Description
The Cisco Nexus 5000 Series delivers these benefits to data centers through the following product features:
- High performance 10 Gigabit Ethernet: The Cisco Nexus 5000 Series is a family of line-rate, low-latency, cost-effective 10 Gigabit switches designed for access-layer applications.
- Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE): The Cisco Nexus 5000 Series is the first open-standards-based access-layer switch to support I/O consolidation at the rack level through FCoE.
- IEEE Data Center Bridging (DCB): The switch family incorporates a series of Ethernet enhancements designed for the data center, including flow control and network congestion management.
- VM Optimized Services: The switch family supports end-port virtualization and virtual machine optimized services, helping increase the scalability of virtual Layer 2 networks and enhancing application performance and security.
Features and Benefits
- The switch family’s rich feature set makes the series ideal for rack-level, access-layer applications. It protects investments in data center racks with standards based Ethernet and FCoE features that allow IT departments to consolidate networks based on their own requirements and timing.
- The combination of high port density, wire-speed performance, and extremely low latency makes the switch an ideal product to meet the growing demand for 10 Gigabit Ethernet at the rack level. The switch family has sufficient port density to support single or multiple racks fully populated with blade and rack-mount servers.
- Built for today’s data centers, the switches are designed just like the servers they support. Ports and power connections are at the rear, closer to server ports, helping keep cable lengths as short and efficient as possible. Hot-swappable power and cooling modules can be accessed from the front panel, where status lights offer an at-a-glance view of switch operation. Front-to-back cooling is consistent with server designs, supporting efficient data center hot- and cold-aisle designs. Serviceability is enhanced with all customer-replaceable units accessible from the front panel. The use of SFP+ ports offers increased flexibility to use a range of interconnect solutions, including copper for short runs and fiber for long runs.
- Fibre Channel over Ethernet and IEEE Data Center Bridging features supports I/O consolidation, eases management of multiple traffic flows, and optimizes performance. Although implementing SAN consolidation requires only the lossless fabric provided by the Ethernet pause mechanism, the Cisco Nexus 5000 Series provides additional features that create an even more easily managed, high-performance, unified network fabric.
