N7K-M108X2-12L vs N7K-M224XP-23L

[timtimrawi]

Hello; 

I'm running into a dilemma here and I don't seem to be finding the answer for it anywhere.

We currently have N7K-C7009 with 5 x N7K-M108X2-12L, each can do linerate 8x10G and 120Mpps. We have no need for additional 10G ports but since these cards are going EOL we are looking into the M2 series. 

We are interested in the N7K-M224XP-23L which does 24 x 10G at linerate. However, the M2 card only does 120Mpps (averaging 5Mpps per port which is pretty low). The N7K-M224XP-23L uses the same dual packet processor as the M1 counter part. 

Aside from FEX support, and adjacency routes when it comes to mixed VDC with F2e cards (which I'm not quite certain if this impacts static routes), and obviously port density what are the benefits of this M2 card vs. the M1? 

Thank you; 

Tim 

[Reza Sharifi]

Hi,

Here is good comparison sheet that shows you the details between the 2 modules:

https://www.cisco.com/c/dam/en/us/td/docs/switches/datacenter/nexus7000/sw/matrix/technical/reference/Module_Comparison_Matrix.pdf

One difference is the fabric interfaces:

M1 is 230 Gig but M2 is 550 Gig.

HTH

[timtimrawi]

Reza; 

I've already seen that, but considering that the M108 is a 8x10G it really isn't a concern. 

It makes no sense to me that the M224XP-23L uses the same forwarding engine configuration with 120Mpps forwarding limit for 24 x 10G. This pretty much means that if you are using full line-rate on all ports you are limited to 5Mpps per port. Is that a correct assumption? 

[Reza Sharifi · Accepted solution]

Hi,

Yes, you are correct. Both cards are at 120Mpps. You would think with larger fabric interface (550Gig) and fabric bandwidth (240G/FAB2) You get more pps but that is not the case.

[timtimrawi]

It makes no sense to me that Cisco is EOL'ing the M108x2-12L while there is no acceptable alternative, especially since it seems to be a forwarding engine issue. 

Thank you for confirming my doubts, can you please take a look at my other post about N7K Linear Forwarding?