The Cisco Nexus 7000 Series Switches: A Modular Data Center-Class Solution

The Cisco Nexus 7000 Series Switches are a highly scalable and versatile product line designed for 10 Gigabit Ethernet networks. With a fabric architecture that can scale beyond 15 terabits per second (Tbps), these switches are ideal for mission-critical data centers. They offer continuous system operation and virtualized services, making them a reliable and efficient choice for any data center environment.

Purpose-Built Design for End-to-End Data Center Connectivity

The Cisco Nexus 7000 Series is built with a purpose to support end-to-end data center connectivity. It consolidates IP, storage, and interprocess communication (IPC) networks onto a single Ethernet fabric, simplifying network management and reducing costs. The switches are based on a proven operating system and offer enhanced features for real-time system upgrades with no service disruption. They also provide exceptional manageability and serviceability, making them a top choice for data center administrators.

The Cisco Nexus 7000 Fabric Modules: High-Performance Switching Elements

The Cisco Nexus 7000 Fabric Modules are separate fabric modules that provide parallel fabric channels to each I/O and supervisor module slot. With up to five simultaneously active fabric modules, these switches can deliver up to 230 Gbps per slot. The parallel forwarding architecture allows for a system capacity of more than 8 Tbps with the five fabric modules. These modules serve as the central switching element for fully distributed forwarding on the I/O modules.

Features and Benefits of the Cisco Nexus 7000 Fabric Modules

The Cisco Nexus 7000 Fabric Modules offer a range of features and benefits, including:

• Scalability: The support for one to five concurrently active fabric modules allows for increased performance as your network needs grow.
• Lossless Fabric Failover: The fabric modules support lossless fabric failover, ensuring graceful degradation in case of a failure.
• Virtual Output Queuing (VoQ): The combination of the fabric module, supervisor, and I/O modules supports VoQ and credit-based arbitration, increasing the performance of the distributed forwarding system.
• Future-Proof Design: The fabric architecture enables future support for lossless Ethernet and unified I/O capabilities, making these switches a long-term investment for your data center.

Table 1 summarizes the features and benefits of the Cisco Nexus 7000 Fabric Modules.