[c-nsp] Catalyst vs. Nexus

[Nick Hilliard]

On 09/09/2009 09:08, Arie Vayner (avayner) wrote:
> There are a few differences between Catalyst switches and Nexus
> switches.

The nexus n5k / n2k switches are a completely different architecture which 
use different software.  I haven't played with them, but they show promise.

> Another major difference is the integration of Nexus 2000 Fabric
> Extenders with Nexus 5000 switches. The Nexus 2000 switches basically
> act as remote (over 10Gig fiber) "linecards" of the Nexus 5000. This
> allows deploying top of the rack switches without the additional
> management overhead:

The N2K only support 1000 connections, not 10/100.  So if you have slower 
speed kit like console servers or tiny boxes or whatever, you will need to 
cope with these separately.  This is noted obliquely in the documentation:

> http://www.cisco.com/en/US/prod/collateral/switches/ps9441/ps10110/data_sheet_c78-507093.html

> Layer 2 Features
[...]
> • Autonegotiation to 1000BASE-T; full duplex on host interfaces

Nick