NXA-PAC-1100W

Product overview

The Cisco Nexus^® C36180YC-R is a high-speed, high-density, 1, 10, 25, 40, or 100 Gigabit Ethernet switch designed for data center aggregation. The large buffers and routing table sizes of the Cisco Nexus C36180YC-R also make this switch an alternative for a wide range of applications, such as IP storage, Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), big data, and edge routing. The switch comes in a compact 1-Rack-Unit (1RU) form factor and provides extensive Layer 2 and Layer 3 functions. It is part of the R-Series family and runs the industry-leading NX-OS operating system software.

The comprehensive programmability features enable organizations to run today’s applications while also preparing them for demanding and changing application needs. The Cisco Nexus C36180YC-R supports both forward and reverse (port-side exhaust and port-side intake) airflow schemes with AC and DC power inputs.

The Cisco Nexus C36180YC-R (Figure 1) is a Small Form-Factor Pluggable (SFP) and Quad SFP (QSFP) switch with 48 SFP and 6 QSFP28 ports. Each SFP port can operate at 1, 10, or 25 Gigabit Ethernet and each QSFP28 can operate at 100 or 40 Gigabit Ethernet or in a breakout cable configuration[1].

Figure 1.    Cisco Nexus C36180YC-R Switch

Main benefits

The Cisco Nexus C36180YC-R provides the following:

●   Wire-rate Layer 2 and 3 switching on all ports[2], with up to 1.8 Terabits per second (Tbps) and up to 1.67 billion packets per second (bpps)

●   Programmability, with support for Cisco^® NX-API, Linux containers, Extensible Markup Language (XML), and JavaScript Object Notation (JSON) Application Programming Interfaces (APIs), the OpenStack plug-in, Python, and Puppet and Chef configuration and automation tools

●   High performance and scalability with a 6-core CPU, 32 GB of DRAM, and 8 GB of dynamic buffer allocation, making the switch excellent for massively scalable data centers and big data applications

●   Flexibility:

◦     Both fiber and copper cabling solutions are available for 1-, 10-, 25-, 40-, 50-, and 100-Gbps connectivity, including Active Optical Cable (AOC) and Direct-Attached Cable (DAC).

◦     You can configure the QSFP28 port to work as 4 x 25-Gbps or 4 x 10-Gbps ports.

●   High availability:

◦     Virtual PortChannel (vPC) technology provides Layer 2 multipathing by eliminating the Spanning Tree Protocol. It also enables fully used bisectional bandwidth and simplified Layer 2 logical topologies without the need to change the existing management and deployment models.

◦     Advanced maintenance capabilities include hot and cold patching and Graceful Insertion and Removal (GIR) mode.

◦     The switch uses hot-swappable Power-Supply Units (PSUs) and fans.

●   NX-OS operating system with comprehensive, proven innovations:

◦     Power-On Auto Provisioning (POAP) enables touchless bootup and configuration of the switch, drastically reducing provisioning time.

◦     Cisco Embedded Event Manager (EEM) and Python scripting enable automation and remote operations in the data center.

◦     EtherAnalyzer is a built-in packet analyzer for monitoring and troubleshooting control-plane traffic and is based on the popular Wireshark open-source network protocol analyzer.

◦     Complete Layer 3 unicast and multicast routing protocol suites are supported, including Border Gateway Protocol (BGP), Open Shortest Path First (OSPF), Enhanced Interior Gateway Routing Protocol (EIGRP), Routing Information Protocol Version 2 (RIPv2), Protocol Independent Multicast Sparse Mode (PIM-SM), Source-Specific Multicast (SSM), and Multicast Source Discovery Protocol (MSDP).

Configuration

The Cisco Nexus C36180YC-R has the following configuration:

●   48 ports 1, 10, or 25 Gigabit Ethernet SFP

●   6 ports 100 Gigabit Ethernet QSFP28

●   Locator LED

●   Environment LED

●   Status LED

●   Dual redundant power supplies

●   One 10-, 100-, or 1000-Mbps management port (cooper or fiber)

●   One RS-232 serial console port

●   One USB port

Transceiver and cabling options

The Cisco Nexus C36180YC-R has 48 SFP ports. With support of a wide range of speed, from 1-, 10-, or 25-Gbps SFP, with support for both fiber and copper cabling solutions.

The Cisco Nexus C36180YC-R has 6 QSFP ports. QSFP28 technology allows a smooth transition from 40 to 100 Gigabit Ethernet infrastructure in data centers. Each of the switch QSFP28 ports can operate in either native 100 Gigabit Ethernet mode or 4 x 25 Gigabit Ethernet mode. This switch supports both fiber and copper cabling solutions for these two modes.

Please refer to the latest compatibility matrix for information about all supported optics:

●   100 Gigabit Ethernet compatibility matrix: https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/interfaces_modules/transceiver_modules/compatibility/matrix/100GE_Tx_Matrix.html

●   40 Gigabit Ethernet compatibility matrix: https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/interfaces_modules/transceiver_modules/compatibility/matrix/40GE_Tx_Matrix.html

●   25 Gigabit Ethernet compatibility matrix: https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/interfaces_modules/transceiver_modules/compatibility/matrix/25GE_Tx_Matrix.html

●   10 Gigabit Ethernet compatibility matrix: https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/interfaces_modules/transceiver_modules/compatibility/matrix/10GE_Tx_Matrix.html

●   1 Gigabit Ethernet compatibility matrix: https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/interfaces_modules/transceiver_modules/compatibility/matrix/GE_Tx_Matrix.html

For more information about the transceiver types, please visit: https://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/hw/modules/ps5455/prod_module_series_home.html.

Cisco NX-OS Software benefits

NX-OS is a data center-class operating system built with modularity, resiliency, and serviceability at its foundation. It helps ensure continuous availability and sets the standard for mission-critical data center environments. The self-healing and highly modular design of NX-OS makes zero-impact operations a reality and enables exceptional operation flexibility.

Focused on the requirements of the data center, NX-OS provides a robust and comprehensive feature set that meets the networking requirements of present and future data centers. With an XML interface and a Command-Line Interface (CLI) like that of Cisco IOS^® Software, NX-OS provides state-of-the-art implementations of relevant networking standards as well as a variety of true data center-class Cisco innovations.

Table 1 summarizes the benefits that NX-OS offers, and Table 2 lists NX-OS packages available for the Cisco Nexus C36180YC-R.

Table 1.      Benefits of Cisco NX-OS Software

Table 2.      Cisco NX-OS Software Packages available for Cisco Nexus C36180YC-R^*

^* Cisco Nexus C36180YC-R uses the Cisco Nexus 9000 Licensing scheme. For more information please refer to https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/switches/datacenter/sw/nx-os/licensing/guide/b_Cisco_NX-OS_Licensing_Guide/b_Cisco_NX-OS_Licensing_Guide_chapter_01.html#con_24753.

Product specifications

Table 3 lists the specifications for the Cisco Nexus C36180YC-R.

Table 3.      Specifications

^* Denotes Application-Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC) capabilities; please refer to Cisco Nexus 3000 Series Verified Scalability Guide documentation for exact scalability numbers validated for specific software releases: https://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/ps11541/products_installation_and_configuration_guides_list.html.

Software features

Please refer to the latest release notes for a list of software features supported by the Cisco Nexus 3200 platform: https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/support/switches/nexus-3000-series-switches/products-release-notes-list.html.

Standards

Table 4 lists management standards supported by the Cisco Nexus 3200 platform.

Table 4.      Management and standards support

Regulatory standards compliance

Table 5 summarizes regulatory standards compliance for the Cisco Nexus 3200 platform.

Table 5.      Regulatory standards compliance: safety and EMC

Ordering information

Table 6 provides ordering information for the Cisco Nexus C36180YC-R.

Table 6.      Ordering information