Forget the Nexus 6001 the Nexus 5600 just replaced it! well kind of....

Cisco look to have rebranded the Nexus 6001 in to the Nexus 5672 platform but added Fibre Channel support.

They have also released a 2U logical replacement for the Nexus 5596 called the Nexus 56128, somewhat confusing for the customer and kind of brakes there numbering schema they have been running, Cisco a bit more planning, Prior Planning Prevent Poor Performance? Bit harsh but hay, they were announced at Cisco Live Europe, the Data Sheet is out at Cisco.com but the from my CCO login I can’t get a price on anything other than software upgrades as yet!

Well the upshot, can’t see why you would buy a Nexus 5500 or the Nexus 6001 over the new Nexus 5600’s once you can actually get a price for them ;-)

Also announced the Cisco Nexus 3172 it’s a 10-Gbps SFP+-based ToR switch with 48 SFP+ ports and 6 QSFP ports, allot of forwarding power to Top of Rack!

Nexus 5548 vs 6001

The Cisco Nexus 6001 provides higher port density, 48x10G & 4x40G, throughput, built in Layer 3 and 40G uplinks, although it only supports FCoE not Native Fiber Channel as the 5548UP.  The lack of FC on the 6001 Leaf switch however is not a big problem as I'm sure that Cisco will be building a 1/2/4/8 Gbps SAN Fiber Channel card for the 6004 allowing for converged networking in the future at the Spine.

Switch	Port Density	Forwarding Rate – Layer 2	Forwarding Rate – Layer 3	MAC Entries	USD List Price
Nexus 5548 (N5K-C5548UPM-B-S48)	48 SFP+	960 Gbps or 714.24 mpps	160 Gbps or 240 mpps	32,000	$42,000
Nexus 6001 (N6K-C6001-64P)	48 SFP+ 4 QSFP+	Full Line rate	1.28 Tbps	256,000	$40,000

Cisco 40G BiDi optics

Working on some Data Center refresh work, looking further at the most resent Nexus platforms I noticed that Cisco have released a cleaver 40Gb QSFP that will use only a single fiber pair to transport 40Gb.  Currently only available on the Nexus 9000 but I’m sure something this useful will make its way down the product list.

Cisco QSFP 40-Gbps Bidirectional Short-Reach Transceiver Data Sheet.

Update: I have them working now on the Cisco Nexus 5696Q running 7.0 NXOS, currently only prototype setup <10 Meters but they are working well.

Cisco Catalyst 6500E/SUP720 Architecture

Used this this morning for a quick refresher on the 6509E back plane cross connect, another useful posting from Mr Greg Ferro of the Packet Pushers fame. http://etherealmind.com/cisco-supervisor-720-why-architecture-performance/

Easy Sandbox for your home PC

If like me your security paranoid/educated (take you pick which one apply to you?)  you have set up Sandbox VM's or run boot Linux boot distros form DVD/CD's for that just in case protection from Malware then this might be of interest to you.

http://www.sandboxie.com/

Sandboxie runs your programs in an isolated space which prevents them from making permanent changes to other programs and data in your computer.  should be less effort for the every day user that other solution and for 15 euros it will not brake the bank.

Lifehacker have a install guide and review here

When to hard drives meet their maker?

Interesting Statistics from Back Blaze on the life of hard drives, they have over 25,000 of them so they have a good sample to work from.  Brings home that they are mechanical, they will fail, so keep your backups at the ready.

• 4 years 20% Fail, 
• 6 Years 50% Fail.

http://blog.backblaze.com/2013/11/12/how-long-do-disk-drives-last/