In today’s data centers, virtualization deployments have become commonplace, and this trend is increasing rapidly with the availability of 10 Gigabit Ethernet servers at attractive prices. The combination of increased adoption of these servers and applications with higher bandwidth requirements is increasing the need for dense 10 and 40 Gigabit Ethernet switching. Moreover, data center architectures are changing as application environments create new demands for IT infrastructure. Application workloads are deployed across a mix of virtualized and nonvirtualized server and storage infrastructure, requiring a network infrastructure that provides consistent connectivity, security, and visibility across a range of bare-metal, virtualized, and cloud computing environments.

The Cisco Nexus® 5600 platform is the third generation of the Cisco Nexus 5000 Series Switches: the industry’s leading data center server access switches. The Cisco Nexus 5600 platform switches can be categorized into 10-Gbps and 40-Gbps switches. This data sheet focuses on the 10-Gbps switches only. Cisco Nexus 5600 platform 10-Gbps switches are the successors to the industry’s widely adopted Cisco Nexus 5500 platform switches. The switches maintain all the existing Cisco Nexus 5500 platform features, including LAN and SAN convergence (unified ports and Fibre Channel over Ethernet [FCoE]), fabric extenders, and Cisco® FabricPath. In addition, the Cisco Nexus 5600 platform 10-Gbps switches bring integrated line-rate Layer 2 and 3 capabilities with true 40 Gigabit Ethernet support (on uplink and network-facing ports), Cisco programmable fabric innovations, Network Virtualization Using Generic Routing Encapsulation (NVGRE), Virtual Extensible LAN (VXLAN) bridging and routing, network programmability and visibility, large buffer capacity, and significantly greater scalability and performance for highly virtualized, automated, and cloud environments.

The Cisco Nexus 5600 platform 10-Gbps switches include both 1-Rack-Unit (1RU) and 2RU switches built to meet the challenges of today’s data centers with a flexible, agile, and energy-efficient design. These 10-Gbps switches are an important component of the Cisco Unified Data Center architecture, complementing existing Cisco Nexus switches. These energy-efficient switches offer 10 and 40 Gigabit Ethernet and FCoE, providing integrated Layer 2 and 3 features at wire speed and low latency of approximately 1 microsecond for any packet size. With a choice of port-side intake and fan-side intake airflow options to align with cold-aisle and hot-aisle placement in the data center, the 10-Gbps switches are designed for a broad range of traditional data center and large-scale virtualized cloud deployments.

The 10-Gbps switches together with the Cisco NX-OS Software operating system provides customers with features and capabilities that are widely deployed in data centers around the world. NX-OS is a purpose-built data center operating system designed for performance, resiliency, scalability, manageability, and programmability. It meets Ethernet and storage networking requirements, providing a robust and comprehensive feature set that can meet the demanding requirements of virtualization and automation in present and future data centers.

The Cisco Nexus 5600 platform 10-Gbps switches are designed for Top-of-Rack (ToR) and Middle-of-Row (MoR) deployment in data centers that support enterprise applications, service provider hosting, and cloud computing environments.

he Cisco Nexus 5672UP Switch is a 10 and 40 Gigabit Ethernet (40-Gbps on uplink and network-facing ports) switch offering wire-speed performance for up to seventy-two 10 Gigabit Ethernet ports (using Quad Small Form-Factor Pluggable [QSFP] breakout cables). The Cisco Nexus 5672UP Switches are Layer 2 and 3 nonblocking 10 and 40 Gigabit Ethernet and FCoE-capable switches with up to 1.44 Terabits per second (Tbps) of internal bandwidth. The Cisco Nexus 5672UP offers 48 fixed 1 and 10 Gigabit Ethernet ports, of which the last 16 ports (highlighted in orange on the chassis for easy identification) are unified ports. All 48 fixed ports support classical Ethernet and FCoE. In addition, the 16 unified ports provide 8-, 4-, and 2-Gbps Fibre Channel, as well as 10 Gigabit Ethernet and FCoE connectivity options. The Cisco Nexus 5672UP also offers 6 ports of 40 Gbps using QSFP transceivers for Ethernet and FCoE support. The Cisco Nexus 5672UP has three fan modules and two power supplies. The Cisco Nexus 5672UP supports VXLAN in bridging and routing modes on all ports at line rate, enabling the migration of virtual machines between servers across Layer 3 networks. The switch also offers up to 15 buffer-to-buffer credits per port, helping provide SAN extension of up to 3.7 kilometers at 8-Gbps Fibre Channel speed assuming full Fibre Channel frame size of 2112 bytes.