Description
Understanding the Cisco N2K-C2232PF-10GE 32 Ports Fabric Extender
The N2K-C2232PF-10GE Nexus 2000 Series is a networking device designed to extend the capabilities of a data center’s Ethernet fabric. This expansion module provides 32 ports for connecting devices within the data center, along with an additional 8 ports specifically for uplink connections using Small Form-factor Pluggable Plus (SFP+) technology. With 10 Gigabit Ethernet speeds, this fabric extender offers high-performance connectivity for demanding data center environments. Equipped with 2 AC power supplies and 1 fan module, it ensures reliability and efficient cooling for uninterrupted operation.
Overview of the Nexus 2000 Series 10 Gigabit Ethernet Expansion Module
The Nexus 2000 Series is a family of fabric extenders developed by Cisco Systems to enhance the scalability and flexibility of data center networks. These fabric extenders serve as remote line cards for Cisco Nexus switches, enabling simplified management and expansion of network connectivity. The N2K-C2232PF-10GE model is a member of this series, offering a combination of port density, speed, and power redundancy suitable for modern data center deployments.
Key Features of the N2K-C2232PF-10GE
- Port Configuration: The N2K-C2232PF-10GE fabric extender provides a total of 40 ports, with 32 ports dedicated to device connectivity and 8 ports reserved for uplink connections using SFP+ technology. This configuration allows for flexible deployment options to accommodate various network architectures and growth requirements.
- 10 Gigabit Ethernet Speeds: With support for 10 Gigabit Ethernet speeds, this fabric extender delivers high-performance connectivity for data-intensive applications and workloads. The increased bandwidth helps alleviate network congestion and ensures smooth communication between devices within the data center environment.
- SFP+ Uplink Ports: The inclusion of 8 SFP+ uplink ports enables seamless integration with existing network infrastructure, allowing for efficient connectivity to upstream switches or routers. These uplink ports support various optical and copper transceivers, offering versatility in connecting to different types of network equipment.
- Power Redundancy: The N2K-C2232PF-10GE fabric extender is equipped with 2 AC power supplies, providing redundancy to ensure continuous operation in the event of a power supply failure. This redundant power configuration enhances the reliability of the network infrastructure, minimizing downtime and potential disruptions to critical services.
- Fan Module for Cooling: Effective cooling is essential for maintaining optimal performance and reliability in networking equipment. The N2K-C2232PF-10GE fabric extender features a dedicated fan module designed to dissipate heat generated during operation, helping to prevent overheating and ensure stable performance in various environmental conditions.
Benefits of Using the N2K-C2232PF-10GE Nexus 2000 Series
- Scalability: The Nexus 2000 Series fabric extenders offer scalable connectivity options, allowing organizations to easily expand their data center networks to accommodate growing demands. With support for a large number of ports and uplink connections, the N2K-C2232PF-10GE provides the flexibility needed to scale network infrastructure according to evolving business requirements.
- High Performance: By supporting 10 Gigabit Ethernet speeds, the N2K-C2232PF-10GE fabric extender delivers exceptional performance for bandwidth-intensive applications and workloads. This high-speed connectivity enables fast data transfer rates and low latency, enhancing overall network performance and user experience.
- Reliability: With redundant power supplies and a dedicated fan module, the N2K-C2232PF-10GE fabric extender offers enhanced reliability and uptime for critical network operations. The redundant power configuration ensures uninterrupted power delivery, while the fan module helps maintain optimal operating temperatures to prevent equipment failures due to overheating.
- Simplified Management: The Nexus 2000 Series fabric extenders are designed to integrate seamlessly with Cisco Nexus switches, providing a unified management interface for the entire network infrastructure. This integration simplifies network provisioning, monitoring, and troubleshooting, reducing operational complexity and administrative overhead.
- Versatility: The N2K-C2232PF-10GE fabric extender supports a wide range of network architectures and deployment scenarios, making it suitable for diverse use cases across different industries. Whether deployed as a standalone fabric extender or as part of a larger Cisco Nexus fabric architecture, it offers the versatility needed to adapt to changing business requirements.
Use Cases for the N2K-C2232PF-10GE Nexus 2000 Series
- Enterprise Data Centers: The N2K-C2232PF-10GE fabric extender is ideal for enterprise data centers seeking to enhance network scalability and performance. It enables seamless expansion of network connectivity to support growing numbers of users, devices, and applications, while ensuring reliability and uptime for critical business operations.
- Cloud Service Providers: Cloud service providers can leverage the N2K-C2232PF-10GE fabric extender to build high-performance network infrastructure that meets the demanding requirements of cloud-based services. Its support for 10 Gigabit Ethernet speeds and redundant power supplies makes it well-suited for delivering scalable and reliable connectivity to virtualized workloads and distributed applications.
- High-Performance Computing (HPC) Environments: In HPC environments where massive computational workloads are common, the N2K-C2232PF-10GE fabric extender can provide the necessary network bandwidth and performance to support data-intensive applications. Its high-speed connectivity and redundant power architecture ensure uninterrupted access to computational resources, enabling researchers and scientists to perform complex simulations and analyses efficiently.
- Financial Services: Financial institutions rely on high-speed and reliable network connectivity to execute trades, process transactions, and deliver real-time market data. The N2K-C2232PF-10GE fabric extender offers the performance and redundancy required for mission-critical trading systems, ensuring low latency and continuous operation even during peak trading hours.
Network Management Capabilities
The N2K-C2232PF-10GE Cisco Nexus 32 Ports Fabric Extender Expansion Module provides several network management capabilities that allow network administrators to monitor and manage their network infrastructure. Here are some of the key network management capabilities supported by the device:
- Cisco NX-OS: The N2K-C2232PF-10GE runs the Cisco NX-OS operating system, which provides a command-line interface (CLI) and a web-based graphical user interface (GUI) for configuring and managing the device.
- Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP): The N2K-C2232PF-10GE supports SNMP, which allows network administrators to monitor device performance and status remotely. SNMP can be used to retrieve information such as interface statistics, CPU and memory usage, and device temperature.
- Cisco Prime Infrastructure: The N2K-C2232PF-10GE is compatible with Cisco Prime Infrastructure, which is a network management tool that provides a single dashboard for monitoring and managing network devices. Cisco Prime Infrastructure can be used to perform tasks such as network configuration, performance monitoring, and troubleshooting.
- Remote Monitoring (RMON): The N2K-C2232PF-10GE supports RMON, which allows network administrators to monitor network traffic and detect network problems. RMON can be used to generate alerts when network traffic exceeds certain thresholds or when certain types of traffic are detected.
- Virtualization: The N2K-C2232PF-10GE supports virtualization, which allows multiple virtual machines (VMs) to be run on a single physical server. Network administrators can use virtualization to improve server utilization and reduce hardware costs.
- Auto-configuration: The N2K-C2232PF-10GE supports auto-configuration, which allows the device to automatically discover its network settings and configure itself accordingly. This can simplify the installation and configuration process and reduce the risk of errors.
- Event Management: The N2K-C2232PF-10GE supports event management, which allows network administrators to receive notifications when certain events occur on the device. For example, network administrators can receive notifications when a port goes down or when a new device is detected on the network.
By providing these network management capabilities, the N2K-C2232PF-10GE Cisco Nexus 32 Ports Fabric Extender Expansion Module can help network administrators monitor and manage their network infrastructure more effectively. It is important to consult the Cisco documentation and follow best practices when configuring and using these features to ensure optimal network performance and reliability.
Ensuring Reliability and Security
The N2K-C2232PF-10GE Cisco Nexus 32 Ports Fabric Extender Expansion Module provides several features to ensure the reliability and security of the network. Here are some of the key features that help ensure network reliability and security:
- Redundancy: The N2K-C2232PF-10GE supports multiple levels of redundancy, including power supply redundancy and uplink redundancy. Power supply redundancy ensures that the device can continue to operate even if one power supply fails. Uplink redundancy allows multiple uplinks to be configured, ensuring that the network can continue to operate even if one uplink fails.
- Quality of Service (QoS): The N2K-C2232PF-10GE supports QoS, which allows network administrators to prioritize traffic and allocate bandwidth based on the needs of different applications. QoS can help ensure that critical applications receive the necessary network resources, even during periods of high network traffic.
- Access Control: The N2K-C2232PF-10GE supports access control features, such as port security and MAC address filtering. These features help ensure that only authorized devices are allowed to connect to the network.
- Secure Management: The N2K-C2232PF-10GE provides several features to ensure the secure management of the device, including role-based access control (RBAC) and Secure Shell (SSH) access. RBAC allows network administrators to assign different roles to different users, providing granular control over device management. SSH access provides secure remote access to the device, helping to prevent unauthorized access.
- Network Segmentation: The N2K-C2232PF-10GE supports network segmentation, which allows network administrators to divide the network into smaller, isolated segments. Network segmentation can help improve network performance and security by limiting the scope of network traffic and reducing the risk of unauthorized access.
Enhanced Data Management
The N2K-C2232PF-10GE Cisco Nexus 32 Ports Fabric Extender Expansion Module provides enhanced data management capabilities, allowing network administrators to better manage network traffic and optimize network performance. Here are some of the key data management features:
- Traffic Monitoring: The N2K-C2232PF-10GE supports traffic monitoring features, such as NetFlow and SPAN. NetFlow allows network administrators to monitor and analyze network traffic flows, providing insights into network usage and identifying potential bottlenecks. SPAN (Switched Port Analyzer) allows network administrators to mirror traffic from one or more ports to another port, allowing for detailed analysis and troubleshooting of network traffic.
- VLAN Support: The N2K-C2232PF-10GE supports Virtual LAN (VLAN) technology, which allows network administrators to divide the network into smaller, isolated segments. VLANs can help improve network performance and security by limiting the scope of network traffic and reducing the risk of unauthorized access.
- Multicast Support: The N2K-C2232PF-10GE supports multicast routing, which allows network administrators to efficiently deliver multicast traffic to multiple recipients. Multicast routing can help reduce network traffic and improve network performance, particularly in environments where multicast traffic is prevalent.
- Link Aggregation: The N2K-C2232PF-10GE supports Link Aggregation Control Protocol (LACP), allowing network administrators to group multiple physical links into a single logical link. Link aggregation can help improve network performance and reliability by providing increased bandwidth and redundancy.
- Storage Networking: The N2K-C2232PF-10GE supports Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE), allowing network administrators to consolidate storage and data networking onto a single, converged network. This can help reduce costs and simplify network management.
Key Information for Cisco N2K-C2232PF-10GE Nexus 2000 Fabric Extender
- Manufacturer: Cisco
- Model Number or SKU: N2K-C2232PF-10GE
- Product Line: Nexus
- Product Series: 2000
- Product Name: Nexus 2000 Fabric Extender
- Product Type: Fabric Extender
Technical Specifications of 10 Gigabits Expansion Module
- Number of Ports: 32
- Data Link Protocol: 10 Gigabit Lan, FCoE
- Auxiliary Ports: 8 x SFP+ (uplink)
- Form Factor: Rack-mountable
- Connectivity Technology: Wired
Power Details
- Power Device: Power Supply – Hot-plug / Redundant – Plug-in Module
- Voltage Required: AC 120/230 V (50/60 Hz)
- Power Consumption Operational: 270 Watts
Features & Protocol
- Network/Transport Protocol: TCP/IP, UDP/IP, ICMP/IP
- Remote Management Protocol: SNMP 1, SNMP 2, RMON, SNMP 3
- Status Indicators: Port Status, Power, System
- Features: Flow Control, Uplink, Auto-negotiation, VLAN Support, IGMP Snooping, Syslog Support, Weighted Round Robin (WRR) Queuing, Spanning Tree Protocol (STP) Support, Access Control List (ACL) Support, Quality of Service (QoS), Jumbo Frames Support
- Compliant Standards: IEEE 802.3, IEEE 802.1Q, IEEE 802.1p, IEEE 802.1X, IEEE 802.3ae
- Expansion Slot(s): 40 (total) / 24 (free) x SFP+
Outline, the N2K-C2232PF-10GE Nexus 2000 Series fabric extender is a versatile and reliable networking solution designed to enhance the scalability, performance, and reliability of data center networks. With its combination of port density, 10 Gigabit Ethernet speeds, redundant power supplies, and efficient cooling, it provides the capabilities needed to support modern data center environments across various industries and use cases. Whether deployed in enterprise data centers, cloud environments, HPC facilities, or financial services institutions, the N2K-C2232PF-10GE fabric extender offers the flexibility and performance required to meet the evolving demands of today’s digital economy.
