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Nexus 6004 vs 6509 for Cores?

Mike Schultz
Level 1
Level 1

My organization is in the process of implementing two projects:

*Replacing our cores

*Upgrading our server access switches

 

Our current cores are dual WS-C6509's running in HSRP mode. We are upgrading them to new 6509's so we can implement VSS. They have not been installed yet, but we do have the equipment in our posession and mostly configured.

 

We are also in talks to purchase two Nexus 6004 chassis along with sixty 2232TM-E FEX's. It looks like this is going to happen soon. We use 4506's for our server access layer and are looking for the 6004/2000 Nexus platform to replace all of these 4506's.

 

What are the pro's and con's of skipping the 6509's and instead using the 6004/2232TM-E setup as our Core and Access layer?

1 Accepted Solution

Accepted Solutions

Hi Leo

Yes, it really depends on what else is connecting to the core and at what speeds but we currently don't have that information. 

Also depends on whether any specific features in use on the 6500 currently are not actually supported on the Nexus switches.

Difficult to say without more information.

Jon

View solution in original post

18 Replies 18

Leo Laohoo
Hall of Fame
Hall of Fame

If your intention is to connect servers, then use Nexus.  

Maybe I wasn't totally clear. We're going to be implementing the 6004's. That's guaranteed. The question is, do we purchase the layer 3 license and eliminate our new 6509's? Or do we use the 6004's as L2 only and connect up to the 6509's using multichassis etherchannel?

 

I'm looking for a pro's and con's list of each scenario.

Ok, so you have all the intention to get Nexus 6K and 2K (PQ) and connect all the servers there.  Ok, this is a good choice.  

 

Layer 3 on Nexus?  It will depend on your servers.  Some servers are happy to talk Layer 2.  Personally, I'd stay with a Layer 2 service until you really require Layer 3.  

 

Next, 6509.  I wouldn't or would no longer recommend people purchasing 6500E.  Since the announcement of the 6807X and 6880X, there have been rumours and "coughing" about Cisco's impending announcement about the future of the Catalyst 6500 some time this year.  

 

Personally, for growth, I'd be looking at 6807X because you can upgrade the supervisor card in the future.  

 

Let us know what you think of this proposal.  

If it was me and I had the hardware I would deploy the 6509s in your core.:

- The 6509s are feature rich in comparison to the Nexus.

- Clear demarcation between the different tiers of your network.

- Provides a platform for future growth of the network.

Reza / Sean

Excuse my ignorance but can the ports on the 6004 run at 1Gbps ?

I ask because there may be other things that need to connect to the core switches such as WAN routers which may only have gigabit connections.

Jon

Jon,

No, the 6ks can only be 40 or 10Gig. And yes, you are correct, if he needs to connect any device that runs on a 1Gig interface, he needs a different device.

Thanks,

Reza

 

Reza

Thanks for clarifying that.

Jon

Nexus 6K will only support 10- or 40 Gbps.

 

If you want 1 Gbps, then that's what the Nexus 2K is for.

Leo

Yes, but you don't generally connect your WAN or internet edge etc. to your access layer switches.

The core would be used for connectivity to and from the servers from other parts of the network.

Jon
 

Hey Jon, 

 

I agree with Reza.  Nexus is, no means, a replacement for a dedicated WAN platform.  Like the 6500, Nexus can't do NAT.  

 

So if you want to do WAN, Nexus isn't it.  

Hi Leo

Yes, it really depends on what else is connecting to the core and at what speeds but we currently don't have that information. 

Also depends on whether any specific features in use on the 6500 currently are not actually supported on the Nexus switches.

Difficult to say without more information.

Jon

This is a very big item that you brought up. The Nexus 6004's only do 10/40Gi. The FEX's do give us a 1/10Gi option, but the FEX's are not designed to connect anything other than hosts. In fact, BPDUguard is permanently enabled on FEX ports so a traditional switch cannot be connected and have spanning tree running on the interface to a FEX. So if we instead used the 6004's as our cores, we'd eliminate the ability to use 1 gig to our core. And that right there is the biggest deal killer for us. We have WAN routers (and other things) that connect to our 6509's that use Gi interfaces.

 

My team discussed this late yesterday and we all concluded it was best to continue with our plan to use our 6509's and upgrade to VSS.

 

Thanks everyone for your input.

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Posting

BTW, if all your dual connections to a VSS core will be L3, non-VSS is actually more reliable.  This because the VSS IOS becomes a single point of failure compared to two independent IOSs running in parallel.  (NB: The reliability difference is very, very small, though.)

You can just use the 6000 and eliminate the 6500 altogether. I am deploying 6004 as layer-3 and also for FEXs and server connectivity.  One thing to remember is that with the current Nexus-OS if you are using the 6ks as layer-3, you can only connect 24 FEXa to a pair of 6ks.  If you are using them as layer-2 only then the number is 48.

The other thing you should know is that the 6ks are 40Gig only.  So, in order to connect for example a FEX or another device to it using 10Gig, you need to purchase the special 40Gig to 10Gig cable.  This cable has a 40gig interface and one side and 4 10gig on the other side. We get ours from Panduat and they work really well.  These cables are not cheap. They cost is about $500 per cable.

If you need part number for the cable and you need more info let me know.

http://www.panduit.com/wcs/Satellite?c=Page&childpagename=Panduit_Global%2FPG_Layout&cid=1345564328975&packedargs=locale%3Den_us%26prod_cat_id%3D3%26prod_id%3D3&pagename=PG_Wrapper

HTH

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