what is switch fabric support on 7600/6500 series

[sivakondalarao]

hi,

I want to know this.

what is switch fabric support on 7600/6500 series devices.

regards

skrao

[dnewell24 · Accepted solution]

WS-C6500-SFM and WS-X6500-SFM2, in conjunction with a SUP2, are modules that increase available system bandwidth (backplane) from the existing 32Gbps to 256 Gbps. The Switch Fabric Module creates a dedicated connection between fabric-enabled modules and provides uninterrupted transmission of frames between these modules.

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/hw/modules/ps2797/ps742/index.html

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/hw/switches/ps700/products_configuration_guide_chapter09186a008007fa2d.html#wp1020698

[ybajpai]

To put it very simply, without 'fabric support' the line cards are considered 'classic linecards'. ie. they share the same 32 GBPS backplane for switching traffic from one linecard to another. With increasing port densites and Ethernet reaching 10GIG speeds, there was a need for a much faster transport mechanism to switch traffic internally from one linecard to another.

Sup2 generations had 256Gbps fabric and requires a seperate SFM module to support the higher speed fabric linecards. Now Sup720 has 720 GBPS full duplex (i.e. 360 gbps) fabric speeds and the fabric logic in built inside the SUP itself. That is also the reason that sup720 goes in different slots in the cat6k chassis as compared to sup1/sup2. So basically newer linecards have specially equipped fabric interface at the back to use the switching fabric.

There are enough docs on cco depending on how deep you want to understand fabric switching. I tried to give a very oversimplified view of things.

HTH,

yash