Cisco Nexus 9000 Series Switches
Important Features
The Cisco Nexus 9000 Series Switches offer both modular (9500 switches) and fixed (9300 switches) 1,10, 40, and 100 Gigabit Ethernet (GE) configurations designed to operate in one of two modes:
- Cisco NX-OS mode for traditional architectures and consistency across the Cisco Nexus portfolio
- ACI mode to take full advantage of the policy-focused services and infrastructure automation features of the Cisco Application Centric Infrastructure (ACI)
Programmability
- Offers an open-object API programmable model for provisioning Layer 2 and 3 features
- Provides extensibility through a Route Processor Module application package, Linux containers, and Broadcom and Linux shell access
- Uses Cisco NX-OS API for easy-to-use web-based programmatic access
- Simplifies infrastructure management through integration with DevOps automation tools
Scalability
- Provides up to 60 Tbps of nonblocking performance with less than 5-microsecond latency
- Features up to 2304 10-Gbps, 576 40-Gbps, or 128 100-Gbps Layer 2 and Layer 3 Ethernet ports
- Offers wire-speed gateway, bridging, routing, and Cisco Border Gateway Protocol Control Plane for Virtual Extensible LAN (BGP EVPN VXLAN)
High Availability
- Features software patching for continued operations
- Has fully redundant and hot-swappable components
- Improves reliability and performance with a mix of third-party and Cisco ASICs performance
Energy Efficiency
- Designed without a midplane to optimize airflow and reduce energy requirements
- Optimized to run with fewer ASICs, resulting in lower energy use
- Rated at 80 Plus Platinum in power supply efficiency
Investment Protection
- Allows for reuse of an existing 10 GE cabling plant for 40 GE with 40-Gbps bidirectional transceiver
- Designed to support future ASIC generations
- Supports Cisco Nexus 2000 Series Fabric Extenders in both NX-OS and ACI modes
- Facilitates migration from NX-OS mode to ACI mode