[nsp] Fabric-Enabled

[Rubens Kuhl Jr.]

> Can anyone enlighten me on what exactly "fabric-enabled" means in terms of
> performance/throughput for the following Catalyst 6509 modules?

Fabric-enabled modules also have the ability to forward packets in
compressed mode, where only the header is sent to the Supervisor, and full
packet goes directly from one line-card to another. To do this, all
line-cards in the chassi need to be fabric-enabled, or it will default to
normal mode.

> Catalyst 6500 48-port 10/100/1000 GE Mod., RJ-45  WS-X6148-GE-TX=
> Catalyst 6500 48-port fabric-enabled 10/100/1000 Module  WS-X6548-GE-TX=
> Catalyst 6500 48-port 10/100/1000 GE Mod: fabric enabled, RJ-45
> WS-X6748-GE-TX=

A module with 48 1000 Mbps ports using the standard 65xx bus is too much
oversubscribed, unless no ports are using 1000 Mbps. I don't recall what
changes from 6548 to 6748, but I would guess that one has one fabric
connection and the other has two fabric connections. The second would
require two fabrics on the chassis to achieve full speed.

> Do you need to be doing L3?

No.

> Do you need to have a Fabric Module installed for it to make a difference?

Yes.


Rubens