Cisco Nexus 5548UP

[Bhanudasmali]

Hi

I need a switch that supports FC, FCoE and iSCSI traffic. The switch that has been suggested to us is Cisco Nexus 5548UP.

I have the following queries regarding this switch:

1)       At our end, I have AMS 2100 Hitachi Storage which has iSCSI & FC Ports. I also have Qlogic CNA card at the server end which supports both ISCSI & FCOE. For FCoE protocol based traffic, the storage to switch connection will have to be FC and the switch to server connection will be FCoE. Can you please confirm whether, if this will be possible through the proposed Cisco Nexus 5548UP switch?

2)       The specification for the Nexus 5548UP switch claims that it supports 10 Gigabit Ethernet. Can you please confirm if this relates to iSCSI support that the switch provides?

3)       We are going to use  -SFP-FC4G-SW & SFP-10G-SR SFP for fiber connectivity. Can you please let us know the what these SFP are used for and whether they assist in FC and FCoE traffic forwarding?

4)       We are also going to use Nexus 5500 Storage License, 8 Ports. Does this indicate that only 8 ports of the switch can be connected to the storage? Among these ports, can we configure 4 ports for FC and 4 ports for iSCSI (keeping in mind that our storage has both FC and iSCSI ports)?

5)       Is there any License required for enable FC, FCoE and iSCSI protocols?

An early resolution of these queries will enable us to make a decision regarding the switch.

Thanks

Bhanudas Mali

[Leo Laohoo]

The specification for the Nexus 5548UP switch claims that it supports 10 Gigabit Ethernet. Can you please confirm if this relates to iSCSI support that the switch provides?

The "UP" in the Nexus 5548 stands for Universal Port.  This means that each port can support FC, FCoE and Ethernet.  So, a 5548 has 32 ports of SFP/SFP+.  Each port can support and push 10 Gbps at a 1:1 oversubscription rate.

There is an optional 16-port SFP/SFP+ module, N55-M16UP, which will add an additional 16 Universal Ports.

Because they are "universal" they can support 1/10 Gbps FCoE and Ethernet as well as 1, 2, 4 and 8 Gbps FC.

[Leo Laohoo]

We are going to use  -SFP-FC4G-SW & SFP-10G-SR SFP for fiber connectivity. Can you please let us know the what these SFP are used for and whether they assist in FC and FCoE traffic forwarding?

SFP-FC4G-SW is 4 Gbps SFP.  For the Nexus, you need to use DS-SFP-FC4G-SW.

SFP-10G-SR is 10 Gbps SFP+.  You can use this on the Nexus 5548.

Cisco Nexus 5548P, 5548UP, 5596UP, and 5596T Switches Data Sheet

[jkilleda]

Hello Bhanudas,

Cisco Nexus 5548UP
You can refer the below datasheet for reference.

https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/products/collateral/switches/nexus-5000-series-switches/data_sheet_c78-618603.html