Cisco Nexus 9500 Series is the modular one in the big star family-Nexus 9000 Series Switches. (The other one is the fixed-9300 switches). The Nexus 9000 is Cisco’s new SDN master plan.
The Nexus 9000 is a new series of data center switches as part of its SDN-flavored Application Centric Infrastructure.
The Nexus 9000 switches run NX-OS–the operating system that powers all of Cisco’s Nexus data center switches–but they also run in a slimmed-down ACI mode that allows the switches to participate in the SDN framework. We know that it is the top-of-rack and chassis switches with its Application Centric Infrastructure (ACI) product suite. In this article we will have a look at the main elements of a Cisco Nexus 9500 Series, and more comparisons can help you to understand the main features and differences between each model. So let’s check, from Chassis to three main modules…
Cisco Nexus 9500 Chassis
- Modular Chassis
- 1/10/40/100 GE Ethernet
- NX-OS and ACI
| Nexus 9504 Switch | Nexus 9508 Switch | Nexus 9516 Switch | |
| Form factor | 7 RU | 13 RU | 21 RU |
| Line card slots | 4 | 8 | 16 |
| Supervisor slots | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| Fabric module slots | 6 | 6 | 6 |
| ACI support | Yes * | Yes | Yes * |
| Bandwidth per slot (Tbps) | 3.84 | 3.84 | 3.84 |
| Bandwidth per system (Tbps) | 15 | 30 | 60 |
| Maximum number of 1/10G BASE-T ports | 192 | 384 | 768 |
| Maximum number of 10 GE ports | 576 | 1152 | 2304 |
| Maximum number of 40 GE ports | 144 | 288 | 576 |
| Maximum number of 100GE ports | 32 | 64 | 128 |
| Airflow | Front to back | Front to back | Front to back |
| Power supplies (3-kW AC) | Up to 4 | Up to 8 | Up to 10 |
| Fan trays | 3 | 3 | 3 |
Nexus 9500 Supervisors
- Support across all chassis
- 4 and 6 Core CPU
| Supervisor A | Supervisor B | |
| Processor | 4 core, 1.8 GHz CPU | 6 core, 2.2 GHz CPU |
| Memory (RAM) | 16 GB | 24 GB |
| Storage (SSD) | 64 GB | 256 GB |
Nexus 9500 100GE Modules
- NX-OS mode
- High Performance Interconnect
| X9408PC-CFP2 | |
| Usage | High Performance Backbone and Router Interconnect |
| Front panel ports | 8 x 100 GE |
| Standalone | Yes |
| ACI leaf | No |
| ACI spine | No |
| Chassis support | 4, 8, and 16 slot |
| Switching performance | Non-blocking |
| Buffer (MB) | 24 |
| Typical power per port (watts) | 54 |
| Orderable | Q1CY15 |
| SKU | N9K-X9408PC-CFP2 |
*Future
Nexus 9500 40GE Modules
- Leaf, Aggregation, ACI Spine
- NX-OS and ACI
- FEX Aggregation
| 9636PQ | 9536PQ | 9432PQ | 9736PQ | |
| Usage | 40 GE high-performance aggregation and FEX* | 40 GE aggregation, ACI leaf, and FEX* | 40 GE aggregation and FEX* | ACI spine |
| Front-panel ports | 36 x 40 GE | 36 x 40 GE | 32 x 40 GE | 36 x 40 GE |
| Standalone | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
| ACI leaf | No | Yes* | No | No |
| ACI spine | No | No | No | Yes |
| Chassis support | 4 and 8, slot | 4, 8, and 16 slot | 4, 8, and 16 slot | 4*, 8, and 16* |
| 40 GE ports | 36 | 36 | 32 | 36 |
| Switching performance | Nonblocking | 1.5:1 oversubscribed | Line rate more than 200 byte | Nonblocking |
| Buffer (MB) | 36 | 104 | 24 | 42 |
| Typical power (watts) | 260 | 360 | 240 | 197 |
| Minimum software version | 6.1(2)I1(1) | 6.1(2)I2(2a) | 6.1(2)I2(2a) | ACI-N9KDK9-11.0 |
| Orderable | Nov 2013 | Jun 2014 | Jun 2014 | Jul 2014 |
| SKUs | N9K-X9636PQ | N9K-X9536PQ | N9K-X9432PQ | N9K-X9736PQ |
*Future
Nexus 9500 10GE Modules
- 10GE Fiber and copper
- NX-OS and ACI
- 40GE Uplinks
| 9564PX | 9464PX | 9564TX | 9464TX | |
| Usage | 10 aggregation, ACI leaf*, and FEX* | 10 aggregation and FEX* | End of row and ACI leaf* | End of row |
| Front-panel ports | 48 x 10 GE + 4 x 40 GE | 48 x 10 GE + 4 x 40 GE | 48 x 10 GE + 4 x 40 GE | 48 x 10 GE + 4 x 40 GE |
| Standalone | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| ACI leaf | Yes* | No | Yes* | No |
| ACI spine | No | No | No | No |
| Chassis support | 4, 8, and 16 slot | 4, 8, and 16 slot | 4, 8, and 16 slot | 4, 8, and 16 slot |
| 100 M/1 GE/10 GE copper ports | NA | NA | 48 | 48 |
| 10 GE fiber ports | 48 | 48 | NA | NA |
| 40 GE ports | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 |
| Switching performance | Nonblocking | Line rate greater than 200 byte | Nonblocking | Line rate greater than 200 Byte |
| Buffer (MB) | 104 | 12 | 104 | 12 |
| Typical power | 300 | 160 | 450 | 320 |
| Minimum software version | 6.1(2)I2 | 6.1(2)I2(2a) | 6.1(2)I2 | 6.1(2)I2(2a) |
| Orderable | Mar 2014 | Jun 2014 | Mar 2014 | Jun 2014 |
| SKU | N9K-X9564PX | N9K-X9464PX | N9K-X9564TX | N9K-X9464TX |
*Future
Notes: Detailed optics support & Current software support you can refer to
https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/support/interfaces-modules/transceiver-modules/products-device-support-tables-list.html
https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/support/switches/nexus-9000-series-switches/products-release-notes-list.html
Reference from https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/products/switches/nexus-9000-series-switches/models-comparison.html
More Related Cisco Nexus 9000 Switch Topics
Cisco Nexus 9000 Series Switches Overview
Cisco 9500 Nexus Switch Overview-Model Comparison
Cisco Nexus 9000 Models Comparison: Nexus 9500 & Nexus 9300 Series
