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Product Overview
Features and Benefits
Flexibility and Scalability
• Software compatibility: Cisco NX-OS Release 4.0 interoperates with Cisco products running any variant of the Cisco IOS Software operating system. Cisco NX-OS Release 4.0 also interoperates with any networking OS that conforms to the networking standards listed as supported in this data sheet.
• Common software throughout the data center: Cisco NX-OS simplifies the data center operating environment and provides a unified OS designed to run all areas of the data center network including the LAN, SAN and L4-7 network services.
• Modular software design: Cisco NX-OS is designed to support distributed multithreaded processing on symmetric multiprocessors (SMPs), multi-core CPUs, and distributed line card processors. Computationally intensive tasks, such as hardware table programming, can be offloaded to dedicated processors distributed across the line cards. Cisco NX-OS modular processes are instantiated on demand each in a separate protected memory space. Thus, processes are started and system resources allocated only when a feature is enabled. The modular processes are governed by a real-time preemptive scheduler that helps ensure the timely processing of critical functions.
• Virtual device contexts (VDCs): Cisco NX-OS offers the capability to segment OS and hardware resources into virtual contexts that emulate virtual devices. Each VDC has its own software processes, dedicated hardware resources (interfaces), and independent management environment. VDCs are instrumental in the consolidation of separate networks onto a common infrastructure, maintaining the administrative boundary separation and fault isolation characteristics of physically separate networks while providing many of the operational cost benefits of a single infrastructure.
Availability
• Continuous system operation: Cisco NX-OS provides continuous system operation, permitting maintenance, upgrades, and software certification without service interruptions. The combination of process modularity, modular patching, Cisco In Service Software Upgrade (ISSU) capability, and nonstop-forwarding (NSF) graceful restart minimizes the effects of software upgrades and other operations.
• Cisco ISSU: Cisco ISSU provides the capability to perform transparent software upgrades on platforms with redundant supervisors, minimizing downtime and allowing customers to integrate the newest features and functions with little or no impact to network operation.
• Quick development of enhancements and problem fixes: The modularity of Cisco NX-OS allows new features, enhancements, and problem fixes to be integrated into the software very quickly. Thus, modular fixes can be developed, tested, and delivered in a very short time span, meeting urgent timelines. These updated images can then be installed without disruption using ISSU.
• Process survivability: Critical processes are run in protected memory space and independently from each other and the kernel, providing granular service isolation and fault containment and enabling modular patching and upgrading, and rapid restartability. Individual processes can be restarted independently without loss of state information and without affecting data forwarding, so that after an upgrade or failure, processes restart in milliseconds without negatively affecting adjacent devices or services. Processes with large amounts of state such as IP routing protocols are restarted using standards-based NSF graceful restart mechanisms; other processes use a local persistent storage service (PSS) to maintain their state.
• Stateful supervisor failover: Redundant supervisors are kept synchronized at all times to enable rapid stateful supervisor failover. Sophisticated checks are in place to help ensure that the state is consistent and reliable throughout the entire distributed architecture after failover occurs.
• Reliable interprocess communication: Cisco NX-OS facilitates reliable communication between processes to help ensure that all messages are delivered and properly acted on during failure and adverse conditions. This communication helps ensure process synchronization and state consistency across processes that may be instantiated on processors distributed over multiple supervisors and I/O modules.
• Redundant switched Ethernet out-of-band channels (EOBCs): Cisco NX-OS can make full use of redundant EOBCs for communication between control and I/O module processors.
• Network-based availability: Network convergence is optimized by providing tools and functions to make both failover and fallback transparent and fast. For example, Cisco NX-OS provides Spanning Tree Protocol enhancements such as bridge protocol data unit (BPDU) guard, loop guard, root guard, BPDU filters, and bridge assurance to guarantee the health of the Spanning Tree Protocol control plane; Unidirectional Link Detection (UDLD) Protocol; NSF graceful restart of routing protocols; millisecond timers for First-Hop Resiliency Protocols (FHRP); SPF optimizations such as link-state advertisement (LSA) pacing and incremental SPF; and IEEE 802.3ad link aggregation with adjustable timers.
Serviceability
• Troubleshooting and diagnostics: Cisco NX-OS is built with unique serviceability functions to enable network operators to take early action based on network trends and events, enhancing network planning and improving network operations center (NOC) and vendor response times. Call Home, Cisco Generic Online Diagnostics (GOLD), and Cisco NX-OS Embedded Event Manager (EEM) are some of the features that enhance the serviceability of Cisco NX-OS.
• Switched Port Analyzer (SPAN): The SPAN feature allows an administrator to analyze all traffic between ports (called the SPAN source ports) by nonintrusively directing the SPAN session traffic to a SPAN destination port that has an external analyzer attached to it.
• Embedded packet analyzer: Cisco NX-OS includes a built-in packet analyzer to monitor and troubleshoot control plane traffic. The packet analyzer is based on the popular Wireshark open source network protocol analyzer.
• Smart Call Home: The smart Call Home feature continuously monitors hardware and software components to provide e-mail-based notification of critical system events. A versatile range of message formats is available for optimal compatibility with pager services, standard e-mail, and XML-based automated parsing applications. It offers alert grouping capabilities and customizable destination profiles. This feature can be used, for example, to directly page a network support engineer, send an e-mail message to a NOC, and employ Cisco AutoNotify services to directly generate a case with the Cisco Technical Assistance Center (TAC). This feature is a step toward autonomous system operation, enabling networking devices to inform IT when a problem occurs and helping ensure that the problem is acted on quickly, reducing time to resolution and maximizing system uptime.
• Cisco GOLD: Cisco GOLD is a suite of diagnostic facilities to verify that hardware and internal data paths are operating as designed. Boot-time diagnostics, continuous monitoring, and on-demand and scheduled tests are part of the Cisco GOLD feature set. This industry-leading diagnostics subsystem allows rapid fault isolation and continuous system monitoring critical in today's continuously operating environments.
• Cisco EEM: Cisco EEM is a powerful device and system management technology integrated into Cisco NX-OS. Cisco EEM helps customers harness the network intelligence intrinsic to the Cisco software and enables them to customize behavior based on network events as they happen.
• Cisco Netflow: Cisco NX-OS implementation of Netflow supports version 5 and version 9 exports as well as the Flexible Netflow configuration model and hardware-based Sampled Netflow for enhanced scalability.
Manageability
• Programmatic XML interface: Based on the NETCONF industry standard, the Cisco NX-OS XML interface provides a consistent API for devices, enabling rapid development and creation of tools to enhance the network.
• Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP): Cisco NX-OS is SNMP version 1, version 2 and version 3 compliant. A rich collection of Management Information Bases (MIB) is supported.
• Configuration verification and rollback: With Cisco NX-OS, the system operator can verify the consistency of a configuration and the availability of necessary hardware resources prior to committing the configuration. A device can thus be preconfigured and the verified configuration applied at a later time. Configurations also include checkpoints, to allow operators to roll back to a known good configuration as needed.
• Role-based access control (RBAC): With RBAC, Cisco NX-OS enables administrators to limit access to switch operations by assigning roles to users. Administrators can customize access and restrict it to the users who require it.
• Cisco Data Center Network Manager (DCNM): Cisco DCNM is a management solution dedicated to data center network operations. Cisco DCNM maximizes the overall data center infrastructure uptime and reliability, thereby enabling business continuity. Cisco DCNM is designed for the Cisco NX-OS product family.
• Connectivity Management Processor (CMP) support: Cisco NX-OS supports the use of a CMP for lights-out remote management of the platform. The CMP is instrumental in aiding operations by providing an out-of-band access channel to the NX-OS console.
Traffic Routing, Forwarding, and Management
• Ethernet switching: Cisco NX-OS is built to support high-density, high-performance Ethernet systems and provides a complete data center-class Ethernet switching feature set. The feature set includes IEEE 802.1D-2004 Rapid and Multiple Spanning Tree Protocols (802.1w and 802.1s), IEEE 802.1Q VLANs and trunks, 16,000-subscriber VLANs, IEEE 802.3ad link aggregation, private VLANs, cross-chassis private-VLANs, UDLD in aggressive and standard modes, and traffic suppression (unicast, multicast, and broadcast). Spanning Tree Protocol enables transparent upgrades using ISSU in Spanning Tree Protocol environments, BPDU guard, loop guard, root guard, BPDU filters, bridge assurance, and jumbo frame support.
• IP and routing: Cisco NX-OS supports a wide range of IP Version 4 and 6 (IPv4 and v6) services and routing protocols. Cisco NX-OS Release 4.0 provides state-of-the-art implementations of the following routing protocols:
– Open Shortest Path First (OSPF) Protocol Versions 2 (IPv4) and 3 (IPv6)
– Intermediate System-to-Intermediate System (IS-IS) Protocol
– Border Gateway Protocol (BGP)
– Enhanced Interior Gateway Routing Protocol (EIGRP)
– Routing Information Protocol Version 2 (RIPv2)
• The implementations of these protocols are fully compliant with the latest standards, providing modern enhancements and parameters such as 4-byte autonomous system numbers (ASNs) and incremental SPF, while shedding unutilized legacy functionality in favor of a lean implementation that improves feature velocity and system stability. Non-Stop Forwarding Graceful Restart (NSF-GR) is supported by all unicast protocols. All protocols support all interface types, including Ethernet interfaces, switched virtual interfaces (SVIs) and subinterfaces, PortChannels, tunnel interfaces, and loopback interfaces. The rich variety of routing protocols and functions is complemented by a broad collection of IP services, including the following:
– Virtual Routing and Forwarding (VRF)1. All routing protocols and IP services are made VRF aware day one.
– Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) Helper
– Unicast Reverse Path Forwarding (uRPF)
– Hot-Standby Routing Protocol (HSRP)
– Virtual Router Redundancy Protocol (VRRP)
– Gateway Load Balancing Protocol (GLBP)
– Enhanced Object Tracking
– Policy-Based Routing (PBR)
– Generic Routing Encapsulation (GRE) tunneling
– Unicast Graceful Restart for all protocols in IPv4 Unicast Graceful Restart for OPSFv3 in IPv6
• IP Multicast: Cisco NX-OS provides an industry-leading IP Multicast feature set. The Cisco NX-OS Release 4.0 implementation lays the foundation for the future development of a rich portfolio of multicast-enabled network functions. Similar to the unicast routing protocols, Cisco NX-OS Release 4.0 includes state-of-the-art implementations of the following multicast protocols and functions:
– Protocol Independent Multicast Version 2 (PIMv2)
– Source Specific Multicast (SSM)
– PIM sparse mode (Any-Source Multicast [ASM] for IPv4 and IPv6)
– Bidirectional Protocol Independent Multicast (Bidir PIM)
– Anycast Rendezvous Point (Anycast-RP)
– Multicast NSF for IPv4 and v6
– RP-Discovery using bootstrap router (BSR): Auto-RP and static
– Internet Group Management Protocol (IGMP) Versions 1, 2, and 3 router role
– IGMPv2 host mode
– IGMP snooping
– Multicast Listener Discovery (MLD) Protocol Version 2 (for IPv6)
– Multicast Source Discovery Protocol (MSDP) (for IPv4 only)
• Cisco NX-OS eliminates obsolete functions such as PIM dense mode, this is an example of the forward-looking direction of the operating system.
• Quality of service (QoS): Cisco NX-OS supports a rich variety of QoS mechanisms, including classification, marking, queuing, policing, and scheduling. Modular QoS CLI (MQC) is supported for all QoS features. MQC can be used to provide uniform configurations across various Cisco platforms.
Network Security
• Cisco TrustSec: As part of the Cisco TrustSec security suite, Cisco NX-OS provides outstanding data confidentiality and integrity, supporting standard IEEE 802.1AE link-layer cryptography with 128-bit Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) cryptography. Link-layer cryptography guarantees end-to-end data privacy while allowing the insertion of security service devices along the encrypted path. Security group access control lists (SGACLs), a new paradigm in network access control, are based on security group tags instead of IP addresses, enabling policies that are more concise and easier to manage due to their topology independence.
• Additional network security features: In addition to Cisco TrustSec, Cisco NX-OS Release 4.0 delivers the following security features:
– Datapath Intrusion detection system (IDS) for protocol conformance checks
– Control plane policing (CoPP)
– Message-digest algorithm 5 (MD5) routing protocol authentication
– Cisco integrated security features, including Dynamic Address Resolution Protocol (ARP) inspection (DAI), DHCP snooping, and IP source guard
– Authentication, authorization, and accounting (AAA) and TACACS+
– Secure Shell (SSH) Protocol Version 2
– Simple Network Management Protocol Version 3 (SNMPv3) support
– Port security
– IEEE 802.1x authentication and RADIUS support
– Layer 2 Cisco Network Admission Control (NAC) LAN port IP
– Policies based on MAC and IPv4 addresses supported by named ACLs (port-based ACLs [PACLs], VLAN-based ACLs [VACLs], and router-based ACLs [RACLs])
Product Specifications
Supported Standards
Table 1. IEEE Compliance
Table 2. RFC Compliance
Supported Hardware Components
• Cisco Nexus 7000 Series 10-Slot Chassis
• Cisco Nexus 7000 Series 10-Slot Fabric Module
• Cisco Nexus 7000 Series 10-Slot System Fan Tray
• Cisco Nexus 7000 Series 10-Slot Fabric Fan Tray
• Cisco Nexus 7000 Series Supervisor Module
• Cisco Nexus 7000 Series 32-Port 10 Gigabit Ethernet Module
• Cisco Nexus 7000 Series 48-Port 10/100/1000 Ethernet Module
Licensing
Enterprise Package
• IP routing
– OSPF v2, and v3 (IPv4 and v6)
– IS-IS
– BGP
– EIGRP
• IP Multicast
– PIM: sparse (IPv4 and IPv6), Bidir, and SSM modes
– MSDP
• PBR
• GRE tunnels
Advanced Package
• VDCs
• Cisco TrustSec
Ordering Information
Table 3. Ordering Information
Service and Support
For More Information