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Quick Comparison: Cisco Nexus 7000 series vs Cisco Nexus 7700

Today in this article I am going to explain a quick comparison between Cisco Nexus 7000 Series Datacenter switch with Cisco Nexus 7700 Series Datacenter switch. Although Cisco Nexus 7700 series is the modified model of 7000 series and used where you required higher throughput on the backplane traffic.

Both Cisco Nexus 7000 and Cisco 7700 series datacenter switch higher model support 1, 10 , 40 and 100 Gbps port density. The concept of supervisor engine is there ( one Primary and other redundant supervisor). The maximum switching capacity with the Cisco Nexus 7000 series Switch is Tbps while in Cisco Nexus 7700 you can have the maximum switching capacity of 83 Tbps.

Below is a sample topology where we are using Nexus 7000 or Nexus 7700 series switches, They are generally used in the Core and distribution layers with the support of F and M cards in the chassis.

Fig 1.1- Sample Topology using Nexus switching in the Core

The Major difference between them is Cisco Nexus 7700 supports F2e and F3 line cards while in Nexus 7000 Series switch supports F1, F2 and F2e line cards.

There are various models of both the Nexus switches and these switches are

  • Cisco Nexus 7000 Switch : Cisco Nexus 7004, Nexus 7009, Nexus 7010 and Nexus 7018
  • Cisco Nexus 7700 Switch : Cisco Nexus 7702, Nexus 7706, Nexus 7710 and Nexus 7718
Here in the comparison, i am just taking the higher models of Cisco Nexus 7000 series switch and Cisco Nexus 7700 series switch. Well some of the features are not available in lower models of both the series switches but with the higher model you are able to have maximum features in your chassis.

Regarding the Supervisor engines, Cisco Nexus 7000 series switch supports SUP1, SUP2 and SUP2E supervisors while most of the times in Cisco Nexus 7700 series switch we are using only SUP2E supervisor engines.

For Fabric module, In cisco Nexus 7000 series we have two kinds of Fabric modules and they are FAB-1 and FAB-2 while in the Nexus 7700 series switch we have fabric module FAB-2 used. Maximum Fabric card supported in Nexus 7000 series switch is five while in Nexus 7700 series switches are six.

Below is the table which shows the comparison between both the series switches (taken higher switches). Click on the picture to enlarge

Fig 1.2- Comparison Cisco Nexus 7000 Series vs Cisco Nexus 7700 Series