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Building a new 6513E

mike.taylor
Level 1
Level 1

Hi,

We are currently researching on replacing our current 6509E's with 6513E's. We have decided to go with virtual switching offered VS-S720-10G-3C * and

VS-S720-10G-3C * supervisor modules. I saw a note stating (** Requires DFC3's) to utilize maxiumn features. I then started to research Cisco Distributed Forwarding Card 3C (DFC3C) and Cisco Distributed Forwarding Card 3CXL (DFC3CXL) CDF cards. However, I thought these cards were added to line cards not supervisor modules?

I am confused, if I buy a new supervisor module is there addtional cards I need to equip it with?

3 Replies 3

DuncanM2008
Level 1
Level 1

Hello,

I've recently been through this with the SUP720-3BXL, when you purchase line cards you have to purchase a DFC daughter card to fabric enable the module, otherwise the module uses the shared switching bus (much slower).

It's a bit of a minefield with Cisco docs but if you read on a bit you'll find the corresponding part number for the daughter card, if you want full performance and local switching & processing per line card you'll need the DFC for each card.

Any questions let me know.

HTH

Sent from Cisco Technical Support iPhone App

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The    Author of this posting offers the information contained within this    posting without consideration and with the reader's understanding that    there's no implied or expressed suitability or fitness for any  purpose.   Information provided is for informational purposes only and  should not   be construed as rendering professional advice of any kind.  Usage of  this  posting's information is solely at reader's own risk.

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Posting

when you purchase line cards you have to purchase a DFC daughter card to fabric enable the module, otherwise the module uses the shared switching bus (much slower).

A couple of 6700 series cards come standard with DFCs, for others, indeed it's optional.  (NB: 3B and 3C variants are (?) same list prices, so even if purchasing for sup3b, would suggest obtaining the newer 3C variants incase such cards are ever used with a vs-s720.)

Also, my understanding, DFCs don't enable fabric, they perform local forwarding (off-loading main sup forwarding) for traffic that ingress on that card's ports.  Also 6700 cef720 are fabric only cards.  For the older 6500 series bus/cef256 line cards, don't know whether DFC, alone, changes usage of bus or fabric card connections.  I believe the bus/cef256 cards normally prefer to transmit using their fabric connection but also believe there's a global configuration option to have them prefer their bus connection (the latter useful if most card-to-card traffic between bus/cef256 card[s] and bus-only card[s]).

Joseph W. Doherty
Hall of Fame
Hall of Fame

Disclaimer

The   Author of this posting offers the information contained within this   posting without consideration and with the reader's understanding that   there's no implied or expressed suitability or fitness for any purpose.   Information provided is for informational purposes only and should not   be construed as rendering professional advice of any kind. Usage of  this  posting's information is solely at reader's own risk.

Liability Disclaimer

In   no event shall Author be liable for any damages whatsoever (including,   without limitation, damages for loss of use, data or profit) arising  out  of the use or inability to use the posting's information even if  Author  has been advised of the possibility of such damage.

Posting

If you have DFC equipped cards, optimal performance is obtained if the supervisor and DFCs all are the same variants.  If not, system uses lowest common denominator features.  (NB: in some situations, whole chassis might need a power reset to properly integrate newly added different variants.)

If DFC capable cards have CFCs, I believe, there's no performance difference.

The 6708 and 6716 cards' DFC might not be upgradable (should already be 3C variant, but might differ in XL vs. non-XL - for typical Enterprise usage, XL shouldn't be needed).

Some additional notes: cef720 sups in 6513s do not provide dual fabric channels to all slots, i.e. some cef720 cards will not work in some slots.  (If I remember correctly, only slots 9..13 are dual fabric.)  (NB: sup2t provides 2x per slot bandwidth vs. sup720 and also does so for all 6513-E slots.)

The VS-S720 has a higher PPS rating than the other sup720s and I also understand a 2nd sup actually contributes to chassis forwarding.

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