The Cisco ASR-9912-DC is a high-performance 10 Line Card Slot DC Chassis with PEM V2, designed as part of the Cisco ASR 9000 Series Aggregation Services Routers. This chassis supports the next-generation Cisco ASR 9900 Switch Fabric Card 3 (A99-SFC3), providing exceptional scale, service flexibility, and high availability for wireline, Data-Center-Interconnect (DCI), and mobile aggregation applications.
System Architecture and Scalability
The ASR 9912 chassis features a distributed switch fabric architecture with support for up to seven ASR 9900 switch fabric cards (SFC3). It employs a 6 + 1 redundancy model using an all-active fabric-controllers configuration, distributing traffic load across all seven fabrics. In case of a fabric card failure, the remaining six active cards continue forwarding traffic with hardware support for zero packet loss during Online Insertion and Removal (OIR). Each fabric card carries full switching capacity to meet chassis throughput requirements.
The switch fabric is a multistage low-latency non-blocking architecture, configured as a single stage of switching with multiple parallel planes. It transports packets from one line card to another using a single-stage, non-blocking, packet-based, store-and-forward switch. It integrates with Cisco ASR 9900 Route Processor 3 and Cisco ASR 9000 Route Switch Processor (RSP) for traffic management via centralized Virtual Output Queue (VOQ) arbitration.
Key Features and Benefits
- Highly scalable fabric: Designed to support high 1-, 10-, 25-, 40-, 100-, and 400-Gbps port densities. Provides built-in scalability for investment protection.
- Up to seven switch fabrics: Offers traffic load balancing simultaneously across up to seven fabrics. On the ASR 9912 Router, seven fabrics are located on seven dedicated fabric cards.
- Memoryless switch: Provides transparent non-blocking, low-latency packet forwarding.
- Fabric: Single-stage, non-blocking, and packet-based.
- Fabric speed: 600 Gbps per fabric card.
- Fabric redundancy per system: N + 1 up to seven fabrics.
- No single point of failure with N + 1 redundancy.
Supported Line Cards
The ASR 9912-DC chassis with A99-SFC3 supports a wide range of line cards across generations for maximum flexibility:
- 5th Generation: A99-4T-FC, A99-10X400GE-X-SE, A99-10X400GE-X-TR, A99-32HG-FC, A99-32X100GE-X-SE, A99-32X100GE-X-TR, A9K-20HG-FLEX-FC, A9K-20HG-FLEX-SE, A9K-20HG-FLEX-TR, A9K-8HG-FLEX-FC, A9K-8HG-FLEX-SE, A9K-8HG-FLEX-TR, A99-4HG-FLEX-FC, A99-4HG-FLEX-SE, A99-4HG-FLEX-TR, A9K-4HG-FLEX-FC, A9K-4HG-FLEX-SE, A9K-4HG-FLEX-TR.
- 4th Generation: A99-32X100GE-FC, A99-32X100GE-TR, A99-32X100GE-CM, A9K-16X100GE-FC, A9K-16X100GE-TR, A9K-16X100GE-CM, A99-16X100GE-X-FC, A99-16X100GE-X-SE.
- 3rd Generation: A99-12X100GE-FC, A99-12X100GE, A99-12X100GE-CM, A99-8X100GE-FC, A99-8X100GE-SE, A99-8X100GE-TR, A99-8X100GE-CM, A9K-8X100GE-FC, A9K-8X100GE-SE, A9K-8X100GE-TR, A9K-8X100GE-CM, A9K-8X100G-LB-SE, A9K-8X100G-LB-TR, A9K-4X100GE-FC, A9K-4X100GE-SE, A9K-4X100GE-TR, A9K-400GE-LAN-FC, A9K-4X100GE, A99-48X10GE-1G-FC, A99-48X10GE-1G-TR, A99-48X10GE-1G-SE, A9K-48X10GE-1G-FC, A9K-48X10GE-1G-TR, A9K-48X10GE-1G-SE, A9K-48X10GE-1G-CM, A9K-24X10GE-1G-FC, A9K-24X10GE-1G-TR, A9K-24X10GE-1G-SE, A9K-24X10GE-1G-CM, A9K-MOD400-FC, A9K-MOD400-SE, A9K-MOD400-TR, A9K-MOD400-CM, A9K-MOD200-FC, A9K-MOD200-SE, A9K-MOD200-TR, A9K-400G-DWDM-TR.
Cisco IOS XR Software
Powered by Cisco IOS XR Software Release 6.5.15 and later, the ASR 9912-DC delivers superior scale, service flexibility, and high availability. Key capabilities include Software Maintenance Updates (SMU) for bug fixes without service interruption, Field-Programmable Device (FPD) upgrades for FPGAs while systems are running. Supports Carrier Ethernet applications: Ethernet Services, L2VPN, L3VPN, IPv4/IPv6, IPTV, CDNs, mobile backhaul, IPoDWDM, SyncE, PTP, EOAM, MPLS OAM, L2/L3 ACLs, H-QoS, Segment Routing (SR), SRv6, RSVP/SR-TE, TI-LFA, RSVP-FRR, EVPN, MC-LAG, IRB, Cisco NSF/NSR, P2MP-TE, mLDP, Lawful Intercept, Smart Call Home. MSE and E-MSE for business VPNs with high VRF, route, BFD, BGP scale.
Switch Fabric Card Details (A99-SFC3 for ASR 9912)
Each switch fabric card occupies one slot at the front of the ASR 9912 chassis. Full-capacity redundant configuration uses up to seven slots. Features FPGA (Field-programmable gate array), SPI Flash with 128 Mb, NVRAM 128Kb, DDR4 1.5 GB.
Physical and Environmental Specifications
Switch fabric cards (A99-SFC3): Height 1.63 in. (4.26 cm), Width 16.86 in. (42.85 cm), Depth 22.96 in. (57.66 cm), Weight 13.36 lb (6.06 kg). Operating temperature (nominal): 32 to 104°F (0 to 40°C); short-term: 23 to 131°F (-5 to 55°C) for up to 96 hours, 360 hours/year max. Operating humidity: 5 to 90%. Storage temperature: -40 to 158°F (-40 to 70°C). Storage humidity: 5 to 93%. Operating altitude: -60 to 4000m.
Compliance and Standards
Designed to NEBS Level 3: SR-3580, GR-1089-CORE, GR-63-CORE, VZ.TPR.9205. ETSI: EN300 386, ETSI 300 019 classes, EN55022/24, EN50082-1/EN-61000-6-1. EMC Emission: FCC Class A, ICES 003 Class A, AS/NZS 3548 Class A, CISPR 22 Class A, VCCI Class A, BSMI Class A, IEC/EN 61000-3-2/3-3, EN 50121-4. EMC Immunity: IEC/EN-61000-4-2 to 4-11 series. Safety: UL/CSA/IEC/EN 60950-1, IEC/EN 60825, ACA TS001, AS/NZS 60950, FDA CFR Laser Safety.