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Cisco Nexus : F2 and F2e/F3 series modules Features


Today I am going to talk about the feature difference between the F2, F2e and F3 series module in Nexus 7000 device. We have various models in Nexus 7K series. Now these 7K's are 7000 or 7700 Nexus devices. I already wrote some of the articles on Nexus 7k as below 

A quick note on Cisco Nexus 7710 and Cisco Nexus 7718 datacenter switches while talking about F modules used in the Nexus 7k switches.

Cisco Nexus 7710 Switch
The Cisco Nexus 7710 switch is a 10-slot chassis that delivers 1.32 Gbps per slot. It has two half-width slots for two Supervisor 2E modules and eight full-width slots for I/O modules. The switch supports up to six fabric modules and up to eight 3000 W power supply units. There are three fan trays. Airflow is front to back in the Cisco Nexus 7710 switch.

Cisco Nexus 7718 Switch
The Cisco Nexus 7718 switch is a 18-slot chassis that delivers 1.32 Gbps per slot. It has two half-width slots for two Supervisor 2E modules, and 16 full-width slots for I/O modules. The switch supports up to 6 fabric modules and up to 16 3000 W power supply units. There are three fan trays. Airflow is front to back in the Cisco Nexus 7718 switch.
Fig 1.1- F3/M3 Packet Flow
These are two big chassis in this portfolio and we are using F modules as L2 Switching modules in the Nexus environment. The F-Series can be used in the access and aggregation layers for economical performance when Layer 2 features satisfy the customer needs. 

The F-Series modules support Layer 2 switching and services with high performance, high density, low latency, and reduced power. The F-Series also supports Cisco FabricPath technology for up to 16-way multipathing for scalable Layer 2 networks and IEEE Data Center Bridging (DCB) for future Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE) capabilities. The Cisco Nexus 7000 F1 Series 32-Port 1 and 10 Gigabit Ethernet Module offers outstanding flexibility and performance with extensive fabric virtualization and multi-path capabilities. 

Below is the various F1, F2 and F2e/F3 series modules

F1 series modules: 1G/10G module: N7K-F132XP-15
F2 series modules: 1G/10G module: N7K-F248XP-25
F2e series modules: 1G/10G modules: N7K-F248XP-25E, N7k-F248XT-25E
F3 series modules: 40G module: N7K-F312FQ-25; 100G module: N7K-F306CK-25


Below is the various features for which F2, F2e and F3 modules support from the Hardware side.

Fig 1.2 F Modules Comparison