Cisco 6509 upgrades

mikedelafield · ‎03-01-2008

We have 2 Cisco 6509 switches with Supervisor Engine II MSFC sitting idle and are looking to upgrade them to fit in to our new building.

What is the upgrade path for this series?

From what I can see we would need to purchase Supervisor Engine 720? Would this also inclue MSFC / L3 Switching?

Could someone also please tell me if Supervisor Engine 720 comes default with IOS?

Thanks.

aijaz802 · ‎03-01-2008

Hi..

Yes...it comes with MSFC3/PFC3 and IOS

Pls. go thru this link for detailed information...

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/prod/collateral/switches/ps5718/ps708/product_data_sheet09186a0080159856.html

Pls. rate if it helps..

BR

*aijaz*

mikedelafield · ‎03-01-2008

great reply thanks.

Do you know if Supervisor Engine 32 is also an option? Does this offer MSFC / Layer 3 Switching as default as well?

Thanks

Edison Ortiz · ‎03-01-2008

The Supervisor Engine 32 is offered with the policy feature card 3B (PFC3B), delivering the same features and services available on the Supervisor Engine 720.

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/prod/collateral/modules/ps2797/ps5972/product_data_sheet0900aecd801c5cab.html

HTH,

__

Edison.

Joseph W. Doherty · ‎03-01-2008

As the other posters have described, the upgrade paths are either the sup32 or sup720.

You didn't mention whether you're have a switch fabric module(s) and/or fabric line cards with your sup2. If you do, the sup720 provides fabric with the supervisor. (I.e. separate SFM not needed.) The sup32 supports only classic bus line cards.

I'm unsure about the sup32, but believe if you have a older non"-E" chassis, the sup720 will also require a fan upgrade.

mikedelafield · ‎03-03-2008

The only detail i can see on the Chassis is;

WS-6500 Series

Nothing else is mentioned.

As for line cards we use WS-X6548-GE-TX

We are looking to buy Supervisor 32 and add additional WS-X6548-GE-TX.

Does this sound okay?

mikedelafield · ‎03-03-2008

i'm not sure about Switching fabric

but currently it has Supervisor 2 in place

WS-X6K-SUP2-GE

is this a straight upgrade path to Supervisor 32?

Jon Marshall · ‎03-03-2008

Mike

WS-X6548-GE-TX are fabric enabled line cards. If you run a "sh module" on the 6500 what is in slot 5. If it is an SFM (Switch fabric module) then your natural upgrade path is Sup720 although because of the relatively poor performance of the 6548-GE-TX as Sup32 is also viable.

The Sup32 will run in both the E and non-E chassis but it does require a high speed fan tray which means a minumum power supply of 2500W.

You need to check your fan type, power supplies. Also how many modules do you have in the chassis. Perhaps you could post the output of a "sh module" so we can see.

HTH

Jon

mikedelafield · ‎03-05-2008

Hi thanks again.

I have been mulling over 2 options since you mentioned the Switching Fabric Module.

The first is to buy new 4507R switches and the other is to upgrade the 6509s we have spare.

We already have;

WS-6500 Chassis

Supervisor 2 MSFC 2 WS-X6K-SUP2-2GE

6 x WS-X6548-GE-TX 48 Port Modules

2500W PWR

What I am thinking now is simply the purchase of the Switching Fabric Module WS-C6500-SFM to increase the backplane to 256Gbps.

In terms of cost this is clearly a lot cheaper but will it give us good performance and is there anything I have missed and need to think about?

Thanks.

Joseph W. Doherty · ‎03-05-2008

Other points to "think about":

The SFM (or SFM2) besides providing more aggregate bandwidth, provide a fabric. I.e. traffic between one set of slots doesn't compete with traffic between a second set of slots.

The SFMs also boosts the sup2 Mpps from 15 Mpps to 30 Mpps.

You would also have the option of using dCEF256 (6516) cards with local DFCs.

The 4500 series is limited to 6 GB per slot unless you obtain an 4500-E series.