Comparison Between Cisco Nexus 7000 Series & Cisco Nexus 9500 Series Switches

Cisco Nexus 7000 series switch generally used in the data center for core and distribution purposes while Cisco Nexus 9000 series switch is used in ACI infrastructure. All these hardware supports the VXLAN and LISP protocols while Nexus 9500 series Switch is used as Spine in the ACI infrastructure in the data center. Both switches can be used in the Core of a DC. Then what about the difference? You may find answer in this post.

Cisco Nexus 7000 Series Switches

All Cisco Nexus 7000 Series chassis use a passive mid-plane architecture, providing physical connectors and copper traces for interconnecting the fabric modules and the I/O modules for direct data transfer. All intermodule switching is performed via the crossbar fabric ASICs on the individual I/O modules and fabric modules. In the case of Cisco Nexus 7004 chassis, since there are no fabric modules, the mid-plane provides the connectors and traces to interconnect the fabric ASICs on the I/O modules directly.

Fully distributed fabric architecture composed of up to five fabric modules combined with the chassis midplane delivers up to 550 Gbps per slot for 8.8 Tbps, 9.9 Tbps, and 18.7 Tbps of forwarding capacity in the 9-slot, 10-slot, and 18-slot switches, respectively. The 4-slot chassis delivers up to 1.92 Tbps of forwarding capacity in combination with the built-in fabric system. Below is the diagram shows the existing Cisco Nexus fabric infrastructure into the extended Cisco ACI fabric. Cisco Nexus fabric uses Cisco nexus 7000 series switches and Cisco extended ACI fabric uses Cisco nexus 9000 series switches.

Cisco Nexus 9500 Series Switches

The Cisco Nexus 9500 platform consists of Layer 2 and 3 nonblocking Ethernet switches with backplane bandwidth of up to 172.8 Terabits per second (Tbps). The Cisco Nexus 9504, 9508, and 9516 Switches support 1, 10, 25, 40, 50, and 100 Gigabit Ethernet interfaces through a comprehensive selection of modular line cards. Configurable with up to 2304 x 10 Gigabit Ethernet ports, 2048 x 25 Gigabit Ethernet ports, 576 x 40 Gigabit Ethernet ports, 1024 x 50 Gigabit Ethernet ports, or 512 x 100 Gigabit Ethernet ports, they provide ample capacity for both access- and aggregation-layer deployments.

Cisco Application Centric Infrastructure is a holistic architecture with centralized automation and policy-based application profiles. The Cisco ACI fabric is designed from the foundation to support emerging industry demands while maintaining a migration path for architecture already in place. The fabric is designed to support management automation, programmatic policy, and dynamic “workload-anywhere” models. The Cisco ACI fabric accomplishes this with a combination of hardware, policy-based control systems, and software closely coupled to provide advantages not possible in other models.

Comparison Between Cisco Nexus 7000 Series & Cisco Nexus 9500 Series

Below is the comparison table between Cisco Nexus 7000 series and Cisco Nexus 9500 Series switches.

A point to highlight when reviewing the comparison links is that the Nexus 9500 doesn't support storage protocols yet, whereas the Nexus 7000 supports FCoE. Additionally, if you're considering the Data Center Interconnect aspects, the Nexus 7000 supports what are now considered fairly robust and established protocols for multi-DC interconnect over distance which are OTV and LISP. The Nexus 9500 does not support these protocols, however, instead supports what are shaping up to be a new set which are mBGP and EVPN. You should note that mBGP/EVPN only currently support site-to-site DCI, as opposed to the multi-site capability of OVT/LISP, however, there's a lot of development going on so it will be something to keep an eye on.

10G Cabling Solution for Cisco Nexus 7000

10G Aggregation (HDA) to Edge (EDA) Links

With 10G uplinks between SFP+ port fabric interfaces on Nexus 2000 series access switches and Nexus 6004 aggregation switches, a8-fiber MTP to LC harness is run directly between QSFP+ and SFP+ ports on the two switches. This cabling is best for inter-switch links when both switches are in close proximity. Use this configuration only when QSFP+ ports on the 6004 are configured as 4 x 10G channels.

10G Structured Cabling QSFP+ to SFP+ Ports

In larger data centers where distances are greater and fiber counts are higher and switches are more widely dispersed, a structured cabling system provides a much better approach to cable management, utilization, and organization. Trunks are run between interconnect points near 6004 series and 2000 series switches. From there,transceiver modules, and jumpers complete the connection to switches. Different length jumpers can be used to connect to individual QSFP+ and SFP+ ports on the switches.

Conclusion

This article covers the comparison between Cisco Nexus 7000 series and Cisco Nexus 9500 Series switches. And also some optics solution from FS.COM has been recommended for your reference. Besides above optics, FS.COM also provide compatible transceivers and various patch cables for both Nexus 7000 and 9500.