The Cisco Nexus® 7000 M1-Series 8-Port 10 Gigabit Ethernet Module with XL Option (Figure 1) is a cost-effective, highly scalable, high-performance module designed for mission-critical Ethernet networks. The module uses two M1-XL forwarding engines that feature a larger Forwarding Information Base (FIB). The module also supports a wide range of X2 optics, allowing deployment flexibility in various types of networking environment.
The Cisco Nexus 7000 Series Switches are a modular data center-class product line designed for highly scalable 10 Gigabit Ethernet networks, with a fabric architecture that scales beyond 15 terabits per second (Tbps), and is designed to support high-density 40 and 100 Gigabit Ethernet deployments. Designed to meet the requirements of the most mission-critical network environments, the switches deliver continuous system operation and virtualized pervasive services. The Cisco Nexus 7000 Series is powered by the proven Cisco® NX-OS operating system, with enhanced features to deliver real-time system upgrades with exceptional manageability and serviceability. Its innovative unified fabric design is purpose-built to support consolidation of IP, storage, and interprocess communication (IPC) networks on a single Ethernet fabric.
The Cisco Nexus 7000 M1-Series 8-Port 10 Gigabit Ethernet Module with XL Option has a number of features that are designed to enable flexible deployment and support for environments requiring the highest performance and a comprehensive feature set. With an optional Scalable Feature License, the module can operate in the enhanced XL mode, which enables use of the full forwarding table, essential for large-scale deployments such as Internet peering environments. This larger FIB table can support multiple copies of the full Internet route table for use in Internet-facing deployments with Virtual Routing and Forwarding (VRF) and virtual device context (VDC) support. The capability to operate in either non-XL or XL mode makes this module extremely flexible for many types of networking environments, without requiring a hardware module change or upgrade, and delivers a lower total cost of ownership (TCO). The 8-port module supports a broad range of optics, allowing deployment in various types of situations, from a long-reach intersite deployment over single-mode fiber (SMF) to short and medium reaches over multimode fiber (MMF) for data center and campus environments. The fabric interface on the 8-port module delivers 80 Gbps of bandwidth in each direction.
All Cisco Nexus 7000 M-Series I/O modules contain integrated forwarding engines. The M1-XL forwarding engines on the 8-port module are part of the Cisco Nexus 7000 M1-Series of forwarding engines. The M1-XL forwarding engine is based on the M1 engine, incorporating larger FIB and access control list (ACL) tables. The module is fully compatible with, and offers feature consistency with, all existing M1 modules. The performance specifications for the Cisco Nexus 7000 M1-Series 8-Port 10 Gigabit Ethernet Module with XL Option operating in non-XL and XL modes are described in Table 1.
Table 1. Performance Specifications for Non-XL and XL Mode Operation
Item
Non-XL Mode
XL Mode
MAC Entries
128K
128K
IPv4 Routes
128K
Up to 1M*
IPv6 Routes
64K
Up to 350K*
NetFlow Entries
512K
512K
ACL
64K
128K
* Actual limit depends on prefix distribution.
Each M1-XL forwarding engine delivers up to 60 million packets per second (Mpps) of Layer 2 and Layer 3 IPv4 unicast forwarding or 30 Mpps of IPv6 unicast forwarding across all ports. The 8-port module has dual M1-XL forwarding engines and can deliver up to 120 Mpps of Layer 2 and Layer 3 IPv4 unicast forwarding or 60 Mpps of IPv6 unicast forwarding across all ports of a single I/O module. The distributed architecture, with forwarding engine integrated into each module, scales the forwarding performance of the chassis linearly by the number of I/O modules employed. The 18-slot chassis with sixteen Cisco Nexus 7000 M1-Series 8-Port 10 Gigabit Ethernet Modules with XL Option can deliver up to 1.92 billion packets per second (Bpps) of IPv4 unicast forwarding. Multicast forwarding is built into the I/O module performing egress replication.
The M1-XL forwarding engine also delivers ACL filtering, marking, rate limiting, and NetFlow with no effect on performance. Powerful ACL processing supports up to 64K entries per module in non-XL mode or 128K entries per module in XL mode, where entries can address Layer 2, 3, and 4 fields in addition to new Cisco metadata fields that employ security group tags (SGTs).
The Cisco Nexus 7000 M1-Series 8-Port 10 Gigabit Ethernet Module with XL Option offers exceptional security, with integrated hardware support for the Cisco TrustSec® solution. This includes line-rate data confidentiality, data integrity, and ACL processing for SGTs. Data confidentiality and integrity conform to the IEEE MAC security standard (IEEE 802.1AE [MACsec]). All eight ports on the module support the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) cipher, using a 128-bit key. New security ACLs are enhanced through hardware support for Cisco metadata headers capable of carrying SGTs. Security group ACLs (SGACLs) use SGT information to provide hardware-based enforcement of security policies. This capability removes dependencies on IP addresses, thus improving scalability and simplifying manageability.
The Cisco Nexus 7000 M1-Series 8-Port 10 Gigabit Ethernet Module with XL Option buffers data in virtual output queues (VOQs) before the data flows to the fabric. The data flow is controlled by a central arbiter on the supervisor module, using a credit-based buffer design. This architecture offers a lossless fabric that delivers quality of service (QoS) and fairness across all ports, even during congestion.
Table 2 summarizes the features and benefits of the Cisco Nexus 7000 M1-Series 8-Port 10 Gigabit Ethernet Module with XL Option.
Table 2. Features and Benefits*
Feature
Benefit
XL mode
Enables a larger forwarding table, providing investment protection through increased system flexibility and ease of sparing
8 line-rate 10 Gigabit Ethernet ports per module
Delivers up to 64 line-rate 10 Gigabit Ethernet ports in the Cisco Nexus 7000 10-Slot Switch and 128 line-rate 10 Gigabit Ethernet ports in the Cisco Nexus 7000 18-Slot Switch
VOQ with centralized arbitration
Enables fairness when one or more destinations are congested and future support for lossless unified I/O
Load sharing across all fabric modules
Through its high-availability design, shares bandwidth across all fabric modules simultaneously for optimal performance
Distributed forwarding
Through its fully distributed data plane, offers high-performance parallel forwarding
Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS)
Support MPLS forwarding in hardware
Integrated hardware support for Cisco TrustSec technology
Simplifies and scales access control by using SGTs and SGACLs and delivers data confidentiality and data integrity on all 8 ports, using the IEEE 802.1AE standard
Online insertion and removal
(OIR)
Supports hot insertion and removal for continuous system operation
Identification (ID) LED
Through the beacon feature, allows administrators to clearly identify the module for a service condition; ports on the I/O module can send beacons as well
* Initial software releases may support a subset of the overall hardware capabilities. Refer to the Cisco Nexus 7000 Series NX-OS release notes for up-to-date software version information and feature support details.
Product Specifications
Table 3 lists the product specifications for the Cisco Nexus 7000 M1-Series 8-Port 10 Gigabit Ethernet Module with XL Option.
Table 3. Product Specifications
Item
Specifications
System
Product compatibility
• Supported in all Cisco Nexus 7000 Series chassis
• Supported Fabric-1 or Fabric-2 fabric modules
• Supported SUP1, SUP2 or SUP2E Supervisor modules
Software compatibility
Cisco NX-OS Software Release 5.0 or later (minimum requirement)
Memory
2 GB DRAM
Front-panel LEDs
• Status: Green (operational), red (faulty), or orange (module booting)
• Link: Green (port enabled and connected), orange (port disabled), blinking orange (faulty port), off (port enabled and not connected), or blinking green and orange in conjunction with ID LED blue (port flagged for identification; beacon)
• ID: Blue (operator has flagged this card for identification; beacon) or off (module not flagged)
Programming interfaces
• Extensible Markup Language (XML)
• Scriptable command-line interface (CLI)
• Cisco Data Center Network Manager (DCNM) GUI
Network management
Cisco DCNM 5.0
Physical Interfaces
Connectivity
8 ports of 10 Gigabit Ethernet using X2 optics
Maximum port density
64 ports of 10 Gigabit Ethernet for 10-slot chassis and 128 ports of 10 Gigabit Ethernet for 18-slot chassis
MAC security
All 8 ports have built-in IEEE 802.1AE MAC security and an AES cipher with a 128-bit key (requires a software license to enable)
• Telecommunications Carrier Group (TCG) Checklist
• ATT TP76200 level 3
• ETSI 300 019-1-1, Class 1.2 Storage
• ETSI 300 019-1-2, Class 2.3 Transportation
• ETSI 300 019-1-3, Class 3.2 Stationary Use
Safety
• UL/CSA/IEC/EN 60950-1
• AS/NZS 60950
• GB4943
Warranty
Cisco Nexus 7000 Series Switches come with the standard Cisco 1-year limited hardware warranty
Interface Distances
Table 4 and Table 5 summarize the interfaces and distances of X2 and SFP+ optics supported by the Cisco Nexus 7000 M1-Series 8-Port 10 Gigabit Ethernet Module with XL Option. Not all optics are supported in the first software release. Refer to the Cisco Nexus 7000 Series NX-OS Release Notes for up-to-date software version information and optics support.
Table 4. 10 Gigabit Ethernet X2 Interface Distances and Options1
2 Bandwidth is specified at transmission wavelength.
3 Minimum cabling distance for -SR, -LR, -LX4, and -ER modules is 2m, according to IEEE 802.3ae. Minimum cabling distance for -LRM modules is 0.5m, according to IEEE 802.3aq standard.
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For More Information
For more information about the Cisco Nexus 7000 Series, visit the product homepage at http://www.cisco.com/go/nexus7000 or contact your local account representative.