"Top of the rack" switch

[David Hunt]

Good afternoon friends,

We are a non for profit agency and albeit the setup is about 10 years old, we were gifted all of the network hardware from a company in downtown Chicago.

In the one rack, there are 2 Cisco Nexus 5548P switches installed at the top of the rack. In doing my research on these discontinued units they were called "top of the rack" switches.

So I then ask Mr Google and was given this definition - Top-of-rack switching is a network architecture design in which computing equipment like servers, appliances and other switches located within the same or adjacent rack are connected to an in-rack network switch. The in-rack network switch, in turn, is connected to aggregation switches via fiber optic cables.

After more research - seems like Cisco Nexus is the product line from Cisco to perform this function.

Also after booting up the Nexus 5548 i notice a completely different OS and etc.

So, is there a benefit from using this product line vs using a Cisco catalyst which has an OS I already know?

any info is appreciated.

David

[nazimkha]

The Nexus series of switches have been optimized for Data Center whereas Catalyst series of switches are for Enterprise Networks.

The Nexus series of switches run NXOS

https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/products/switches/index.html

[Rajeshkumar Gatti · Accepted solution]

The Nexus switches can pretty much do all of the switching features you get from a catalyst. The NXOS does have a learning curve associated with it. However NX-OS been around for around 10 years so there is a lot of documentation to help you set this up. The 5548s may not do layer3 without the L3 card in it so something to be aware of from a design standpoint.

The benefit aspect of it is dependent on what you expect the product to do v/s a similar catalyst product.

-Raj

[David Hunt]

Thank you, if you do not mind, can we please delve deeper into data center design?

I found this article on top of rack vs end of row data center designs .

This article thoroughly described the various data center rack designs.

If there is a learning curve for the Nexus and may require layer 3 cards and etc... What is, if any, the benefit? Putting on your sales person hat for a moment, why would one choose Nexus over Catalyst?

Cost?

Performance?

Scalability?

Any info is greatly appreciated

David

[Rajeshkumar Gatti · Accepted solution]

Hi David,

Both the Catalyst and the Nexus product lines have a number of models catering to various customer requirements. 

The  Nexus5548  is an older hardware build specifically for L2 server end connection. The typical design would have the Nexus 7000s doing L3 for core/distro connections in a VPC setup (similar to a VSS for catalyst).

Most of the recent Nexus products can do L2 and L3. We have Nexus 3k/5k/7k/9k currently in play with the Nexus2K providing the extension as needed for the Nexus 5k/7k/9k hardware.

If you want a switch that can do L2 and L3, then both catalyst and Nexus models can do it.

But say you want high density 40/100gig connections and the ability to have hooks into the OS from a programability standpoint then the Nexus switches would be better fit compared to a catalyst.

The question on why I would chose Nexus v/s Catalysts cannot be answered without knowing what your requirements are from a design standpoint.

I cannot detail out cost differences as that would be something for the Sales team to provide specifics.

Hope this helps.

-Raj