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Vinay Sharma
Level 7
Level 7

 

Introduction

Maximum FEX supported with Nexus 5000 VPC Pair.

Scenario

What is the maximum number of Fex (2K) can be connected to Nexus 5000 vpc pair, with L3 functionality on 5000?

1) If i connect each fex dual hommed to both 5000
2) If i connect each fex single hommed to only 1 5000.

Solution

The maximum number of supported FEX is not the same for straight-through and dual-homed FEX.

Enhanced vPC Scalability

In general, the Enhanced vPC does not change the scalability of a Cisco Nexus 5000 Series device and a FEX. Scalability is similar to the dual-homed FEX topology.

Total Number of FEXs Per Cisco Nexus 5000 Series Device as per Release 6.0(2)N1(1)

From the Cisco NX-OS 5.1(3)N1(1) release and later releases, each Cisco Nexus 5500 Series device can manage and support up to 24 FEXs without Layer 3. With Layer 3, the number of FEXs supported per Cisco Nexus 5500 Series device is 8. With Enhanced vPC and a dual-homed FEX topology each FEX is managed by both Cisco Nexus 5000 Series devices. As a result, one pair of Cisco Nexus 5500 Series devices can support up to 24 FEXs and 16 FEXs for Layer 2 and Layer 3.

There are differences in scalability between the straight-through topology, the dual-homed FEX topology, and the Enhanced vPC topology. In the straight through topology, only one Cisco Nexus 5000 Series device manages each FEX and a pair of Cisco Nexus 5500 Series devices manage up to 48 FEXs. This difference is shown in Figure  for an Layer 2 scenario.

 

Because the total number of FEXs that are supported by a pair of Cisco Nexus 5000 Series devices is different between these two topologies, the FEX straight-through design with more than 24 FEXs per one pair of Cisco Nexus 5000 Series devices cannot migrate to Enhanced vPC topology.

The configurations are as follows:

  • Total number of host vPC — With Enhanced vPC, each FEX port can be part of a host vPC. The host vPC does not consume port channel resources on the parent Cisco Nexus 5000 Series device.
  • Total number of ports per host vPC — The total number of ports that can be assigned to each host vPC differs with each FEX model.

The Cisco Nexus 2148 device does not support port channels. With the Cisco Nexus 2148 device, the host vPC can have up to two ports with one from each Cisco Nexus 2148.

The Cisco Nexus 2248, Cisco Nexus 2224, Cisco Nexus 2232 and Cisco Nexus 2248TP-E devices support hardware port channels and up to 16 ports in a host vPC with up to 8 ports from each FEX.

Verified Scalability for a Layer 2 Switching Deployment

Maximum FEXs per Cisco Nexus 5500 Series Switch

24

24

Maximum FEXs dual homed to a vPC Cisco Nexus 5500 Series Switch Pair

24

24

More Information

Enhanced vPC Scalability in Release 5.1(3)N1(1)

The scalability of enhanced vPC is similar to that of the dual homed FEX topology.

Each Cisco Nexus device supports up to 24 FEXs with Layer 2 configuration or Layer 3 configuration. In a dual homed FEX topology, such as that in enhanced vPC, each FEX is managed by two switches, so the pair together can support 24 FEXs.

Cisco Nexus Fabric Extender Parent Switch Support Matrix

Scalability

  Up to 24 fabric extenders per Cisco Nexus 5600 Series switch in both L2 and L3 configurations; Upto 1152 Gigabit Ethernet servers and 1152 10 Gigabit Ethernet Servers per switch
  Up to 24 fabric extenders per Cisco Nexus 5548P, Nexus 5548UP, or Nexus 5596UP Switch (16 fabric extenders for Layer 3 configurations); up to 1152 Gigabit Ethernet servers and 1152 10 Gigabit Ethernet servers per switch
  Up to 12 fabric extenders per Cisco Nexus 5010P and Nexus 5020P Switch: up to 576 Gigabit Ethernet servers and 384 10 Gigabit Ethernet servers per switch
  Up to 48 fabric extenders in Layer 2 configurations and up to 24 fabric extenders in Layer 3 configurations Up to 2304 Gigabit Ethernet servers and 2304 10 Gigabit Ethernet servers per switch
  Up to 64 fabric extenders per Cisco Nexus 7000 Series Switch with Nexus 7000 Supervisor Engine 2E and Cisco NX-OS Software Release 6.2
  Up to 3072 Gigabit Ethernet and 3072 10 Gigabit Ethernet servers per Cisco Nexus 7000 Series Switch with Nexus 7000 Supervisor Engine 2E and Cisco NX-OS Software Release 6.2

 

Source

Max FEX with Nexus 5000 VPC Pair

Reference

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