Network technologies and trends » Linux based operating system

Key differences between a Nexus 7010 and 7018 Switches – Series 4

Yasir Irfan — Sun, 31 Jul 2011 09:54:29 +0000

One more difference I came across among Nexus 7010 and Nexus 7018 Switch is the power supplies, the Nexus 7010 Switch can hold up to three load sharing, fault tolerant , hot-swappable power supplies. Whereas the Nexus 7018 switch can hold up to four load sharing, fault tolerant, hot-swappable power supplies. The Nexus 7010 Switch requires 9kW of max power , where as the Nexus 7018 Switch requires 15 kW of max power

When it comes to power supplies, same power supplies can be used in both the Nexus 7010 and 7018 switches.

Currently there are three power supplies for the Nexus 7000 switches, two that are AC powered and one that is DC powered. There is a 6000 kW AC (N7K-AC-6.0KW), a 7500 kW AC (N7k-AC-7.5KW), and finally a 6000 kW DC (N7K-DC-6.0KW) power supply.

The Nexus 7000 Series Switches can be configured in four power redundancy modes as follows

1) Combined

2) Power Supply redundancy (N+1)

3) Input Source redundancy ( grid redundancy)

4) Power Supply and input source redundancy (full redundancy)

The Nexus 7000 Series Switches are sensitive to variations in voltage supplied by the AC power source. Over voltage, under voltage and spikes can erase data from the memory or cause components to fail. To protect against these kind problems it’s highly recommended to ground power cables.

Pictures of the power supplies are below with the 6000 kW on the left, the 7.5KW on the right and the DC powered one below.

Key differences between a Nexus 7010 and 7018 Switches – Series 3

Yasir Irfan — Sun, 31 Jul 2011 08:09:33 +0000

The other difference I have noticed between a Nexus 7010 and Nexus 7018 Switches is the way the cooling works. The Nexus 7010 and Nexus 7018 Switches are cooled using the fan trays which are found at the back of Nexus 7000 Series chassis.

The Nexus 7018 Switch applies side to side airflow , the Nexus 7018 fan module (N7K-C7018-FAN) is larger and contains more fans compared to Nexus 7010 fan module. The Nexus 7018 chassis houses dual fan modules in a fully redundant architecture and provides efficient cooling using variable speed fans.

The advantage of side to side airflow in Nexus 7018 increases the system density within a 25-rack unit footprint, optimizing the use of rack space.

The Nexus 7018 Switch dissipates up to 51,195 BTUs per hour

Whereas the Nexus 7010 Switch applies front to back airflow, and the 7010 fan module (N7K-C7010-FAN) is a smaller due to the chassis airflow is front to back.

The Nexus 7010 Switch dissipates up to 35,162 BTUs per hour.

When it comes to the Nexus 7018 Switch airflow, Panduit has an excellent solution and special rack to accommodate the airflow in a cold aisle/hot aisle data center.

Key differences between a Nexus 7010 and 7018 Switches – Series 2

Yasir Irfan — Sun, 31 Jul 2011 05:27:13 +0000

In my previous post I mentioned about the physical difference about Nexus 7010 and 7018 Switches, apart from physical differences there are some other difference between these switches.

The next difference between a Cisco Nexus 7010 and a Nexus 7018 Switch is the slot capacity and performance.

The Nexus 7010 Series Switch is a modular 10-slot chassis with slots 5 and 6 are reserved for Supervisor Engines (SUP 1) and can accommodate up to eight line cards. Whereas the Nexus 7018 Series Switch is an 18 slot chassis and slots 9 and 10 are reserved for supervisor engines, with 16 slots available for the line cards.

The Nexus 7010 and Nexus 7018 Series Switches can accommodate up to 5 fabric modules, you cannot use the same fabric cards for Nexus 7010 and 7018 switches, as the Nexus 7010 Switch is designed to mount line cards or fabric cards vertically whereas the Nexus 7018 Switches are designed for horizontal mount. Whereas all other line cards and Supervisor Engines, are interchangeable between Nexus 7010 and 7018 Switches. The Fabric Card slots are designed at the back side of the Nexus switches.

The Nexus 7018 Switch fabric module (N7k-C7018-FAB-1)

The Nexus 7010 Switch Fabric module (N7K-C7010-FAB-1)

Currently the Nexus 7000 Series Switches performance specs are as follows

Up to 1.2 Tb/s system bandwidth.
Up to 480 mpps system switching.
Up to 80 Gb/s and 60 mpps per slot.

Key differences between a Nexus 7010 and 7018 Switches – Series 1

Yasir Irfan — Sat, 30 Jul 2011 06:31:49 +0000

We all know the introduction of Nexus 7000 Series brought the revolution to Data Centers; Nexus 7000 Series Switches are quite different from the traditional Cisco Catalyst 6500 Series Switches. Nexus 7000 Switches comes in two models the Nexus 7010 a 10-slot switch and Nexus 7018 an 18-slot switch. The key difference between the Nexus 7000 Series Switches and Cisco Catalyst 6500 Series Switches is the Nexus 7000 Series Switches does not run on Cisco IOS software rather they on run NX-OS, a Linux based operating system derived from SAN-OS. As we proceed I will discuss some of the key features of NX-OS.

Some of my friends asked me what are the differences between a Nexus 7010 and 7018 Switches, thought of covering their questions over this post.

The first difference is the size and weight. The Nexus 7010 is 36.5″ (92.7 cm) tall and can weigh up to 235 kg (516 lb) whereas the Nexus 7018 is 43.5″ tall (110.5 cm) and can weigh up to 316 kg (696 lb) fully loaded. The Nexus 7010 Switch is a 21 RU switch whereas the Nexus 7018 is 25 RU Switch. Never ever think of installing two Nexus 7010 Switch in a single rack as two fully loaded Nexus 7010 can constitutes up to half a ton of weight which any Data Center raise floor or rack cannot withstand. So you need to be quite careful and aware when the designing the space layout for Nexus 7000 Series Switches. I would recommend Panduit Net-Access 7018 Cabinets which are specially designed for Cisco Nexus 7000 Series Switches.