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Introduction to Cisco Catalyst 6800 Switch

 Today I am going to talk about the Cisco 6800 Catalyst switches in details where I am discuss about the features and the benefits of Cisco 6800 Switches. As you all knew that Cisco already declared end of sale and End of support with Cisco 6500 Chassis and the replacement chassis is Cisco 6800 as of now. Cisco will soon come up with the new switch in Cisco catalyst 9k Series which have the further more features included such as Encrypted traffic analytics and programmable IOS and UDAP 2.0 features. 


Cisco switching portfolio will be more strong when they come up with the Cisco 9k catalyst switches. As of now only 3 different kind of Cisco catalyst switches which includes Cisco 9300 ( Access Switch and Fixed Chassis), Cisco 9400 ( Access and modular Chassis) and Cisco 9500 ( Core and Fixed chassis). They will soon come up with the modular chassis in core portfolio with Cisco 6800 catalyst switches.

Let's talk about Cisco 6800 as of now. These Switches are similar features of Cisco 6500 Chassis with the VSS features. These switches are generally used in the Data-Center Environment. But Cisco now comes with more switches in the Data Centre and that Switches are Nexus Series Switches. Nexus Switches will be discuss in another article which will includes the Cisco Nexus 2k, 5K, 7K and Cisco Nexus 9K with ACI Platform.

Fig 1.1- Cisco 6807-XL Switch
 Cisco Catalyst 6880-X Series Switch  is an extensible fixed aggregation switch that delivers a best-in-class Cisco Catalyst 6500 feature set in a small form factor. This premier aggregation platform offers best-in-class scalability and flexibility with the premier Cisco Catalyst 6500 feature sets. This 40G/100G-ready platform is ideal for those who want to introduce premium 10G services in small or midsize campus backbones. 

This unique platform offers 10G port density, full MPLS/VPLS functionality with large table sizes (up to 2M FIB entries), and more than 15 years of best-in-class features. With a full suite of L2/L3, virtualization, security, multicast, IPV6, application visibility, smart operations, and rich media services Cisco Catalyst 6800-X delivers unprecedented capabilities on day one. This platform also runs on the same architecture as the Cisco Catalyst 6500 Supervisor Engine 2T and therefore offers stability with a proven operating system software.

The Cisco Catalyst 6800-X Series chassis offers integrated resiliency by providing N+1 redundant fans, 1+1 power supply redundancy, and support for virtual switching system (VSS), thereby limiting network downtime, and ensures workforce productivity, customer satisfaction, and profitability.

Features of Cisco 6800 Catalyst Switches
  • Platform Scalability: The platform supports up to 220Gbps slot capacity per port-card. It supports up to 2Tbps of switching capacity, which doubles up to 4Tbps with VSS technology.
  • Security: Support for Cisco TrustSec (CTS), to provide IEEE 802.1AE MACsec encryption and role-based ACL, CoPP to prevent DoS attacks and Cisco ISE to safeguard and manage end-to-end security for the enterprise.
  • Virtualization: Comprehensive suite of Virtualization features including L2/L3 VPN, full MPLS, EVN, VRF aware applications for NAT Net-flow  GRE for v4/v6, L2 extensions with VPLS etc. to segment different user groups and serve unique security/QoS policy requirements of each of these diverse user groups.
  • Application Visibility and Control (AVC): Supports enhanced application monitoring such as Flexible and Sampled NetFlow for intelligent and scalable application monitoring.
  • Smart Operations: The Cisco Catalyst 6880-X supports Catalyst Instant Access*, which allows an Instant Access Client to act as a remote line card of the Cisco Catalyst 6880-X, as well as Smart Install Director, which provides zero-touch deployment of access switches.
  • High Availability: Two Cisco Catalyst 6880-X Series Switches can be combined into a VSS. In addition to high-availability VSS, provides ease of operation by providing a single point of management, eliminating the need for First Hop Routing Protocol (FHRP) and removing the reliance on Spanning Tree Protocol (STP) for link failure restoration.

The Catalyst 6800 series facilitates:
  • Five nines (99.999 percent) availability with next-generation Cisco Virtual Switching System (VSS) technology (VSS Quad Supervisor SSO [VS4O])
  • One policy with Cisco Identity Services Engine
  • Centralized management with Cisco Prime infrastructure
  • One network with Cisco Wireless Services Module 2 (WiSM2)
  • Roaming and device mobility with the Cisco Campus Locator/ID Separation Protocol (LISP)

To simplify the campus network, Catalyst 6800:
  • Supports the Catalyst Instant Access solution, which extends backbone features to the access layer with simplified configuration, management, and feature consistency
  • Supports Smart Operations features, including VSS, Smart Install, and Embedded Event Manager (EEM)
  • Is fully integrated with Cisco Prime Infrastructure and Cisco DNA portfolio.