of all FRUable components has been an ante requirement for
enterprise modular platforms.
This is to
accommodate for space constrained closet environments where the switch had to
be placed flush against the wall. Front accessibility of the fan-tray came with
the caveat that all the cables need to be routed to the opposite side of
fan-tray to enable serviceability in case of a failure. Cable management gets
tricky when you have to route 48 twisted pair Ethernet cables to the same side
of the chassis and in many cases customers need special cable guides to make
this work.
The Catalyst
9400 chassis introduces user-configurable dual serviceable fan-tray design to
overcome this specific challenge. This innovative design allows users to
service the same fan-tray from the front and rear of the chassis. Cable
management compromises are no more.
On the topic of
fans, these generate all the acoustic noise emitted by the switches.
In environments
where the closets do not have acoustic isolation, the noise can be disruptive
and this is exactly what we attempted to minimize on the Catalyst 9000
switches. Historically, sensors measure ambient temperature and dynamically
modulate the speed of fans as a mechanism to reduce noise. The Catalyst 9000
switches takes this a step further by deploying sensors to measure the
barometric pressure that allows the fans to run at reduced RPMs to minimize
acoustic noise at lower altitudes. Furthermore, an intricate network of sensors
continuously monitors the Catalyst 9400 platform’s thermal health and increases
the speed of selective fans within the fan-tray when alerted, minimizing the
overall system generated noise. The same closed loop mechanism is also used to
get N+1 redundancy for fans within
the fan-tray where neighboring fans can compensate for a failed fan by increasing
their RPM.
Design choices
on the Catalyst 9000 switches also aid day-today operations. Asset management
enabled by RFID comes with added overhead of programming the RFID and tagging
it to the component that requires tracking. Not anymore! Catalyst 9000 switches
come with pre-programmed RFID tags with optional customizable fields making
inventory management more convenient than ever before. While RFID tags are
included at the switch level on the Catalyst 9300/9500; the Catalyst 9400
sports the RFID tag on all field replaceable units (FRU)-supervisors,
line-cards, fan-trays and power supplies.
As a network
operator, imagine sending a highly trained employee out ever time you had to
touch a switch - be it to connect debug cables or service a failed FRU. The
Catalyst 9000 series now includes blue beacons on all switches and FRUs. Anyone
with access to the switch can do trivial tasks like replacing a failed power
supply. The savings for remote sites maintenance can be significant – just pick
up the phone and you can literally ask anyone to service the switch.
Reference from https://communities.cisco.com/community/technology/enterprise_networks/enterprise_switching/blog/2017/06
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