Cisco Nexus 3000 Series Switches overview

The Cisco Nexus^®3000 Series Switches are a comprehensive portfolio of 1, 10, and 40 Gigabit Ethernet switches built from a Switch-on-a-Chip (SoC) architecture. Introduced in April 2011, this series of switches provides line-rate Layer 2 and 3 performance and is suitable for Top-of-the-Rack (ToR) architecture. This series of switches has established itself as a leader in High-Frequency Trading (HFT), High-Performance Computing (HPC), and big data environments by pairing high performance and low latency with innovations in performance visibility, automation, and time synchronization.

Cisco Nexus 3500 platform overview

The Cisco Nexus 3500 platform further extends the leadership of the Cisco Nexus 3000 Series by including the innovative Cisco^® Algorithm Boost (or Algo Boost) technology. Algo Boost technology, built into the switch Application-Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), allows the Cisco Nexus 3500 platform to achieve exceptional Layer 2 and 3 switching latencies of less than 200 nanoseconds (ns). In addition, Algo Boost offers several innovations in latency, forwarding, and performance visibility capabilities:

●   Three configurable modes for low latency

◦     Normal mode: This mode is excellent for environments needing low latency and high scalability. In this mode, latencies as low as 250 ns can be paired with the higher of the Layer 2 and 3 scaling values listed later in this document, in Table 6 and 7.

◦     Warp mode: For those customers with smaller environments who demand the lowest latencies possible, warp mode consolidates forwarding operations within the switch ASIC, lowering latency by up to an additional 20 percent compared to normal operation. In this mode, latencies as low as 200 ns can be paired with the smaller of the Layer 2 and 3 scaling values listed later in this document, in Table 8.

◦     Warp SPAN: In some environments, a stream of traffic entering one port simply needs to be copied to a list of outgoing ports as quickly as possible without processing or modification. The Cisco Nexus 3500 platform’s warp SPAN capability allows all traffic entering a single port on the switch to be replicated to any number of destination ports at latencies as low as 50 ns.

●   Hitless Network Address Translation (NAT): In many financial trading environments, trade orders must be sourced from the IP space of the provider, requiring NAT at the border between networks. The Cisco Nexus 3500 platform can perform NAT for IPv4 unicast routed packets without incurring any additional latency. The Cisco Nexus 3548-X and 3524-X Switches introduce multicast NAT to the platform’s capability. Customers hosting co-locations will find this feature useful in simplifying their network topologies and concealing details of their data centers.

●   Latency monitoring: When nanoseconds matter, switch latency monitoring is essential to your company’s profitability. The Cisco Nexus 3548-X and 3524-X enable users to finely control their environments to increase network performance. Customers can identify latency on a specific egress port through the Command-Line Interface (CLI) and export this information to a file. The programmability of the Cisco Nexus 3548-X allows users to use this information in real time.

●   Active buffer monitoring: Even on the lowest-latency switches, data packets can incur a millisecond or more of latency during periods of congestion. Today’s switches do not adequately inform administrators about the presence of this congestion, leaving them unaware and hindered in their ability to address the conditions causing suboptimal performance. Previous buffer utilization monitoring techniques were based entirely on software polling algorithms with polling intervals higher than 100 ms, which can miss important congestion events. In contrast, Algo Boost accelerates the collection of buffer utilization data in hardware, allowing sampling intervals of 10 ns or less.

●   Advanced traffic mirroring: The Algo Boost technology on the Cisco Nexus 3500 platform facilitates not only network troubleshooting by supporting Cisco Switched Port Analyzer (SPAN) and Encapsulated Remote SPAN (ERSPAN) technologies, but also in-service network monitoring with enhancements including the capability to:

◦     Apply user-configurable filters to reduce the amount of captured traffic to a specified flow or protocol

◦     Capture a sample of eligible packets, such as one out of every thousand

◦     Truncate packets after a user-defined threshold

◦     Insert a nanosecond-level timestamp in the ERSPAN header of captured packets (requires ERSPAN and Precision Time Protocol [PTP])

●   IEEE 1588 PTP with Pulse-Per-Second (PPS) output^*

◦     The capability to build and maintain a synchronized, accurate timing solution is the basis for successful provisioning and management of HFT networks and applications. Using IEEE 1588 PTP, Cisco Nexus 3000 Series Switches can deliver highly accurate precision time synchronization to applications within existing network infrastructure with no need to invest in and deploy a separate timing network.

◦     Network administrators deploying IEEE 1588 PTP often find it challenging to measure the accuracy to which each device is synchronized. To assist in this effort, the Cisco Nexus 3500 platform includes a 1‑PPS output port that can be used to measure timing drift from the grandmaster clock.

●   Network traffic monitoring with Cisco Nexus Data Broker

◦     Build simple, scalable and cost-effective network tap or SPAN aggregation for network traffic monitoring and analysis. With Cisco Nexus 3500 platform switches, you can:

◦     Truncate packets after a user-defined threshold at ingress

◦     Time-stamp packets using Precision Time Protocol (PTP) with nanosecond accuracy

Cisco Nexus 3548 and 3524 Switches

The Cisco Nexus 3548 and 3524 Switches (Figure 1) are based on identical hardware, differentiated only by their software licenses, which allow the Cisco Nexus 3524 to operate 24 ports, and enable the use of all 48 ports on the Cisco Nexus 3548. These fixed switches are compact one-rack-unit (1RU) form-factor 10 Gigabit Ethernet switches that provide line-rate Layer 2 and 3 switching with ultra-low latency. Both software licenses run the industry-leading CiscoNX-OS Software operating system, providing customers with comprehensive features and functions that are deployed globally. The Cisco Nexus 3548 and 3524 contain no physical layer (PHY) chips, allowing low latency and low power consumption. These switches support both forward and reversed airflow schemes and both AC and DC power inputs.

The Cisco Nexus 3548 and 3524 have the following hardware configuration:

●   48 fixed Enhanced Small Form-Factor Pluggable (SFP+) ports (1 or 10 Gbps); the Cisco Nexus 3524 enables only 24 ports

●   Dual redundant hot-swappable power supplies

●   Four individual redundant hot-swappable fans

●   One 1-PPS timing port, with the RF1.0/2.3 QuickConnect connector type^*

●   Two 10/100/1000 management ports^[1]

●   One RS-232 serial console port

●   One USB port

●   Locator LED

●   Locator LED button

Support for both port-side exhaust and port-side intake airflow schemes is available. Port-side exhaust airflow is useful when the port side of the switch sits on a hot aisle and the power supply side sits on a cold aisle. Port-side intake airflow is useful when the power supply side of the switch sits on a hot aisle and the port side sits on a cold aisle.

Colored handles on each fan or power supply clearly indicate the airflow direction, as seen in Figures 2 and 3.

Cisco Nexus 3548-X and 3524-X Switches

The Cisco Nexus 3548-X and 3524-X Switches (Figure 4) are the next generation of the Cisco Nexus 3500 platform. Like the previous generation, these switches are compact 1RU form-factor 10 Gigabit Ethernet switches and provide line-rate Layer 2 and 3 switching with ultra-low latency. In addition, they consume 25 percent less power. This new generation introduces powerful hardware-based multicast NAT and latency monitoring capabilities and a second USB port for easier manageability.

The Cisco Nexus 3548-X and 3524-X have the following hardware configuration:

●   48 fixed SFP+ ports (1 or 10 Gbps); the Cisco Nexus 3524-X enables only 24 ports

●   Dual redundant hot-swappable power supplies

●   Four individual redundant hot-swappable fans

●   One 1-PPS timing port, with the RF1.0/2.3 QuickConnect connector type^*

●   One 10/100/1000 management port

●   One RS-232 serial console port

●   Two USB ports

●   Locator LED

●   Locator LED button

Support for both port-side exhaust and port-side intake airflow schemes is available. Port-side exhaust airflow is useful when the port side of the switch sits on a hot aisle and the power supply side sits on a cold aisle. Port-side intake airflow is useful when the power supply side of the switch sits on a hot aisle and the port side sits on a cold aisle.

Colored handles on each fan or power supply clearly indicate the airflow direction, as seen in Figures 5 and 6.

Cisco Nexus 3548-XL and 3524-XL Switches

The Cisco Nexus 3548-XL and 3524-XL Switches (Figure 7) are, respectively, Cisco Nexus 3548-X and 3524-X Switches with a faster CPU, running at 2.5 GHz; system memory increased to 16 GB; and bootflash memory increased to 16 GB. These enhancements allow the switches to support the Cisco NX-OS Data Management Engine (DME) model.

The Cisco Nexus 3548-XL and 3524-XL have the following hardware configuration:

●   48 fixed SFP+ ports (1 or 10 Gbps); the Cisco Nexus 3524-XL enables only 24 ports

●   Dual redundant hot-swappable power supplies

●   Four individual redundant hot-swappable fans

●   One 1-PPS timing port, with the RF1.0 and 2.3 QuickConnect connector type^*

●   One 10/100/1000 management port

●   One RS-232 serial console port

●   Two USB ports

●   Locator LED

●   Locator LED button

Support for both port-side exhaust and port-side intake airflow schemes is available. Port-side exhaust airflow is useful when the port side of the switch sits on a hot aisle and the power supply side sits on a cold aisle. Port-side intake airflow is useful when the power supply side of the switch sits on a hot aisle and the port side sits on a cold aisle.

Colored handles on each fan or power supply clearly indicate the airflow direction, as shown in Figures 8 and 9.

Cisco NX-OS Software overview

Cisco NX-OS is a data center-class operating system built with modularity, resiliency, and serviceability at its foundation. Cisco NX-OS helps ensure continuous availability and sets the standard for mission-critical data center environments. The self-healing and highly modular design of Cisco NX-OS makes zero-impact operations a reality and provides exceptional operational flexibility.

Focused on the requirements of the data center, Cisco NX-OS provides a robust and comprehensive feature set that meets the networking requirements of present and future data centers. With an XML interface and a Command-Line Interface (CLI) like that of Cisco IOS^® Software, Cisco NX-OS provides state-of-the-art implementations of relevant networking standards as well as a variety of true data center-class Cisco innovations.

Cisco NX-OS Software benefits

Table 1 summarizes the benefits that Cisco NX-OS Software offers.

Table 1.       Benefits of Cisco NX-OS Software