Tag Archives: ethernet switch

VXLAN Enabled Network Switch: What Is the Benefit?

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VXLAN (Virtual Extensible Local Area Network) technology has attracted much attention these days in networking industry – since traditional VLAN links proven insufficient to cope with rigid requirements of cloud providers. Network switch with VXLAN capability is proposed to extend VLAN and overcome the limited scalability posed by VLAN. The VXLAN-enabled Ethernet switch provides layer 2 connectivity extension across the layer 3 boundary, enabling large-scale virtualized and multitenant data center designs over a shared common physical infrastructure. So it is the right time to enable VXLAN to network switch? How to get a decent VXLAN switch? We try to shed some lights on these issues.

What Is VXLAN?

VXLAN is a network virtualization scheme that enables users to create a logical network for virtual machines (VMs) across different networks. And it allows users to create a layer 2 network on top of layer 3 through encapsulation. In this way, you could potentially create 16 million networks using VXLAN – a lot more compared to the 4096 VLANs. VXLAN uses Layer 3 multicast to support the transmission of multicast and broadcast traffic in the virtual network, while decoupling the virtual network from the physical infrastructure. The following picture illustrates how VXLAN works.

what is vxlan

VXLAN gateway: A VXLAN gateway bridges traffic between VXLAN and non-VXLAN environments by becoming a virtual network endpoint. For example, it can link a traditional VLAN and a VXLAN network

VXLAN segment: A VXLAN segment is a Layer 2 overlay network over which VMs communicate. Only VMs within the same VXLAN segment can communicate with each other.

VNI: The Virtual Network Identifier (VNI), also referred to as VXLAN segment ID. The system uses the VNI, along with the VLAN ID, to identify the appropriate tunnel.

VTEP: The VXLAN Tunnel Endpoint (VTEP) terminates a VXLAN tunnel. The same local IP address can be used for multiple tunnels.

VXLAN header: In addition to the UDP header, encapsulated packages include a VXLAN header, which carries a 24-bit VNI to uniquely identify Layer 2 segments within the overlay.

What Makes a Good VXLAN Network Switch?

Network switch is a major building block in data transmission. Compared with traditional Ethernet switch, a VXLAN network switch generally possesses benefits like improved scalability (delivers a scale version of layer 2 network on highly scalable and proven layer 3 networks) & agility (provides VM ready networking infrastructure). VXLAN capable network switch also offers multiple solutions for private, public, & hybrid cloud networks. Moreover, network switch of this type also delivers higher programmability: it can work with network controllers and cloud orchestration stack such as OpenStack. You have account for at least the following aspects when choosing a VXLAN capable network switch.

    • Look for right ASIC.

    -Packets per second. A 32×100 GbE switch will have 4.47 billion packet per second (with all sort of packet size), make sure your vendor has that covered.

   -Latency. If this matters to you, 300 Nano seconds latency at all packet sizes is pretty easily available if you are looking for it.

    -Micro burst absorption ability.

   -Fairness on how the buffers are shared between ports.

  • Look for right scale. Considering the number of Layer 3 route a VXLAN network switch can support, the VXLAN VNI scale and the VTEP scale.
  • Open Networking. Look for a network switch that supports open networking and can give you disaggregated options if needed. In short, look for a vendor that can support multiple OS options.

FS.COM VXLAN Enabled Network Switch Solution

FS.COM offers a broad product line of network switches with the data rate spanning 1G to 100G. Among which the 100Gb switch S5850-48S2Q4C and S8050-20Q4C are Ethernet switches that support VXLAN function. S5850-48S2Q4C features 48 10G SFFP+ ports and 6 hybrid 100G uplink slots, while S8050-20Q4C has 20 40G QSFP+ ports and 4 100G QSFP28 ports. Both of the VXLAN network switches are traditional L2/L3 switches with advanced features including MLAG, VXLAN, IPv4/IPv6, SFLOW, SNMP etc, which is ideal for traditional or fully virtualized data center.

vxlan enabled network switch

The following diagram summarizes the feature sets of these VXLAN enabled network switches.

Port Attributes
S5850-48S2Q4C
S8050-20Q4C
Switch Class
Layer2/3, data center, Metro
Layer2/3, data center, Metro
10GbE SFP+ Ports
48
4 (Combo)
40GbE QSFP+ Ports
2
20
100GbE QSFP28 Ports
4
4
Max. 10GbE Density
72
96
Max. 40GbE Density
6
24
Max. 100GbE Density
4
4
Switch Fabric Capacity
1.92Tbps
2.4Tbps
Non-blocking Bandwidth
960Gbps
1.2Tbps
Forwarding Rate
1200Mpps
1200Mpps
Latency
612ns
612ns
Jumbo Frame
9600 Bytes
9600 Bytes
Typical/Max Power Draw
160W/200W
120W/160W

VXLAN based network switch has been accepted as a better solution with evident benefits, including sufficient links and capacity to handle massive traffic in cloud environment, the ability to stretch L2 network over a L3 network, and unsurpassed reliability and scalability. FS.COM offers professional and cost-efficient network switch solutions for enterprise networks and data centers, for more details, please contact us via sales@fs.com.

Compatible Cisco 2960 SFP for Cisco 2960 Series Switches

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Cisco Catalyst 2960 series switches are available in 2960, 2960-S, 2960-SF, 2960-X and many other types. The Cisco 2960-S and 2960-SF series are the newest members of the 2960 family that offer a rich set of Layer 2 features. The 2960-S provides Gigabit Ethernet (10/100/1000) connectivity with 10G/1G SFP+ uplinks, and the 2960-SF provides Fast Ethernet (10/100) connectivity with 1G SFP uplinks. This blog mainly introduced the knowledge of 2960-SF series switches and their compatible Cisco 2960 SFP modules.
Cisco 2960
Cisco Catalyst 2960-SF Series Switches Overview
Cisco Catalyst 2960-SF series switches deliver secure and reliable LAN access for branch and medium-sized campus deployments. They enable reliable and secure business operations and lower total cost of ownership through a range of innovative features including FlexStack, Power over Ethernet Plus (PoE+), and Cisco Catalyst SmartOperations. These series switches include 7 models. 5 models with LAN Base Software and 2 models with LAN Lite Software.

Cisco Catalyst 2960-SF Series Switches with LAN Base Software
Switch Model Description Uplinks Available PoE Power
2960S-F48FPS-L 48 Ethernet 10/100 ports with PoE+ 4 SFP 740W
2960S-F48LPS-L 48 Ethernet 10/100 ports with PoE+ 4 SFP 370W
2960S-F24PS-L 24 Ethernet 10/100 ports with PoE+ 2 SFP 370W
2960S-F48TS-L 48 Ethernet 10/100 ports 4 SFP
2960S-F24TS-L 24 Ethernet 10/100 ports 2 SFP
Cisco Catalyst 2960-SF Series Switches with LAN Lite Software
2960S-F48TS-S 48 Ethernet 10/100 ports 2 SFP
2960S-F24TS-S 24 Ethernet 10/100 ports 2 SFP

What’s the Difference Between the LAN Base and LAN Lite Switches?
The Cisco 2960-SF switches support the LAN Base and the LAN Lite software feature sets. The LAN Base feature set comes with advanced Layer 2(L2) features and is typically targeted at large enterprise customers. The LAN Lite feature set has entry-level L2 features and is targeted at mid market deployments. Following are the notable hardware differences:

  • Ease of management with Cisco FlexStack
  • Power of Ethernet (PoE/PoE+) capabilities
  • Increased number of VLANs
  • A wider selection of Small Form-Factor Pluggable (SFP) ports

Compatible Cisco 2960 SFP for Cisco 2960-SF Series Switches
By consulting the Cisco 100-Megabit Ethernet and Gigabit Ethernet SFP Modules Compatibility Matrix, I get following compatible Cisco 2960 SFP models that supported for 2960-SF series switches.

Compatible Fast Ethernet SFP Modules for Cisco 2960-SF Series Switches
Network Device Transceiver Model Description
2960S-F48TS-S

2960S-F24TS-S

GLC-GE-100FX 100BASE-FX SFP 1310nm 2km
GLC-FE-100FX 100BASE-FX SFP 1310nm 2km DOM
Compatible Gigabit Ethernet SFP Modules for Cisco 2960-SF Series Switches
Network Device Transceiver Model Description
2960S-F48TS-S

2960S-F24TS-S

2960S-F48FPS-L

2960S-F48LPS-L

2960S-F24PS-L

2960S-F48TS-L

2960S-F24TS-L

GLC-T 1000BASE-T Copper RJ-45 100m
GLC-TE 1000BASE-T Copper RJ-45 100m
GLC-SX-MM 1000BASE-SX SFP 850nm 550m
GLC-LH-SM 1000BASE-LX/LH SFP 1310nm 10km
GLC-SX-MMD 1000BASE-SX SFP 850nm 550m DOM
GLC-LH-SMD 1000BASE-LX/LH SFP 1310nm 10km DOM
GLC-EX-SMD 1000BASE-EX SFP 1310nm 40km DOM
Network Device Transceiver Model Description
2960S-F48FPS-L

2960S-F48LPS-L

2960S-F24PS-L

2960S-F48TS-L

2960S-F24TS-L

GLC-ZX-SM 1000BASE-ZX SFP 1550nm 70km
GLC-ZX-SMD 1000BASE-ZX SFP 1550nm 70km DOM
GLC-BX-D BiDi SFP 1490nm-TX/1310nm-RX 10km
GLC-BX-U BiDi SFP 1310nm-TX/1490nm-RX 10km
CWDM SFP 1270nm-1610nm (20nm spacing)

Conclusion
Cisco 2960-SF Ethernet switch enables a wide range of business or residential applications and services. FS.COM offers all above Cisco compatible transceiver with reasonable prices and high performance. All those products are tested before shipping to ensure high quality. For more details, please visit www.fs.com or contact us via sales@fs.com.

Related Article: Compatible Transceivers for Cisco Catalyst 4948E Switch

Interface Support for the QFX3500 Switch

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The high-performance Juniper Networks QFX3500 Switch addresses a wide range of deployment scenarios, which include traditional data centers, virtualized data centers, high-performance computing, network-attached and iSCSI storage, FCoE convergence, and cloud computing. This article may display some specific interfaces used for QFX3500 Switch. Hope it can help you complete your network installation and deployment.

QFX3500 Switch Overview
There are Forty-eight 10-Gbps access ports in the device use small form-factor pluggable plus (SFP+) transceivers and operate by default as 10-Gigabit Ethernet interfaces. Optionally, you can choose to configure up to 12 of the ports as 2-Gbps, 4-Gbps, or 8-Gbps Fibre Channel (FC) interfaces, and up to 36 of the ports as 1-Gigabit Ethernet interfaces (shown in the picture below). When used as a standalone Ethernet switch, four 40-Gbps uplink ports in the device use quad small form-factor pluggable plus (QSFP+) to four SFP+ copper breakout cables to support an additional 15 10-Gigabit Ethernet interfaces.

QFX3500 Switch

QFX3500 Switch Data Center Deployments
Today’s data centers are built with high-performance, small form-factor, multi-core blade and rack servers. The greater compute capacity and server densities enabled by these devices is increasing traffic levels, creating the need for a high speed, low latency, storage- and I/O-converged networking solution that can maximize performance for physical servers, virtual servers, and storage in the data center. The QFX3500 Switch delivers the ultra low latency, lossless high density 10GbE interfaces, and FCoE Transit Switch and FCoE-FC Gateway functionality demanded by today’s data center—all in a compact form factor designed to support high-performance, converged data center access networks. The QFX3500’s low power consumption optimizes the switch’s power use effectiveness (PUE) ratio to reduce data center operating costs, while front-to-back air flow meets hot and cold aisle isolation requirements.The following picture shows a QFX3500 high-performance Ethernet L2 and L3 access deployment scenario.

QFX3500 Switch Data Center Deployments

Interface Requirement for the QFX3500 Switch
The 48 small form-factor pluggable plus (SFP+) access ports in the QFX3500 device support SFP and SFP+ transceivers, as well as SFP+ direct-attach copper (DAC) cables. For added configuration flexibility, up to 36 of the QFX3500’s 48 pluggable SFP+ ports can be used in 10GbE or 1GbE mode with up to 18 of the 1GbE ports being copper. The remaining 12 ports can be used to support 2, 4, or 8 Gbps Fibre Channel modes as well as 10GbE. The four quad small form-factor pluggable plus (QSFP+) uplink ports in the QFX3500 device support QSFP+ transceivers, as well as QSFP+ DAC and DAC breakout cables. When the QFX3500 device is operating as a standalone switch, each QSFP+ port can be configuredto operate as 10-GigabitEthernet interfaces or a single 40-Gigabit Ethernet interface. By default, the uplink ports on a standalone switch are configured as 10-Gigabit Ethernet interfaces.

1000 Mbps SFP transceiver modules available for the QFX3500 switch

MFG PART Description Max transmission distance
QFX-SFP-1GE-T Juniper 1000BASE-T SFP Copper Transceiver, RJ-45 Connector 100 m (328.08 ft)
QFX-SFP-1GE-SX Juniper 1000BASE-SX SFP 850nm Transceiver, LC Connector 550 m (1804.46 ft)
QFX-SFP-1GE-LX Juniper 1000BASE-LX SFP 1310nm Transceiver, LC Connector 10 km (6.21 miles)

2GFC, 4GFC, and 8GFC Fibre Channel SFP+ module for the QFX3500 switch

MFG PART Description Max transmission distance
QFX-SFP-8GFC-SW Juniper 8G Fibre Channel SFP+ 850nm Transceiver, LC Connector 150 m (429.13ft)

10G SFP+ transceiver modules available for the QFX3500 switch

MFG PART Description Max transmission distance
QFX-SFP-10GE-USR Juniper 10GBASE-USR SFP+ 850nm Transceiver, LC Connector 100 m (328.08 ft)
QFX-SFP-10GE-SR Juniper 10GBASE-SR SFP+ 850nm Transceiver, LC Connector 300 m (984.25 ft)
QFX-SFP-10GE-LR Juniper 10GBASE-LR SFP+ 1310nm Transceiver, LC Connector 10 km (6.21 miles)
QFX-SFP-10GE-ER Juniper 10GBASE-ER SFP+ 1550nm Transceiver, LC Connector 40 km (24.86 miles)

10G SFP+ cables available for the QFX3500 switch

MFG PART Description Cable length
QFX-SFP-DAC-1M Juniper SFP+ 10 Gigabit Ethernet Direct Attach Copper (passive twinax copper cable) 1 m (3.28 ft)
QFX-SFP-DAC-3M Juniper SFP+ 10 Gigabit Ethernet Direct Attach Copper (passive twinax copper cable) 3 m (9.84 ft)
QFX-SFP-DAC-5M Juniper SFP+ 10 Gigabit Ethernet Direct Attach Copper (passive twinax copper cable) 5 m (16.40 ft)
QFX-SFP-DAC-1MA Juniper SFP+ 10 Gigabit Ethernet Direct Attach Copper (active twinax copper cable) 1 m (3.28 ft)
QFX-SFP-DAC-3MA Juniper SFP+ 10 Gigabit Ethernet Direct Attach Copper (active twinax copper cable) 3 m (9.84 ft)

40G QSFP+ transceiver modules available for the QFX3500 switch

MFG PART Description Max transmission distance
QFX-QSFP-40G-SR4 Juniper 40GBASE-SR4 QSFP+ 850nm Transceiver, MPO Connector 150 m (492.13 ft)
QFX-QSFP-40G-ESR4 Juniper 40GBASE-SR4 QSFP+ 850nm Transceiver, MPO Connector 400 m (1312.34 ft)
JNP-QSFP-40G-LX4 Juniper 40GBASE-LX4 QSFP+ 1310nm Transceiver, LC Connector 2 km (1.24 miles)

40G QSFP+ cables available for the QFX3500 switch

MFG PART Description Cable length
QFX-QSFP-DAC-1M Juniper 40-Gbps QSFP+ passive DAC cable 1 m (3.28 ft)
QFX-QSFP-DAC-3M Juniper 40-Gbps QSFP+ passive DAC cable 3 m (9.84 ft)
QFX-QSFP-DAC-5M Juniper 40-Gbps QSFP+ passive DAC cable 5 m (16.40 ft)
JNP-QSFP-DAC-5MA Juniper 40-Gbps QSFP+ active DAC cable 5 m (16.40 ft)
JNP-QSFP-DAC-7MA Juniper 40-Gbps QSFP+ active DAC cable 7 m (22.97 ft)
JNP-QSFP-DAC-10MA Juniper 40-Gbps QSFP+ active DAC cable 10 m (32.81 ft)
QFX-QSFP-DACBO-1M Juniper 40G QSFP+ to four SFP+ passive DAC breakout cables 1 m (3.28 ft)
QFX-QSFP-DACBO-3M Juniper 40G QSFP+ to four SFP+ passive DAC breakout cables 3 m (9.84 ft)