[c-nsp] Cisco Nexus as MetroE switch?

[Phil Mayers]

On 14/10/15 22:52, Gavin McBride wrote:

> Cisco have just pointed to their Nexus 9000 switches however, which has me
> a little surprised. From looking at their website, they really look like
> something aimed at a more Enterprise/Data Centre role, and I can't help but
> get the feeling they are trying to shoehorn any product in to suit the role
> I'm describing.

Yeah, they do this a lot these days...

>
> Is anybody else out there using these in such a role, or able to comment on
> the suitability of such a switch?
>
> Also, how do people feel about using NX-OS and VXLAN vs. IOS and IP/MPLS?

I'd be really cautious about using a Nexus box in this role.

I've no hands-on experience with the N9k, but we do use N7k in a 
location we previously used 6500, for MPLS P/PE L3VPN routing.

While the boxes do work, it's clear from my interaction with them that 
the Nexus business unit (or at least the bit responsible for the 7k) 
don't have focus on the some of the areas that we care about.

I would ask Cisco very hard questions about the BU intended use-case for 
the product - you do *not* want to be in a situation where you're 
troubleshooting an issue in a feature that you're one of only two (!) 
customers using globally.

In hindsight, I would not buy the N7k for the role we're using them in 
for exactly this reason - nothing related to hardware or NX-OS, and 
entirely related to BU focus and ability to get a TAC engineer with both 
product knowledge and functional area knowledge.

Cheers,
Phil