Cisco Nexus 2300 Platform Fabric Extenders Data Sheet

 

Product overview

Simplify your data center access architecture and operations with the Cisco Nexus^® 2300 platform fabric extenders, the successors to the industry’s widely adopted Cisco Nexus 2000 Series Fabric Extenders. The Cisco Nexus 2300 platform with its Cisco^® fabric extender architecture provides a highly scalable unified server-access platform across a range of connectivity options such as 100 Megabit Ethernet; 1, 10, and 40 Gigabit Ethernet; unified fabric; copper and fiber connectivity; and rack and blade server environments.

The platform offers excellent support for migration from traditional 1 Gigabit Ethernet to 10 and 40 Gigabit Ethernet and virtual machine - aware unified fabric technologies.

The Cisco Nexus 2300 platform maintains all the existing Cisco Nexus 2000 Series features, including a single point of management, high availability with virtual PortChannels (vPC), vPC+, Enhanced vPC, and LAN and SAN convergence using Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE). With the addition of true 40 Gigabit Ethernet support, deep buffers to handle bursts of traffic common in today’s data center, and unified port capability (on 2348UPQ with 5600 only starting 7.3 release), the Cisco Nexus 2300 platform is suitable for highly virtualized, automated, and cloud environments.

The Cisco Nexus 2300 fabric extenders provide a 1-Rack-Unit (1RU) energy-efficient platform with a choice of front-to-back (port-side exhaust) and back-to-front (port-side intake) airflow options that offer 100 Megabit Ethernet; 1, 10, and 40 Gigabit Ethernet; Fibre Channel (on 2348UPQ with 5600 only starting 7.3 release); and FCoE for a broad range of traditional data center and large-scale virtualized cloud deployments.

The Cisco Nexus 2300 platform provides:

●      Architecture flexibility with simplified operations: The fabric extender support unified ports (on 2348UPQ with 5600 only starting 7.3), allowing flexible deployment and LAN and SAN convergence in a heterogeneous architecture. A common, scalable, and adaptive architecture across data center racks and points of delivery (PoDs)^[1]supports a variety of server options, connectivity options, physical topologies, and evolving needs. A single point of management and policy enforcement using upstream Cisco Nexus switches eases the commissioning and decommissioning of server racks through zero-touch installation and automatic configuration of fabric extenders.

●      Highly scalable server access: Today’s data centers require massive scalability to manage the increasing number of servers and higher demand for bandwidth from each server. The Cisco Nexus 2300 platform meets this need with higher-density ports facing servers and the parent switch without any changes to the existing cable plant. The 100 Megabit, 1 and 10 Gigabit Ethernet server access, and the 40 Gigabit network access are scalable, with no reliance on Spanning Tree Protocol. The Cisco Nexus 2300 platform can also provide up to 2:1 oversubscription.

●      Enhanced buffer for applications: In today’s data center, application teams require the network to be flexible and capable of handling the rapid growth of applications. The Cisco Nexus 2300 platform provides deep shared buffers (32 MB) to absorb bursts of traffic from storage devices and a wide variety of applications, such as multicast feeds, voice traffic, video traffic, and healthcare applications. These deep buffers also provide flexibility to expand your network as your needs change. The shared buffers are also very useful in situations in which one or more servers are consuming most of the bandwidth in highly oversubscribed environments.

●      Increased business benefits: The Cisco Nexus 2300 platform helps data centers keep their space, power, and cooling requirements under control while reducing their carbon footprints. Through consolidation, the fabric extenders reduce cabling, rack space, and power and cooling demands. By inheriting features from the parent switch, they offer investment protection and the capability to add functions without the need for a major upgrade of server-attached infrastructure. This capability helps reduce Operating Expenses (OpEx) and Capital Expenditures (CapEx). The 40-Gbps Quad Enhanced Small Form-Factor Pluggable (QSFP+) fabric interfaces offer cost-effective, simplified connectivity to Cisco Nexus parent switches and support for QSFP 40-Gbps bidirectional (BiDi) short-reach transceivers.

The Cisco Nexus 2300 platform has a compact 1RU design that aligns with server designs. It offers front-to-back cooling that is compatible with data center hot-aisle and cold-aisle designs. All switch ports are at the rear of the unit close to server ports, and all user-serviceable components are accessible from the front panel. The platform also offers back-to-front cooling, with switch ports in the front of the chassis aligned with the cold aisle for optimized cabling in network racks. The Cisco Nexus 2300 platform is built for nonstop operation with redundant hot-swappable power supplies and a hot-swappable fan tray with redundant fans. The 1RU form factor takes up little space, making it easy to incorporate into rack designs. The fabric extenders are available in several models with a range of speed, connectivity, and port-density options (Figure 1).

Cisco Nexus 2300 Platform Fabric Extenders: Cisco Nexus 2332TQ (Top Left), Cisco Nexus 2348UPQ (Middle Left), Cisco Nexus 2348TQ (Bottom Left), and Cisco Nexus 2348TQ-E (Right)

The Cisco Nexus 2300 platform provides two types of ports: ports for end-host attachment (host interfaces) and uplink ports (fabric interfaces).

Fabric interfaces (yellow/white) provide connectivity to the upstream parent Cisco Nexus switch.

Models and configuration

Table 1 provides summarizes the Cisco Nexus 2300 platform.

Table 1.        Cisco Nexus 2300 Platform Fabric Extenders

Cisco Nexus 2348UPQ Fabric Extender

The Cisco Nexus 2348UPQ fabric extender (Figure 2) is a general-purpose unified port - capable (currently, Fibre Channel functions are supported only in Nexus 5600 since 7.3(0) N1 (1)) 1/10 Gigabit Ethernet fabric extender for workloads such as large-volume databases, distributed storage, and video editing. The Cisco Nexus 2348UPQ supports 48 x 1- and 10-Gbps host unified ports as well as up to six 40-Gbps uplink ports to the parent switch. The 40-Gbps uplinks support BiDi optics for simple connectivity using your existing cable plan. The unified ports provide connectivity to 2-, 4-, 8-, and 16-Gbps Fibre Channel (24 ports for 16 Gbps) as well as 1 and 10 Gigabit Ethernet and FCoE connectivity options (currently, Fibre Channel functions are supported only in hardware). The Cisco Nexus 2348UPQ has a deep 32-MB shared buffer that helps increase performance, and it supports FCoE and Data Center Bridging (DCB) network technologies, which boost the reliability, efficiency, and scalability of Ethernet networks. These features provide support for multiple traffic classes over a lossless Ethernet fabric, enabling consolidation of LAN, SAN, and cluster environments.

Cisco Nexus 2348UPQ Fabric Extender (Port View)

Support for both forward (port-side exhaust) and reverse (port-side intake) airflow schemes is available. Forward 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. Reverse 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. The Cisco Nexus 2348UPQ has two 1+1 redundant hot-swappable power supplies and three hot‑swappable independent fans with support for 2+1 redundancy.

Colored handles on each fan or power supply clearly indicate the airflow direction, as shown in Figure 3.

Cisco Nexus 2348UPQ with Blue Handles Indicating Forward Airflow

Cisco Nexus 2348TQ Fabric Extender

The Nexus 2348TQ (Figure 4) is a low-power platform that is well suited for migration to 10GBASE-T. It supports high-density 100 Megabit Ethernet and 1 and 10 Gigabit Ethernet environments and has 48 x 100MBASE-T and 1/10GBASE-T host interface (HIF) ports as well up to six 40-Gbps uplink ports to the parent switch. The 40-Gbps uplinks support BiDi optics for simple connectivity using your existing cable plan, while lowering power and solution costs. The Cisco Nexus 2348TQ supports FCoE.

Cisco Nexus 2348TQ Fabric Extender (Port View)

Support for both forward (port-side exhaust) and reverse (port-side intake) airflow schemes is available. Forward 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. Reverse 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. The Cisco Nexus 2348TQ has two 1+1 redundant hot-swappable power supplies and three hot-swappable independent fans with support for 2+1 redundancy.

Colored handles on each fan or power supply clearly indicate the airflow direction, as shown in Figure 5.

Cisco Nexus 2348TQ with Blue Handles Indicating Forward Airflow

Cisco Nexus 2332TQ Fabric Extender

The Cisco Nexus 2332TQ (Figure 6) is a low-port-count, low-power 10GBASE-T platform with 32 100MBASE-T and 1/10GBASE-T HIF ports as well as four 40-Gbps uplink ports to the parent switch. This platform is well suited for customers with lower power requirements and with lower port density in the rack. The 40-Gbps uplinks support BiDi optics for simple connectivity using your existing cable plan, while lowering power and solution costs. The Cisco Nexus 2332TQ supports FCoE.

Cisco Nexus 2332TQ Fabric Extender (Port View)

Support for both forward (port-side exhaust) and reverse (port-side intake) airflow schemes is available. Forward 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. Reverse 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. The Cisco Nexus 2332TQ has two 1+1 redundant hot-swappable power supplies and three hot-swappable independent fans with support for 2+1 redundancy. Colored handles on each fan or power supply clearly indicate the airflow direction, as shown in Figure 7.

Cisco Nexus 2332TQ with Blue Handles Indicating Forward Airflow

Cisco Nexus 2348TQ-E Fabric Extender

The Nexus 2348TQ-E (Figure 4) is a cost optimized platform that is well suited for migration to 10GBASE-T. It supports high-density 100 Megabit Ethernet and 1 and 10 Gigabit Ethernet environments and has 48 x 100MBASE-T and 1/10GBASE-T Host Interface (HIF) ports as well up to six 40-Gbps uplink ports to the parent switch. The 40-Gbps uplinks support BiDi optics for simple connectivity using your existing cable plan, while lowering power and solution costs. The Cisco Nexus 2348TQ-E supports FCoE.

Cisco Nexus 2348TQ-E Fabric Extender (Port View)

Support for both forward (port-side exhaust) and reverse (port-side intake) airflow schemes is available. Forward 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. Reverse 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. The Cisco Nexus 2348TQ has two 1+1 redundant hot-swappable power supplies and three hot-swappable independent fans with support for 2+1 redundancy.

Colored handles on each fan or power supply clearly indicate the airflow direction, as shown in Figure 5.

Cisco Nexus 2348TQ-E with Blue Handles Indicating Forward Airflow

Cisco Nexus 2300 platform fabric extenders connect to a parent Cisco Nexus switch through their fabric links using CX1 copper cable, short-reach or long-reach optics, cost-effective Cisco Fabric Extender Transceivers, and QSFP 40-Gbps bidirectional short-reach transceivers. Fabric Extender Transceivers are optical transceivers that provide a highly cost-effective solution for connecting the fabric extender to its parent switch over OM3 or OM4 multimode fiber.

Cisco Nexus 2300 platform fabric extenders behave like remote line cards for a parent Cisco Nexus 5500, 5600, 6000, 7000, 7700, or 9000 Series Switches. Working in conjunction with Cisco Nexus switches, the fabric extenders extend the capabilities and benefits offered by the parent Cisco Nexus switch while providing flexible, scalable, and cost-effective server access. A deployment of Cisco Nexus 2300 platform fabric extenders connected to a Cisco Nexus 5500, 5600, 6000, 7000, 7700, or 9000 Series Switch supports highly scalable 100 Megabit Ethernet and 1 and 10 Gigabit Ethernet environments.

Cisco Nexus 2300 Platform Deployment Scenarios

The fabric extenders can be used in the following deployment scenarios:

●      Rack servers with 100 Megabit Ethernet, 1 Gigabit Ethernet, or 10 Gigabit Ethernet Network Interface Cards (NICs); the fabric extender can be physically located at the top of the rack, and the Cisco Nexus parent switch can reside in the middle or at the end of the row, or the fabric extender and the Cisco Nexus parent switch can both reside at the end or middle of the row

●      10 Gigabit Ethernet and FCoE deployments, using servers with Converged Network Adapters (CNAs) for unified fabric environments

●      100MBASE-T and 1/10GBASE-T server connectivity with ease of migration from 100MBASE-T to 1GBASE-T to 10GBASE-T and reuse of structured cabling

●      1 and 10 Gigabit Ethernet blade servers with pass-through blades

●      SAN connectivity (2348UPQ with 5600 only)

●      Low-latency, high-performance computing environments

●      Virtualized access

For more information, visit the Cisco Nexus 2000 Series case studies page: https://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/ps10110/prod_case_studies_list.html

The Cisco Nexus 2300 platform can be used in conjunction with a Cisco Nexus parent switch in four main design scenarios (Figure 10):

●      Cisco Nexus 2300 platform single-connected to one upstream Cisco Nexus 5500, 5600, 6000, 7000, 7700, or 9000 Series Switch: In this deployment model, access-layer redundancy is achieved through redundant server connections to two upstream distributed modular systems using vPC (Cisco Nexus 5500, 5600, 6000, 7000, 7700, or 9000 Series) or server NIC teaming to two Cisco Nexus 2300 platform fabric extenders.

●      Cisco Nexus 2300 platform dual-connected to two upstream Cisco Nexus 5500, 5600, 6000, 7000, or 7700 Series Switches (vPC): In this deployment model, access-layer redundancy is achieved with a combination of Cisco Nexus 2300 platform fabric extenders dual-connected to an upstream parent switch and server NIC teaming.

●      Enhanced vPC (EvPC): In this deployment model, access-layer redundancy is achieved in two ways: through redundant connections between the Cisco Nexus 2300 platform and the Cisco Nexus parent switches using vPC; and through redundant server connections to two fabric extenders using vPC and active-active server NIC teaming. This scenario is supported only with the Cisco Nexus 5500, 5600, or 6000 Series used as upstream switches. The Cisco Nexus 7000 and 7700 Series are not supported as upstream switches in this scenario.

●      vPC+: In this deployment model, access-layer redundancy is achieved through server vPC, fabric extender vPC, and EvPC. In addition, a vPC+ domain allows the Cisco Nexus parent switch and the fabric extenders to be viewed as a single virtual switch in a Cisco FabricPath network.

Cisco Nexus 2300 Platform Fabric Extenders Design Models, from Left to Right: Server vPC, Fabric Extender vPC, EvPC, and vPC+

All topologies are supported with the Cisco Nexus 5000 and 6000 Series. Server vPC and Fabric Extender vPC are supported on the Nexus 7000 and 7700 Series. Server vPC is supported on the Nexus 9000 Series.

Product specifications

Tables 2 through 6 provide product specifications, and Table 7 lists standards support for the Cisco Nexus 2300 platform fabric extenders.

Table 2.        Cisco Nexus 2300 Platform 10 Gigabit Ethernet Fabric Extender Product Specifications

Table 3.        Cisco Nexus Fabric Extender Transceiver Specifications

Table 4.        Cisco Nexus 2300 Platform Spare Weight Specifications

Table 5.        Cisco Nexus 2300 Platform Power Specifications

Table 6.        Cisco Nexus 2300 Airflow Optimization Accessories

Table 7.        Cisco Nexus 2300 Platform Compliance Information

Feature support for the Cisco Nexus 2300 platform is mainly derived from the parent switch feature set. Please consult the Cisco Nexus parent switch data sheets for a comprehensive list of features supported. Table 8 lists the hardware capabilities of the Cisco Nexus 2300 platform.

Table 8.        Feature Support for Cisco Nexus 2300 Platform

Cisco Nexus 2300 platform ordering information

Table 9 provides ordering information for the Cisco Nexus 2300 platform fabric extenders.

Table 9.        Ordering Information

Warranty

The Cisco Nexus 2300 platform fabric extenders 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).

Cisco environmental sustainability

Information about Cisco’s environmental sustainability policies and initiatives for our products, solutions, operations, and extended operations or supply chain is provided in the “Environment Sustainability” section of Cisco’s Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Report.

Reference links to information about key environmental sustainability topics (mentioned in the “Environment Sustainability” section of the CSR Report) are provided in the following table:

Cisco makes the packaging data available for informational purposes only. It may not reflect the most current legal developments, and Cisco does not represent, warrant, or guarantee that it is complete, accurate, or up to date. This information is subject to change without notice.

Service and Support

Cisco offers a wide range of services to support the deployment and optimization of Cisco Nexus 2300 platform fabric extenders in your data center. These 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 use an architecture-led approach to help you align your data center infrastructure with your business goals and achieve long-term value. Cisco Smart Net Total Care^™ 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 capability, which offers proactive diagnostics and real-time alerts on your Cisco Nexus 5500 and 5600 platform switches, Cisco Nexus 6000 and 7000 Series Switches, and Cisco Nexus 2000 Series Fabric Extenders. Spanning the entire network lifecycle, Cisco Services offerings help increase investment protection, optimize network operations, support migration operations, and strengthen your IT expertise. For more information about Cisco Nexus services, visit https://www.cisco.com/go/nexusservices.

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For more information

●      Cisco Nexus 2000 Series Fabric Extenders: https://www.cisco.com/go/nexus2000

●      Cisco Nexus 5000 Series Switches: https://www.cisco.com/go/nexus5000

●      Cisco Nexus 6000 Series Switches: https://www.cisco.com/go/nexus6000

●      Cisco Nexus 7000 Series Switches: https://www.cisco.com/go/nexus7000b

●      Cisco Nexus 9000 Series Switches: https://www.cisco.com/go/nexus9000

●      Cisco NX-OS Software: https://www.cisco.com/go/nxos