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This chapter contains the following sections:
This document lists the Cisco verified scalability limits.
In the following tables, the Verified Topology column lists the verified scaling capabilities with all listed features enabled at the same time. The numbers listed here exceed those used by most customers in their topologies. The scale numbers listed here are not the maximum verified values if each feature is viewed in isolation.
The Verified Maximum column lists the maximum scale capability tested for the corresponding feature individually. This number is the absolute maximum currently supported by the Cisco NX-OS Release software for the corresponding feature. If the hardware is capable of a higher scale, future software releases may increase this verified maximum limit.
This table lists the verified scalability for a Layer 2 switching deployment.
Feature |
Verified Topology |
Verified Maximum |
---|---|---|
Active VLANs/VSANs per switch |
4000 |
4013 (31 are reserved for VSANs and the remaining are for VLANs) |
VLAN/VSAN ID Space |
4013 Unreserved space |
4013 Unreserved space |
Logical Interfaces 1 |
48,000 2 |
48,000 |
VLAN ACLs (VACLs) |
128 (10 unique VACLs) |
1024 (512 unique VACLs with up to 1,024 ACE entries across all VACLs ) |
Maximum Interfaces per EtherChannel |
16 |
16 |
IGMP Snooping Groups |
4000 (in FEX deployments) 8000 (in non-FEX deployments) |
4000 (in FEX deployments) 8000 (in non-FEX deployments) |
Maximum FEXs per Cisco Nexus 5500 Series Switch |
24 |
24 |
Maximum FEXs Dual-homed to a vPC Cisco Nexus 5500 Series Switch Pair |
24 |
24 |
MAC Table Size (Entries) |
25,000 Unicast 4000 Multicast |
25,000 Unicast 4000 Multicast |
Number of Switchport EtherChannels |
48 for the Cisco Nexus 5548 or Nexus 5548UP Switch |
48 for the Cisco Nexus 5548 or Nexus 5548UP Switch 96 for the Cisco Nexus 5596 Switch |
Number of FEX Port Channels/vPCs (across the maximum number of FEXs) |
576 |
1152 |
SVIs |
2 |
256 |
FabricPath VLANs |
40003 |
4000 |
SPAN Sessions |
4 active sessions 32 source VLANs as a RX source |
4 active sessions 32 source VLANs as a RX source |
FabricPath Switch IDs |
500 |
500 |
FabricPath Multicast Trees |
2 |
2 |
Number of FabricPath Topologies |
2 |
2 |
Number of FabricPath Core Port-Channels |
4 core links with 4 ports each |
16 |
FEX Host Interface Storm Control |
1152 4 |
1152 |
ACL Accounting |
32 |
32 |
This table contains the verified scalability for a Layer 2 switching and Layer 3 routing deployment.
![]() Note | The currently tested values do not provide an indication for the maximum scalability of the control plane. These numbers vary based on the load of the system in terms of routing protocols, timers settings, and other values. Proof of concept testing should be used to determine the scalability of a given feature for your environment. |
Feature |
Verified Topology |
Maximum Limits |
|
---|---|---|---|
Active VLANs/VSANs per Switch |
1000 |
4013 (31 are reserved for VSANs) |
|
VLAN/VSAN ID Space |
4013 Unreserved space |
4013 Unreserved space |
|
STP Instances |
16,000 |
16,000 |
|
Maximum Interfaces per EtherChannel |
16 |
16 |
|
IGMP Snooping Groups |
4000 (in FEX deployments) 8000 (in non-FEX deployments) |
4000 (in FEX deployments) 8000 (in non-FEX deployments) |
|
Maximum FEXs per Cisco Nexus 5500 Series Switch 5 |
16 |
16 |
|
Maximum FEXs Dual-homed to a vPC Switch Pair 6 |
16 |
16 |
|
MAC Table Size (Entries) |
23,400 Unicast entries and 4,000 Multicast entries |
23,400 Unicast entries and 4,000 Multicast entries |
|
Number of FEX Port-Channels/vPCs (across the maximum number of FEXs) |
470 |
768 |
|
SPAN Sessions |
2 active sessions 32 source VLANs as a RX source |
4 active sessions 32 source VLANs as a RX source |
|
SVIs |
256 |
256 |
|
Dynamic IPv4 Routes 7 |
7200 8 |
||
Dynamic IPv6 Routes 9 |
3600 10 |
||
Multicast IPv4 Routes 1112 |
|
||
ARPs (IPv4 Hosts) 1415 |
|
||
IPv6 Hosts 17 |
1600 18 |
||
VRFs |
25 |
1000 |
|
RACLs |
62 Ingess RACLs with up to 1,664 ACE entries across all of the RACLs |
62 Ingess RACLs with up to 1,664 ACE entries across all of the RACLs |
|
HSRP Groups |
254 |
256 |
|
VRRP Groups |
254 |
256 |
|
BFD Sessions over L3-intf for CE Mode |
8 sessions (250 ms intvl, 750 ms dead-intvl) |
32 sessions (250 ms intvl, 750 ms dead-intvl) |
|
BFD Sessions over SVI for FabricPath mode |
64 sessions (250 ms intvl, 750 ms dead-intvl) |
64 sessions (250 ms intvl, 750 ms dead-intvl) |
|
PBR IPv4 |
15 |
15 |
|
PBR IPv6 |
15 |
15 |
This table lists the verified scalability for a Layer 2 switching and unified fabric (FCoE) deployment.
Feature |
Verified Topology |
Verified Maximum |
---|---|---|
Active VLANs/VSANs per switch |
4,013 |
4,013 (32 are set reserved for VSANs and the remaining are for VLANs) |
VLAN/VSAN ID Space |
4,013 Unreserved Space |
4,013 Unreserved Space |
Logical Interfaces 19 |
32,000 20 |
32,000 |
IGMP Snooping Groups |
4,000 (in FEX deployments) 8,000 (in non-FEX deployments) |
4,000 (in FEX deployments) 8,000 (in non-FEX deployments) |
Maximum FEXs per Cisco Nexus 5500 Series Switch |
9 |
24 |
Maximum FEXs Dual Homed to a vPC Cisco Nexus 5500 Series Switch Pair |
24 |
24 |
MAC Table Size |
23,000 unicast entries 4,000 multicast entries |
23,000 unicast entries 4,000 multicast entries |
Number of Switchport EtherChannels |
8 |
48 for the Cisco Nexus 5548P or Nexus 5548UP switch 96 for the Cisco Nexus 5596UP switch |
SPAN Sessions |
2 active sessions 32 source VLANs as a TX source |
4 active sessions 32 source VLANs as a TX source |
Number of FEX Port Channels/vPCs (across the maximum number of FEXs) |
288 |
768 |
FabricPath VLANs |
4000 |
4,000 |
FabricPath Switch IDs |
128 |
128 |
FabricPath Multicast Trees |
2 |
2 |
Number of FabricPath Topologies |
2 |
2 |
Number of FabricPath Core Links |
2 |
16 |
Native FibreChannel Links per Switch |
8 |
8 for Cisco Nexus 5548 Switch 48 for Cisco Nexus 5548UP Switch 96 for Cisco Nexus 5596UP Switch |
FLOGIs or FDISCs per NPV Port Group |
180 |
255 |
Zone Sets per Switch |
32 |
500 |
Zone Members per Physical Fabric (includes all VSANs) |
1,280 |
`
8,000 |
Zones per Switch (includes all VSANs) |
640 |
8,000 |
Maximum Diameter of a SAN Fabric |
7 |
12 |
FSPF Interface Instances per Switch |
192 |
256 for a Cisco Nexus 5548 switch 1,536 for a Cisco Nexus 5548UP switch 3,072 for a Cisco Nexus 5596UP switch |
ISL Instances per Switch |
6 |
8 for a Cisco Nexus 5548 switch 48 for a Cisco Nexus 5548UP switch 96 for a Cisco Nexus 5596UP switch |
VFC Interfaces |
288 |
288 |
Maximum FCIDs Allocated |
576 |
2,048 |
Fibre Channel Flows |
32 |
32 |
FLOGIs or FDISCs per switch |
576 |
2048 |
The maximum number of vFCs that can be bound to a port-channel |
48 |
48 |
This table lists the verified scalability for multicast routing.
Feature |
Parameter |
Verified Maximum |
---|---|---|
Protocol Independent Multicast (PIM) |
Number of neighbors |
500 |
Number of neighbors/total routes per system with aggressive hello timers (5 seconds) |
16/4,000 |
|
Multicast Source Discovery Protocol (MSDP) |
Number of MSDP Source-Active (SA) cache entries |
6,000 |
This table lists the verified scalability for unicast routing.
Feature |
Parameter |
Verified Maximum |
---|---|---|
OSPFv2 |
Number of active interfaces |
256 |
Number of passive interfaces |
256 |
|
Number of neighbors/total routes with aggressive timers (1 sec/ 3 sec) |
16/6,000 |
|
OSPFv3 |
Number of active interfaces |
256 |
Number of passive interfaces |
256 |
|
EIGRP |
Number of active interfaces |
50 |
BGP |
Number of peers (iBGP and eBGP, active) |
256 |
Number of AS path entries |
512 |
|
Number of prefix-list entries in a single prefix-list |
10,000 |
|
HSRP |
Number of groups with aggressive timers (1 sec/3 sec) |
500 |
L3 ISIS |
Number of adjacencies |
100 |
Unicast Adjacencies |
Number of regular/ECMP adjacencies |
8192 |
This table lists the verified scalability for a Layer 2 switching and virtualization (Adapter-FEX or VM-FEX) deployment.
Feature |
Verified Topology |
Verified Maximum |
---|---|---|
Number of VFCs over Virtual Ethernet Interfaces |
40 |
40 |
Number of Port Profiles |
1,000 |
1,000 |
Number of Virtual Machines (VMs) Concurrently not VMotioned |
5 VMs with 10 vNICs each |
5 VMs with 10 vNICs each |
Number of Virtual Ethernet Interfaces Enabled with vNIC Shaping |
2,000 |
2,000 |
Number of Virtual Ethernet Interfaces Enabled with Untagged CoS |
2,000 |
2,000 |
Server - Number of Adapters per Server |
1 |
1 |
Server - Number of vNICs per Server |
50 |
96 |