Nexus 9300v and 9500v Lite NX-OS Image

About Nexus 9300v and 9500v Lite NX-OS Image

The NX-OS lite (nxos64-cs-lite.10.5.1.F.bin) image has a reduced memory footprint, resulting in a much smaller image size than the earlier images for Cisco Nexus 9300v and 9500v. This image can be installed during the boot-up time, and the image bring up is faster than the earlier images. However, before loading the lite image, perform a write-erase-reload, as some of the configurations may not be valid.


Note

This image contains only base RPMs, which are needed to support deployment scenarios such as VXLAN EVPN, no F+L, with IPv4/Ipv6 underlay (OSPF/IS-IS), and M-site functionality including vPC on BL, PC/vPC, LACP, and DME/YANG/telemetry. Rest of the RPMs are omitted from the lite NX-OS image.

Resource Requirements

The following table displays the resource requirements for Nexus 9300v and 9500v Lite:

Resource

Specification

Minimum RAM

6 G (basic bootup)

Recommended RAM

8 G (depending on the number of features)

Minimum vCPUs

2

Recommended vCPUs

4

Minimum vNICs

1

Maximum vNICs

65

Virtual Artifacts

The following table displays the virtual artifact(s) for Nexus 9300v and 9500v Lite:

VM Type

Hypervisor

Virtual Artifact

Description

N9300v Lite

ESXI 8.0

nexus9300v64-lite.10.5.1.F.ova

Contains virtual disk, machine definition, and NXOS image.

N9300v Lite

KVM/QEMU 4.2.0

nexus9300v64-lite.10.5.1.F.qcow2

Contains virtual disk and NXOS image on bootflash.

N9300v Lite

Vagrant 2.3.7

nexus9300v64-lite.10.5.1.F.box

Contains a preinstalled NXOS image on a virtual disk along with a machine definition.

N9500v Lite

ESXI 8.0

nexus9500v64-lite.10.5.1.F.ova

Contains virtual disk, machine definition, and NXOS image.

N9500v Lite

KVM/QEMU 4.2.0

nexus9500v64-lite.10.5.1.F.qcow2

Contains virtual disk and NXOS image on bootflash.

Features Supported

The following sections provide information about the various categories of features supported by Nexus 9300v Lite and 9500v Lite platforms:

Layer 2 Features

The following table lists layer 2 feature support for the Nexus 9300v Lite and Nexus 9500v Lite platforms.

Feature

Nexus 9300v Lite Support

Nexus 9500v Lite Support

802.1AB LLDP

Yes

Yes

802.1Q VLANs/Trunk

Yes

Yes

802.1s RST

Yes

Yes

802.3ad LACP

Yes

Yes

L2 Multicast

Yes (as broadcast)

Yes (as broadcast)

MLAG

Yes

Yes

Port Channel

Yes

Yes

VLANs

Yes

Yes

VXLAN EVPN

Yes

Yes

No F+L with IPv4/Ipv6 underlay (OSPF/IS-IS)

Yes

Yes

Multi-Site functionality with non-vPC on BGW

Yes

Yes

HSRP

Yes

Yes

NGOAM

Yes

Yes

TACACS+

Yes

Yes

Layer 3 Features

The following table lists layer 3 feature support for the Nexus 9300v Lite and Nexus 9500v Lite platforms.

Feature

Nexus 9300v Lite Support

Nexus 9500v Lite Support

OSPF

Yes

Yes

OSPFv3

Yes

Yes

BGP

Yes

Yes

MP-BGP

Yes

Yes

IS-IS

Yes (as broadcast)

Yes (as broadcast)

Equal Cost Multipath Routing (ECMP)

Yes

Yes

PIM-SM

Yes

Yes

MPLS

Yes

Yes

CDP

Yes

Yes

L3 SVI

Yes

Yes

Sub Interfaces

Yes

Yes

IPsec

No

No

Programmability Features

The following table lists programmability feature support for the Nexus 9300v Lite and Nexus 9500v Lite platforms.

Feature

Nexus 9300v Lite Support

Nexus 9500v Lite Support

Bash shell access and scripting

Yes

Yes

RPM support

Yes

Yes

Programmatic access to system state (Python)

Yes

Yes

Docker within OS

Yes

Yes

NXAPI

Yes

Yes

DME

Yes

Yes

RESTCONF

Yes

Yes

NETCONF

Yes

Yes

YANG Models

Yes

Yes

Telemetry

Yes

Yes

GNMI

Yes

Yes

NxSDK

Yes

Yes