Cisco Nexus 3548-X, 3524-X, 3548-XL, and 3524-XL Switches Data Sheet

 

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, 3524-X, 3548-XL and 3524-XL 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 Cisco NX-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.

Cisco Nexus 3548 and 3524 Switch

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 and 3524 with blue handles indicating port-side exhaust airflow

Cisco Nexus 3548 and 3524 with red handles indicating port-side intake airflow

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.

Cisco Nexus 3548-X and 3524-X Switches

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-X and 3524-X with blue handles indicating port-side exhaust airflow

Cisco Nexus 3548-X and 3524-X with red handles indicating port-side intake airflow

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.

Cisco Nexus 3548-XL and 3524-XL Switch

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 Nexus 3548-XL and 3524-XL with blue handles indicating port-side exhaust airflow

Cisco Nexus 3548-XL and 3524-XL with red handles indicating port-side intake airflow

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

Cisco NX-OS Software packages for the Cisco Nexus 3500 platform

The software packages for the Cisco Nexus 3500 offer flexibility and a comprehensive feature set and are consistent with Cisco Nexus access switches. The default system software has a comprehensive Layer 2 feature set with extensive security and management features. To enable certain Layer 3 IP unicast and multicast routing functions, NAT, warp mode, and warp SPAN, additional licenses must be installed, as described in Table 2. See Table 9 later in this document for a complete software feature list.

Table 2.        Software licensing for Cisco Nexus 3500

Cisco Data Center Network Manager

The Cisco Nexus 3500 platform is supported in Cisco DCNM. Cisco DCNM is designed for the Cisco Nexus hardware platforms, which are enabled for Cisco NX-OS. Cisco DCNM is a Cisco management solution that increases overall data center infrastructure uptime and reliability, improving business continuity. Focused on the management requirements of the data center network, Cisco DCNM provides a robust framework and comprehensive feature set that can meet the routing, switching, and storage administration needs of present and future data centers. Cisco DCNM automates the provisioning process, proactively monitors the LAN by detecting performance degradation, secures the network, and simplifies the diagnosis of dysfunctional network elements.

Cisco Nexus Data Broker

The Cisco Nexus 3500 platform switches with Cisco Nexus Data Broker can be used to build a scalable and cost-effective traffic monitoring infrastructure using network taps and SPAN. This approach replaces the traditional purpose-built matrix switches with one or more OpenFlow-enabled Cisco Nexus switches. You can interconnect these switches to build a scalable tap or SPAN aggregation infrastructure. You also can combine tap and SPAN sources to bring the copy of the production traffic to this tap or SPAN aggregation infrastructure. In addition, you can distribute these sources and traffic monitoring and analysis tools across multiple Cisco Nexus switches. For more details, visit https://www.cisco.com/go/nexusdatabroker.

Transceiver and cabling options

The Cisco Nexus 3500 platform supports a wide variety of 100 Megabit Ethernet and 1, 10, and 40 Gigabit Ethernet connectivity options. For in-rack or adjacent-rack cabling, the Cisco Nexus 3500 platform supports SFP+ direct-attach copper cabling, an innovative solution that integrates transceivers with Twinax cables into an energy-efficient and low-cost solution. For longer cable runs, multimode and single-mode optical SFP+ transceivers are supported.

Table 3 lists the supported 40 Gigabit Ethernet transceiver options. 40 Gigabit Ethernet is achieved on the Cisco Nexus 3500 platform by combining four sequential SFP+ interfaces into a logical 40 Gigabit Ethernet port. The resulting interface is fully compliant with the IEEE standard for 40 Gigabit Ethernet and thus is interoperable with any other 40 Gigabit Ethernet device, regardless of interface form factor, including Quad SFP (QSFP).

Table 3.        Cisco Nexus 3500 platform 40 Gigabit Ethernet transceiver support matrix

Table 4 lists the supported 10 Gigabit Ethernet transceiver options.

Table 4.        Cisco Nexus 3500 platform 10 Gigabit Ethernet transceiver support matrix

The Cisco Nexus 3500 platform is compatible with existing Gigabit Ethernet infrastructures. Both the uplink and downlink 10 Gigabit Ethernet interfaces can also operate in 100 Megabit Ethernet and 1 Gigabit Ethernet modes. Table 5 lists the Gigabit Ethernet SFP transceivers that are supported. 100 Megabit Ethernet connectivity can be achieved by using copper-based SFP transceivers (GLC-T).

Table 5.        Cisco Nexus 3500 Platform Gigabit Ethernet transceiver support matrix

For more information about the transceiver types, see https://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/hw/modules/ps5455/prod_module_series_home.html.

Product specifications

Table 6 lists the specifications for the Cisco Nexus 3548 and 3524 Switches, and Table 7 lists the specifications for the Cisco Nexus 3548-X, 3524-X, 3548-XL, and 3524-XL Switches. Table 8 lists hardware specifications common to all four switches, and Table 9 lists software features common to all four switches. Table 10 lists management standards and support.

Table 6.        Cisco Nexus 3548 and 3524 specifications

Table 7.        Cisco Nexus 3548-X, 3524-X, 3548-XL, and 3524-XL specifications

Table 8.        Hardware specifications common to all switches

Table 9.        Software features common to all switches

Table 10.     Management and standards support

Software requirements

Cisco Nexus 3000 Series Switches are supported by Cisco NX-OS Software Release 5.0 and later. Cisco NX-OS interoperates with any networking OS, including Cisco IOS Software, that conforms to the networking standards mentioned in this data sheet.

Regulatory standards compliance

Table 11 summarizes regulatory standards compliance for the Cisco Nexus 3000 Series.

Table 11.     Regulatory standards compliance: Safety and EMC

Ordering information

Table 12 provides ordering information for the Cisco Nexus 3548-X, 3524-X, 3548-XL, and 3524-XL.

Table 12.     Ordering information

Warranty

The Cisco Nexus 3000 Series Switches have a 1-year limited hardware warranty. The warranty includes hardware replacement with a 10-day turnaround from receipt of a Return Materials Authorization (RMA).

Product sustainability

Information about Cisco’s Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) initiatives and performance is provided in Cisco’s CSR and sustainability reporting.

Table 13.     Product sustainability

Service and Support

Cisco offers a wide range of services to help accelerate your success in deploying and optimizing the Cisco Nexus 3000 Series in your data center. The innovative Cisco Services offerings are delivered through a unique combination of people, processes, tools, and partners and are focused on helping you increase operation efficiency and improve your data center network. Cisco Advanced Services uses an architecture-led approach to help you align your data center infrastructure with your business goals and achieve long-term value. Cisco SMARTnet^® Service helps you resolve mission-critical problems with direct access at any time to Cisco network experts and award-winning resources. With this service, you can take advantage of the Cisco Smart Call Home service capability, which offers proactive diagnostics and real-time alerts on your Cisco Nexus 3000 Series Switches. Spanning the entire network lifecycle, Cisco Services helps increase investment protection, optimize network operations, support migration operations, and strengthen your IT expertise.

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For more information

For more information, please visit https://www.cisco.com/go/nexus3000. For information about Cisco Nexus Data Broker, please visit https://www.cisco.com/go/nexusdatabroker.

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