[c-nsp] ME Series for a LAN/Server Farm

[Nick Hilliard]

On 09/12/2010 00:05, Phil Bedard wrote:
> The Nexus 5548 has 1G support coming sometime in the near future, so if
> you are looking to buy further down the line it might be an option.   The
> older 5010/5020 models have limited 1G support (only on first 16 ports if
> I recall correctly)

ObWarning: down-stepping from 10G to 1G on a box often requires lots of 
buffers if the traffic is bursty.  The N5548 is a cut-thru switch with 
small port buffers (680k per port, of which only 160k is allocated for 
egress)[1].  If you randomly mix 10G and 1G on a box without careful 
consideration on a box like this, you may end up losing lots of data.

In this light, I would suggest that the N5k limits on 1G port availability 
aren't as much of a problem as they might seem.

Nick
[1] 
http://www.cisco.com/en/US/prod/collateral/switches/ps9441/ps9670/qa_c67-618605_ps9670_Products_Q_and_A_Item.html#wp9000216