Understanding Nexus -- Part 3 -- SUP & Modules

Supervisor Engine of Nexus is just like 6500 SUP... With many changes, ofcourse.

The Nexus SUP has,

1. 4 GB DRAM,

2. 2 GB Internal BootDisk (8 GB Log & 2 GB Expansion), 

3. 2 MB NVRAM

4. Dual Core Processor

For External Connections

1. 1 “10/100/1000” Ethernet Mgmt Port, 

2. 1 Console Port  & 1 Auxiliary Port 

3. 1 CMP 10/100/1000 Ethernet Port 

4. 3 USB Ports (2 host – 1 device)

5. 2 external compact flash slots

Management Interface

It is a Out-of-band 10/100/1000 management interface means, if you are sitting in DataCenter you can have a separate network just for Management. All our PC's will be connected to this interface. As shown in the diagram...

Connectivity Management Processor (CMP)

It's a Standalone, “always on” management processor on supervisor engine with a separate interface for its own connection.

CMP has its own RAM & boot flash, front panel 10/100/1000 Ethernet port and it can access to the I/O (console/serial) ports. It has its own power management. CMP runs lightweight Linux kernel and network stack, which is Completely independent of NX-OS on main CPU.

It's used to

- provide remote connectivity to the Supervisor card via telnet or ssh

- monitor the health of the CPU on the Supervisor card

- monitor (view) the output on the Supervisor console port

- you can log the output and take full control of the Supervisor console port

- you can reset Supervisor Console Port if hung

Modules

- 32-Port 10GE I/O Module with SFP+ transceivers. This card has group interfaces. It has group of 4 interfaces. So total 8 Groups. Each group has 10G bandwidth allocated which shared among all 4 interfaces in the group. If you want to use complete 10G on a single interface then you have to use the first port (highlighted with yellow) in the group.

- 48-Port 10/100/1000 I/O Module with all RJ-45 interfaces.

- 48-Port 1G I/O Module with all SFP interfaces.