Supervisor Engine 6-E vs. Supervisor Engine 7-E vs. Supervisor Engine 8-E

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Cisco 4500 Series switch, a kind of so smart network switch, offers a network solution (also so powerful and flexible) that can be built with eight supervisor engine alternatives: Supervisor 8E, Supervisor 7E, Supervisor 7LE, Supervisor 6E, Supervisor 6LE, Supervisor V 10 GE, Supervisor V, and Supervisor IV. (Note: The Supervisor V 10 GE, Supervisor V, and Supervisor IV reached End of Life and have been announced End of Sale). Each provides a high-performance, centralized, shared-memory switch fabric, protecting your line-card investment by supporting the addition of optional higher layer engines. What benefits we can get while migrating to Cisco Catalyst 4500-E Switches with Supervisors 7-LE and 8-E? The following Cisco 4500-E Supervisor Engine COMPARISON of Performance, Scalability, Supported Chassis, and Layer 2 and 3 Services Scalability, you can check.

Performance: Supervisor 8E vs.7E vs.7LE vs. 6E vs. 6LE

Performance	Supervisor 8E	Supervisor 7E	Supervisor 7LE	Supervisor 6E	Supervisor 6LE
Switching Capacity	928 Gbps	848 Gbps	520 Gbps	320 Gbps	280 Gbps
IPv4 Throughput	250 Mpps	250 Mpps	225 Mpps	250 Mpps	225 Mpps
IPv6 Throughput	125 Mpps	125 Mpps	110 Mpps	125 Mpps	110 Mpps
Bandwidth/Slot	48 Gbps	48 Gbps	48 Gbps	24 Gbps	24 Gbps

Scalability: Supervisor 8E vs.7E vs.7LE vs. 6E vs. 6LE

Scalability	Supervisor 8E	Supervisor 7E	Supervisor 7LE	Supervisor 6E	Supervisor 6LE
Number of Routes	256K for IPv4 128K for IPv6	256K for IPv4 128K for IPv6	64K for IPv4 32K for IPv6	256K for IPv4 128K for IPv6	64K for IPv4 32K for IPv6
Number of Packet Buffers	128K	128K	128K	64K	64K
NetFlow Entries	128K	128K	128K	–	–
MAC Learning Rate per Second	20K	20K	14K	13K	8K
Dynamic Host Control Protocol (DHCP) Snoop Entries	12K	12K	12K	12K	3K
Number of 10/100/1000 Ports	Up to 384 access	Up to 384 access	Up to 240 access	Up to 384 access	Up to 240 access
10 GE and 1 GE Uplinks	8 10 GE / 1 GE	4 10 GE / 1 GE	2 10 GE / 4 1 GE	2 10 GE / 4 1 GE (TwinGig)	2 10 GE / 4 1 GE (TwinGig)
1 GE Non-Blocking Fiber Ports	192	192	120	138	120
10 GE Fiber Ports	96	96	60	30	30

Supported Chassis: Supervisor 8E vs.7E vs.7LE vs. 6E vs. 6LE

Supported Chassis		Supervisor 7E	Supervisor 7LE	Supervisor 6E	Supervisor 6LE
4503-E	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
4506-E	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
4507R+E	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
4507R-E	Roadmap	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
4510R+E	Yes	Yes	–	Yes	–
4510R-E	Roadmap	Yes	–	Yes	–

System: Supervisor 8E vs.7E vs.7LE vs. 6E vs. 6LE

System	Supervisor 8E	Supervisor 7E	Supervisor 7LE	Supervisor 6E	Supervisor 6LE
CPU	Quad Core 2.2 GHz	Dual Core 1.5 GHz	Dual Core 1.5 GHz	1.3 GHz	1 GHz
DRAM	4G	2G (upgradable to 4G)	2G (upgradable to 4G)	512 MB (upgradable to 1G)	512 MB
Bootflash	2 GB	1 GB	1 GB	128 MB	128 MB

Layer 2 and 3 Services Scalability: Supervisor 8E vs.7E vs.7LE vs. 6E vs. 6LE

Layer 2 and 3 Services Scalability	Supervisor 8E	Supervisor 7E	Supervisor 7LE	Supervisor 6E	Supervisor 6LE
Security and QoS Entries (combined)	128K	128K	64K	128K	64K
MAC Address	55K	55K	55K	55K	55K
Multicast Routes	32K	32K	32K	32K	32K
Input/Output Policers	16K	16K	16K	16K	16K
Spanning Tree Instances	10K	10K	10K	10K	10K
Active VLANs	4K	4K	4K	4K	4K
Switch Virtual Interface (SVI)	4K	4K	4K	4K	4K
VRF-Lite Instances	64	64	64	64	64
Embedded Wireshark	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No
LISP Readiness	Yes (hardware-ready)	No	No	No	No
SDN Readiness	Yes (hardware-ready)	Yes (hardware-ready)	Yes (hardware-ready)	No	No
Native Wireless Controller Support	Yes (hardware-ready)	No	No	No	No