NBTech A22 - Explore Cisco Nexus 9000 Series Switches - Benefits Models and More

NBTech Series is back again with its next Technical post. Till Now, we have covered all the Cisco series switches except Cisco 9000 series switches. So, today in this blog post, we will explore Cisco Nexus 9000 Series Switches.  

Did you miss our previous blog posts of NBTech Series?

Worry not, here are the links for You -

• Exploring Cisco 6000 Series Nexus Switches – Benefits, Features, Models and More #NB Tech A19
• Explore Cisco Nexus 7700 Series Switches, latest extension to Cisco 7000 Series switches | NBTech A21
• All you need to know about Cisco Nexus 3000 Series Switches #NB Tech A14

Data Centers are making a great buzz in the IT industry today, every company is looking forward to adapting Data Center technology and Cisco’s 9000 series is serving a key role in the process. With 9000 Series switches, IT companies are updating their DC networks into modern as well as automated environments which offer exceptional performance.

This Nexus Series has provided the foundation for Cisco’s ACI (Application Centric Infrastructure) as well as offers good savings in operating expenditure and capital expenditure.

Nexus 9000 Series Switches offer numerous benefits which include – high performance and density, power efficiency, low latency, advanced programmability, architectural flexibility, greater scalability, real-time visibility and telemetry etc.

Capabilities and Features of Cisco 9000 Switches

9000 Series switches offer fixed 9300 and 9200 series switches and modular 9500 series switches with 100/40/50/25/10/1 GE switch configurations. 9300 and 9500 switches are optimized for delivering enhanced operational flexibility while 9200 series switches are optimized for delivering high performance.

Cisco 9000 series switches are ideal either for traditional or for fully automated DC deployments. Below listed are the major capabilities/features of 9000 series switches, have a look –

#1 Programmability –

• For provisioning L2 and L3 features, these switches provide an open-object API.
• Provides extensibility via Linux containers and Broadcom, Linux shell access and a Route Processor Module application package.
• Makes use of Cisco Nexus operating system API for web-based programmatic access.
• Simplifies the management of infrastructure by integrating with DevOps automation tools.

#2 Architectural Flexibility –

• These switches can easily be deployed in energy-efficient leaf-spine or 3-tier architecture.
• It provides scalable as well as flexible virtual extensible multi-tenancy.
• Offers a foundation for Application Centric Infrastructure (ACI), delivering agility, flexibility and simplicity as well as for automating the application deployment.
• For the purpose of automating fabric configuration and management, these switches support Fabric Manager.

#3 Real-Time Visibility and Telemetry –

• These switches offer Cisco Tetration Analytics support along with built-in hardware sensors for line-rate data collection and rich traffic flow telemetry.
• It also offers Cisco Data Broker support for analysis and network traffic monitoring.
• Real-time buffer utilization per port and per queue, for application traffic patterns and monitoring traffic micro-bursts.

Recommended read: Benefits, Features, and Everything about Cisco Nexus 6001 Series Switches

#4 High Availability –

• Patching and ISSU (In-Service Software Upgrade) without any interruption with operations.
• These switches have components which are hot-swappable and fully redundant.
• Improves performance as well as reliability with the mix of ASICs and third-party performance.

#5 Scalability –

• These switches offer up to 60 Tbps of nonblocking performance along with the latency of less than 5-microsecond.
• These switches also feature line rate, high density 100/50/40/25/10 Gbps L2 and L3 Ethernet ports.
• Offers bridging, wire-speed gateway, routing, and Border Gateway Protocol Control Plane.

#6 Investment Protection –

• Allows the re-usage of existing 10 Gigabit Ethernet cabling plant for the 40 Gigabit Ethernet with 40-Gbps bi-directional transceiver.
• Supports Nexus 2000 Series FEX in both ACI modes and NX-OS.
• These switches facilitate migration from the NX-OS mode to ACI mode.

Know the different models available in Cisco 9000 switches

Like other Cisco Nexus switches, Cisco 9000 switches also have numerous different models. Here, we will give you a quick glimpse of all the models.

There are three models of Cisco 9000 switches, namely –

• Cisco Nexus 9200 Switch Series
• Cisco Nexus 9300 Switch Series
• Cisco Nexus 9500 Switch Series

#1 Cisco Nexus 9200 Switch Series –

Cisco 9200 series has ultra-high-density and fixed-configuration DC switches with line rate L2 and L3 features. Cisco 9200 switches are specially designed for programmable fabric which provides mobility, flexibility and scale for IaaS (infrastructure-as-a-service), cloud providers and service providers.

In addition, these switches are also perfect for the programmable network which automates management and configuration for customers willing to take advantage of DevOps operation model as well as tool sets.

#2 Cisco Nexus 9300 Switch Series –

Cisco 9300 series switches offer high-density 100/50/40/25/10 Gigabit Ethernet along with hybrid configurable ports for migration and flexible access deployment. This series of Cisco 9000 switches offer two platforms, which are –

• Cisco 9300-EX switches
• Cisco 9300-FX switches

These 9300 platforms are perfect for a modern system architecture which is designed for providing high-performance as well as for meeting the requirements of highly scalable DCs.

Also read: Get to know about Cisco Nexus 5600 Switches Features, Benefits & More

#3 Cisco Nexus 9500 Switch Series –

Cisco 9500 switches offer 100-Gbps connectivity and flexible ACI deployments as well as NX-OS mode. This series of Nexus 9000 has L2 and L3 non-blocking Ethernet switches having backplane bandwidth up to 172.8 Tbps (terabits per second).  Nexus 9500 switches are options available in 3 modular which are –

Download PDF NBTech A22 - Explore Cisco Nexus 9000 Series Switches - Benefits Models and More

• Cisco 9504 Switch
• Cisco 9508 Switch
• Cisco 9516 Switch

Conclusion –

Cisco 9000 series switches are helping IT companies in updating their DC networks into modern as well as automated environments which offer exceptional performance.

The best part is that Nexus 9000 Series provides the foundation for ACI (Application Centric Infrastructure). In addition, these switches also offer quite a good saving in operating expenditure as well as in Capital expenditure.

Cisco Nexus 9000 series switches deliver exceptional power efficiency, low latency, architectural flexibility, proven high performance and density, greater scalability, advanced programmability, real-time visibility and telemetry etc.

These switches are available in three different models, namely –

• Cisco Nexus 9200 Switch Series
• Cisco Nexus 9300 Switch Series
• Cisco Nexus 9500 Switch Series

All the three models have few unique features which make them a stand-alone product in the industry.

We will soon be back with the blog on different models of 9000 series switches, to give you detailed information about Nexus switches. Till then, keep coming back to #NBBlogs for such more interesting posts.