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Cisco Chassis Switch

trevorc1653
Level 1
Level 1

What is Cisco's largest (capacity) chassis switch, and where in the network, and for
what purpose is it used?

22 Replies 22

@trevorc1653 

C9400 is the largest

Used in  big  company. Purpose is attend demand for huge amount of interfaces. 

Usually used as core.

What you meaning by capacity can you elaborate 

MHM

Ram, CPU, throughput

MHM

For throughput capacity, for a Cisco chassis "switch", you probably would find the top end of the Nexus series with the most capacity.  This series is marketed for Data Centers.

CPU, for top of the line switches, generally is a non factor as dedicated hardware supports the data plane.

Likewise, provided RAM, is often not much of a factor, for expected usage.

Other hardware, though, like TCAM capacity, is often an important capacity consideration.

There's much more to selecting a chassis switch beyond some large forwarding capacity, assuming that's what capacity means to you.

Also, when Cisco says a chassis device is a switch vs. it's a chassis router, that can be as much marketing vs. true actual differences, as almost always the chassis switch is a L3 switch.

(Best historic Cisco case example was the 6500 chassis switch vs. the 7600 chassis router, where both chassis could use the same supervisor cards, the same Ethernet port line cards, and even the same IOS binary.  But, 6500 had some cards that would only work in its chassis, ditto 7600.)

Anyway, to select a switch, you should have much more info about its service needs.

Hello Joseph,

Love all of your comments!!!

One of your comments generates a separate question:  Since a chassis switch is a L3 switch,
essentially performing the same "major" function as a chassis (any router for that matter) router,
does one perform router functionality better than the other?

By the way, I know there's several variables that go into term "capacity".  I was deliberate in not
mentioning any of the ingredients that go into the makeup of the term, because I didn't want to
influence anyone's response.  I was seeking input as though responders were a part of the 
Cisco engineering team, and I was a customer!!!

Again, thanks for your input!


@trevorc1653 wrote:

One of your comments generates a separate question:  Since a chassis switch is a L3 switch,
essentially performing the same "major" function as a chassis (any router for that matter) router,
does one perform router functionality better than the other?

A chassis switch might be just a L2 switch, although I don't think Cisco offers such, now adays.

It's very much a gray area, what's a L3 switch vs. what's a router, but the former often, for the same price, has more capacity than the latter, while the latter often has more features than the former.

A chassis switch as a L2 switch.  I would have bet ranch, and lost it, that
no such thing existed.  This just confirms that I'll never know it all!!!

Thanks Joseph!

Don't recall if Cisco ever offered them, but I recall chassis hubs may have existed too.

Thank you Flavio!!!

Leo Laohoo
Hall of Fame
Hall of Fame

The CRS is the largest (and most expensive) chassis-based in Cisco's inventory and is aimed exclusively at telcos/ISP.  The line cards are very expensive.

It sits in the "super core" network.

Laugh, but OP asked for a chassis switch, not a chassis router, otherwise I would have suggested the CRS too.  Also, I recall the CRS supported more than a single chassis as an integral part of the system.  (My last employer did have CRSs, which I also recall, for the CRS-1, it had sluggish telnet command line processing.)

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