Cisco 5000 Series - Manual (Page 17)

C H A P T E R
S e n d d o c u m e n t a t i o n c o m m e n t s t o n e x u s 5 k d o c s @ c i s c o . c o m
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Cisco Nexus 5000 Series Hardware Installation Guide
OL-15902-01
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Cisco Nexus 5500 Platform Overview
This chapter provides an overview of the Cisco Nexus 5500 Platform switch ( the Cisco Nexus 5548
switch).
This chapter includes these sections:
• Overview, page 1-1
• Applications, page 1-2
• Cisco Nexus 5548P Switch, page 1-2
Overview
The Cisco Nexus 5548P switch, which is the first switch in the Cisco Nexus 5500 Platform, provides the
following features:
• Standards-based 10-Gigabit Ethernet, FCoE, and virtual machine awareness features that allow you
to consolidate networks based on your requirements.
• Higher port density, lossless Ethernet, wire-speed performance, and very low latency. The switch
provides sufficient port density to support single and multiple racks fully populated with blade and
rack-mount servers.
• Ports and power connections that are at the rear, closer to server ports, which help to keep cable
lengths as short and efficient as possible.
• Hot-swappable power and fan modules that you can access from the front panel, where status lights
allow you to view the switch operation.
• Front-to-back cooling that supports efficient data center hot and cold-aisle designs.
• Replaceable units that are accessible from the front panel.
• Data Center Bridging (DCB) that enables Ethernet fabrics to support lossless transmission to
increase network scalability, support I/O consolidation, ease management of multiple traffic flows,
and optimize performance. Although SAN consolidation requires only the lossless fabric provided
by the Ethernet pause mechanism, the Cisco Nexus 5548P switch provides additional features that
create an even more easily managed, high performance, unified network fabric.
• Cisco unified fabric that consolidates all data center I/O onto Layer 2 Ethernet. Unified fabric
reduces capital and operating costs by reducing the number of server adapters, cables, and upstream
switches needed.