Exact difference and features between Gen1 and Gen2 Nexus ACI devices

[MoulaAli480]

Hello,

I could not understand what is the exact difference or extra benefits/features between Gen1 and Gen2 nexus ACI devices.

Like example nexus 9k devices (Spine/leaf). could someone please me like a points base scenario difference. 

Thanks & Regards,

Moula

[Sergiu.Daniluk]

Hi @MoulaAli480 

The main difference is the hardware architecture:

• first gen switches have 2x ASICs - one merchant silicon (NFE) and one cisco asic (ALE/ALE2)
• second gen and later switches have only 1x ASIC and it's a cisco one (cloud scale family)

Because of these, the first gen has limited scalability and limited or no support for A LOT of features. And trust me.. there are way too many features to start listing them all. Most of them are mentioned in config guides or whitepapers.

For example: https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/dcn/whitepapers/cisco-application-centric-infrastructure-design-guide.html

search for "generation" and you will find a lot of things mentioned.

Take care,

Sergiu

[MoulaAli480]

HI Sergiu,

Good day!

Thanks for the reply.

For the below point what is the exact benefit using 1xASIC other than
2xASIC's.

first gen switches have 2x ASICs - one merchant silicon (NFE) and one cisco
asic (ALE/ALE2) second gen and later switches have only 1x ASIC and it's a
cisco one (cloud scale family)

Regards,
Moula Ali

[Sergiu.Daniluk · Accepted solution]

The ASIC on 2nd gen is a newer one with more capabilities, while the ASICs on 1st gen are old and limited in capabilities.

Stay safe,

Sergiu