Nexus 7000 Series Datasheet for the F3-Series 48-Port 1/10 Gigabit Ethernet Module

The Cisco Nexus 7000 F3-Series 48-Port 1 and 10 Gigabit Ethernet Module is a high-density modular line card for Cisco Nexus 7000 Series chassis. It provides 48 SFP/SFP+ interfaces, supports both 1 Gigabit Ethernet and 10 Gigabit Ethernet connectivity, and delivers wire-rate Layer 2 and Layer 3 forwarding for IPv4 and IPv6 traffic. The module is intended for data center access, aggregation, core, unified fabric, virtualization, cloud, and data center interconnect deployments that require dense fiber connectivity with low forwarding latency.

Product role and architecture

The module uses the Cisco Nexus F3-Series switch-on-a-chip ASIC. The ASIC combines forwarding, queuing, and packet-processing functions in a design intended to provide high performance while reducing module power and cooling requirements compared with more distributed architectures.

Each module provides:

• 48 SFP and SFP+ ports
• 1 Gigabit Ethernet and 10 Gigabit Ethernet operation
• Up to 720 million packets per second of Layer 2 and Layer 3 forwarding
• Up to 480 Gbps of data throughput
• Four ingress queues and four egress queues per port
• 72 MB of virtual output queue buffer per module
• Jumbo frames up to 9216 bytes
• Hardware forwarding for IPv4 and IPv6
• Support for Layer 2 and Layer 3 data center functions
• Hardware support for VXLAN and LISP
• MACsec support on ports 41 through 48
• Optional FCoE capability through the applicable ordering item

A Cisco Nexus 7000 18-Slot chassis populated with F3-Series modules can deliver up to 11.5 billion packets per second and 15.4 Tbps of switching performance. These figures describe chassis-level capacity under the stated fully populated configuration and should not be interpreted as a guaranteed application throughput for every traffic profile.

The module requires a Cisco Nexus 7000 supervisor module identified as N7K-SUP2 or N7K-SUP2E. Compatibility also depends on the installed NX-OS software release and the specific optic or copper assembly selected.

Chassis compatibility and density planning

The module is supported in Cisco Nexus 7000 4-, 9-, 10-, and 18-slot chassis. The maximum native 10 Gigabit Ethernet density depends on chassis size:

The module occupies one I/O module slot in a Cisco Nexus 7700 platform chassis, as stated in the physical specifications. When preparing a chassis design, the line-card count must be evaluated together with supervisor, fabric, power, cooling, and slot requirements. The 48-port module count alone does not establish the final chassis capacity or redundancy model.

A practical port-density calculation is:

Installed module count x 48 = physical ports before reserving ports for uplinks, maintenance, redundancy, or growth

For a 10 Gigabit Ethernet-only design, the chassis maximums in the table above should be used rather than assuming that every physical port can be populated without regard to chassis architecture or fabric capacity.

Forwarding, scale, and buffering

The forwarding engine provides 720 mpps for Layer 2 and Layer 3 forwarding of both IPv4 and IPv6 packets. The module supports up to 480 Gbps of data throughput. Forwarding scale includes:

These values are hardware scale limits presented for the module. Actual usable scale can be affected by NX-OS release, feature combinations, table allocation, VDC configuration, and the traffic features enabled on the system. Presales designs should reserve capacity for control-plane, routing, security, and virtualization requirements instead of sizing exactly to the published maximum.

The 72 MB VOQ buffer is relevant to designs with oversubscription, bursty east-west traffic, storage traffic, and multi-tenant aggregation. It does not eliminate the need to validate congestion behavior, queue configuration, traffic-class design, and fabric-level contention.

Network and virtualization capabilities

The module supports the core Layer 2 and Layer 3 functions required for data center switching. It is also designed for environments using network virtualization, fabric overlays, and data center interconnection.

Supported technologies include:

• Cisco FabricPath
• VXLAN with wire-rate hardware support
• Locator/ID Separation Protocol
• Overlay Transport Virtualization
• Multiprotocol Label Switching
• Virtual Private LAN Service
• Cisco Nexus 2000 Series Fabric Extenders
• Fibre Channel over Ethernet
• Virtual Device Contexts
• Cisco TrustSec
• MACsec on ports 41 through 48

FabricPath is applicable where a resilient and scalable Layer 2 fabric is required while maintaining connectivity with existing spanning-tree-based deployments. VXLAN supports Layer 2 overlay extension across Layer 3 infrastructure and can support virtual machine mobility between Layer 2 domains when the surrounding architecture is designed for that purpose.

OTV, MPLS, and VPLS provide options for data center interconnection and service-provider-style transport designs. These capabilities should be mapped to the required control-plane, encapsulation, transport, and operational model before selecting the module for a production architecture.

FEX support allows Nexus 2000 Series fabric extenders to be connected through the module. This can reduce the number of independently managed switch points, but the resulting design remains dependent on the parent Nexus 7000 chassis, supervisor, fabric, and software architecture.

VDCs allow one physical switch to be provisioned as multiple logical devices. Each logical device is configured and managed as if it were a separate physical device. VDC planning must account for the published limit of 4,096 simultaneous VLANs per VDC and for the separate resource requirements of routing, ACLs, adjacencies, and management.

Security and control-plane functions

The module provides several hardware-assisted security functions:

• Configurable Control-Plane Policing
• ACL counters and logging
• Layer 2 through Layer 4 ACL processing
• IPv4 and IPv6 ACL support
• Cisco TrustSec security group tag processing
• IEEE 802.1AE MACsec on ports 41 through 48

CoPP is used to protect the supervisor CPU from excessive or hostile control-plane traffic. Presales designs should include a defined control-plane policy rather than treating CoPP as an automatic substitute for routing protocol protection, management-plane controls, or infrastructure ACLs.

ACL counters and logging improve operational visibility. The published ACL scale is 16,000 entries, but the effective limit depends on how entries are consumed by IPv4, IPv6, Layer 2, Layer 3, Layer 4, VDC, and feature-specific policies.

MACsec is limited to ports 41 through 48 according to the supplied specifications. This restriction must be checked during port assignment. If encrypted links are required, the design should reserve these ports for the applicable connections and confirm transceiver and software compatibility.

Optics and cabling selection

The module requires separate SFP or SFP+ modules. Optic selection must match the port speed, fiber type, wavelength, distance, connector plant, and feature requirements. The following matrix lists the supported interface options and stated distances.

10 Gigabit Ethernet SFP+ options

For SFP-10G-SR, the stated distances range from 26 meters on FDDI-grade multimode fiber to 400 meters on OM4. SFP-10G-LRM supports specific multimode distances and 300 meters over G.652 single-mode fiber. Multimode use with LRM is limited to ports 41 through 48, while 300-meter single-mode support applies to all ports.

The -ER option requires a 5 dB 1550 nm fixed-loss attenuator for links shorter than 20 km. The -ZR option requires attenuation based on link length: 15 dB below 5 km, 10 dB from 5 km to 25 km, and 5 dB from 25 km to 45 km. Links longer than 30 km using ER are considered engineered links.

Gigabit Ethernet SFP options

Mode-conditioning patches are required for certain traditional multimode fiber types, including FDDI-grade, OM1, and OM2, where identified by the optic requirements. Fiber attenuation, splice count, connector loss, dispersion, and plant quality must be validated for long-reach optics.

Ordering matrix

The base module requires separately selected SFP or SFP+ modules. Optics, twinax assemblies, and active optical cables are not included in the line-card part number.

Environmental and physical requirements

The module occupies one I/O module slot and has the following physical characteristics:

The supplied specifications do not publish a module MTBF value, acoustic noise level, module-specific power draw, or module-specific heat dissipation figure. These values must therefore be obtained from the applicable chassis installation and power documentation before completing rack power, thermal, or facilities calculations. The module’s use of the F3-Series SoC is described as reducing power and cooling requirements, but no numerical power or acoustic value is provided.

Listed compliance includes Class A EMC requirements, FCC Part 15, ICES-003, EN55022, CISPR22, CISPR24, EN55024, EN50082-1, EN61000-3-2, EN61000-3-3, EN61000-6-1, EN300 386, and related regional standards. The module also lists NEBS, Verizon, CenturyLink, AT&T, and ETSI environmental requirements, with validation in progress identified for the relevant entries. Safety compliance includes UL/CSA/IEC/EN 60950-1 and AS/NZS 60950.

Software and management prerequisites

The stated software compatibility is Cisco NX-OS Software Release 6.2.12 or later. The datasheet identifies hardware support for multiple functions but directs that the required NX-OS release be confirmed for individual features.

Available programming and management interfaces include:

• XML
• Scriptable CLI
• Cisco Data Center Network Manager web services
• Python
• Tool Command Language interpreter
• Cisco Embedded Event Manager
• Cisco ONE Platform Kit
• OpenFlow

Front-panel indicators provide operational and troubleshooting status:

• Status LED: green for operational, red for faulty, orange during module boot
• Link LED: green for enabled and connected, orange for disabled, off for enabled but not connected
• Link and ID beacon behavior: blinking green and orange with blue ID indication when the port is flagged
• ID LED: blue when identified by an operator, off when not flagged

Warranty and service

The Cisco Nexus 7000 Series switches include a standard Cisco one-year limited hardware warranty.

Available service offerings include Cisco Advanced Services and Cisco SMARTnet Service. Advanced Services uses an architecture-led approach covering data center planning, deployment, optimization, migration, and operational improvement. SMARTnet Service provides access to Cisco network experts and support resources for mission-critical issues. The service description also identifies Smart Call Home capability for proactive diagnostics and real-time alerts on the Nexus 7000 Series switch.

For a production proposal, the hardware warranty should be separated from the selected support contract. The support design should identify response requirements, replacement logistics, software access, escalation procedures, monitoring ownership, and whether proactive alerting is required. Spare line cards and optic reserves should be sized according to the business impact of a failed module, the number of deployed chassis, and the required restoration time.