Cisco Nexus 3000 Series Switches Overview

With the high bandwidth, low power usage and high performance in mind, the leading Service Providers are in a constant search of the optimal network components to boost their network and provide the best service possible. To address these challenges they must take in consideration and do a thorough research about which network component would be suitable for their project. Because the clients are demanding more secure and high speed network connections, many Service Providers are having no choice but choosing the best of the best. One of their choices are Cisco Nexus 3000 Series Switches.

The Cisco Nexus 3000 Series Switches are tasked with the extremely difficult job to provide advanced programmability and high performance in a Service Provider environment. This switch series has been developed to simplify management, enhance network visibility and improve circuit monitoring. It is the optimal solution for deployment where high performance computing (HPC), high-frequency trading (HFT) and Massively Scalable Date Center (MSDC) networks are needed.

Cisco Nexus 3000 Switches provide a flexible architecture capable to fulfill the various bandwidth needs of modern Service Providers. It supports speeds up to 100 GB/s making it ideal for network upgrades. It will ensure high performance underlay and overlay technologies such as the Virtual Extensible LAN (VXLAN)1. One of the key features differentiating the Cisco Nexus 3000 from other switches is its amazing low latency traffic handling in high-performance computing (HPC) and high-frequency trading (HFT) environments.

Cisco Nexus 3000 Series Switches have many advantages over other flagship models. With up to 6.4 terabits per second (TB/s) and up to 3.3 billion packets per second (bp/s) support it provides wire-rate switching on all ports, both Layer 2 and Layer 3. It is optimal for massively scalable Service Providers and Datacenters due to its four-core CPU, 8 GB of DRAM, and 16 MB of dynamic buffer allocation. Cisco Nexus 3000 Series Switches can be found in many different platforms. The most important and mainly used platforms are listed in the table below, together with their key features.

The Cisco Nexus 3232C Switch

Nexus 3232C Switches offer high flexibility for deployment in ultra-high performance networks. The QSFP28 port has the option to be configured to work as 4 x 25-GB/s ports, offering deployment flexibility, with up to a maximum of 128 x 25-GB/s ports with both Active Optical Cables (AOC) and Direct Attach Cables (DAC). This is a huge improvement compared to the older versions of switches which offered up to 10 GB/s deployments. This will be beneficial for the entire network infrastructure throughout the Datacenter. The incorporation of QSFP28 ports allows for a smooth network upgrade from 40 GB/s to 100 GB/s. and these ports have the capability to work in native 100 GB/s mode as well. In addition if you are looking for a cost-effective solution you can also use the copper-based 40-GB/s Twinax cables or short-reach optical transceivers. Nexus 3232C Switches provide the flexibility for you to connect them to 10 GB/s switches using a breakout splitter cable that has a QSFP+ transceiver on one end and four SFP+ transceivers on the other end. This can also be achieved with fiber optic cables by using QSFP+ SR4 transceivers on both ends and procuring Breakout MPO-to-LC cables. The support matrix for additional products for the widely used Cisco Nexus 3232C switch is shown in the table below:

With its features and functionality Cisco Nexus 3232C Switches can be safely deployed in Datacenter and Service Provider environments and they will ensure high speed, maximum performance transmission. A key benefit that can come from the deployment of Cisco Nexus 3232C Switches is their support for Cisco NX-OS operating system. The Cisco NX-OS operating system is a first class, self-healing operating system especially targeted for Datacenter environments. It provides high modularity and resiliency and makes zero-impact operations a reality, at the same time enabling exceptional operation flexibility and ease of use. The Cisco NX-OS operating system has been developed to serve the needs of Datacenters and it features a robust and extensive set of features to completely meet all the requirements of modern Datacenters and Service Providers. Because this operating system runs on all Cisco Datacenter targeted switches like Cisco Nexus 9000, 7000, 6000, 5000, 4000, 3000 Series Switches, Cisco Nexus 1000V Switches and Cisco Nexus 2000 Series Fabric Extenders, no training of engineers and technicians would be needed which on the long run will prove to be a very cost-effective solution. In addition it is compatible with the latest IOS operating systems to ensure transparent network operation with no compatibility concerns and at highest performance. The Cisco NX-OS operating system provides convenient and modern troubleshooting process due to its unique serviceability functions. The functions like Cisco Smart Call Home2 and Cisco Online Health Management System (OHMS)3, will reduce network operations center (NOC) and vendor response times thus improving client service and relations.

In addition the Cisco Nexus 3232C switch supports the Virtual Port Channel (vPC)4 technology which eventually eliminates the problem causing Spanning Tree Protocol (STP). This feature together with the advanced reboot capabilities which include hot and cold patching and fast reboot capabilities, ensure high availability in its operation. In addition the Cisco Nexus 3232C switch supports the Virtual Port Channel (vPC)4 technology which eventually eliminates the problem causing Spanning Tree Protocol (STP). This feature together with the advanced reboot capabilities which include hot and cold patching and fast reboot capabilities, ensure high availability in its operation.

Deploying Cisco Nexus 3000 Switches will ensure low latency and dense performance throughout the Datacenter. This switch series is designed and optimized for Service Providers and Datacenters to provide power efficient and flexible connections which allow to simplify network operations and management and improve network scalability and monitoring.