Nexus 9000 Series Switch FEX Support

• 9300 Series, NX-OS Mode
• 9500 Series, NX-OS Mode
• 9300 Series, ACI Mode
• Additional Notes

9300 Series, NX-OS Mode

Note: The switches and linecards that are excluded from this table do not support FEX in NX-OS Mode.
FCoE Notes:
- FCoE is supported only with FEX models N2K-C2232PP, N2K-C2348UPQ, B22-HP, B22-IBM, and N9K-C93180YC-FX3 (in FEX mode).
- The N9K-C93108TC-EX does not support FCoE.
- FCoE over FEX is supported with N9K-C93180YC-FX in NPV mode beginning with NX-OS Release 9.2(1).
- FCoE with N9K-C93180YC-FX3 in FEX mode is supported only with N9K-C93180YC-FX switches in NPV mode beginning with NX-OS Release 10.3(1)F.
Additional Notes

9500 Series, NX-OS Mode

Note: The switches and linecards that are excluded from this table do not support FEX in NX-OS Mode.
FCoE Notes: FCoE is supported only with FEX models N2K-C2232PP, N2K-C2348UPQ, B22-HP, and B22-IBM. The N9K-X9464PX, N9K-X9536PQ, N9K-X9564TX, and N9K-X9636PQ do not support FCoE.
Additional Notes

9300 Series, ACI Mode

Note: The switches and linecards that are excluded from this table do not support FEX in ACI Mode.
FCoE Notes: FCoE is supported only with FEX models N2K-C2348UPQ, N2K-C2348TQ, N2K-C2232PP, B22-DELL, B22-HP, B22-IBM for N9K-C93180LC-EX, N9K-C93180YC-EX, and N9K-C93180YC-FX switches in ACI Mode.

Additional Notes

Notes for All Modes

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• A release number in the popup indicates the earliest release that supports this combination of switch and FEX.

• Unless noted otherwise, the base model support also applies to port count extensions such as -24 or -48, although the minimum supported release may differ.

• In applications where both the parent switch and the FEX have SFP+ ports, native 10G is supported with a direct connection between SFP+ ports (no breakout required).

• In breakout applications, unless noted otherwise, the QSFP+ connector of the breakout cable attaches to the parent switch and the SFP+ connector(s) attaches to the FEX.

• BiDi QSFP is supported on interfaces connecting the Cisco Nexus N9K-C93180YC-FX and Cisco Nexus N2K-C2248PQ switches and Cisco Nexus N9K-C93180YC-FX and Cisco Nexus N2K-C2348UPQ switches.

• First generation Cisco Nexus 9300 platform switches do not support FEXs on uplink module ports (ALE - Application Leaf Engine). First generation switches are those that do not have a suffix (such -EX, -FX, or -FX2) in the model name.

Notes for NX-OS Mode

• The N9K-X9732C-EX, N9K-X9732C-FX, N9K-X9736C-EX, N9K-X9736C-FX, N9K-X97160YC-EX, N9K-X9788TC-FX, N9K-X9464TX, N9K-X9464TX2, and N9K-X9408PC-CFP2 do not support FEX in NX-OS Mode.

• Beginning with NX-OS Release 7.0(3)I7(1), the Cisco Nexus 2332TQ supports the Cisco Nexus 9300, 9300-EX, and 9500 platform switches as the parent switch (on all FEX supported platforms).

• The N9K-C9336C-FX2-E switch does not support FEXs.

• N9K-C93180YC-FX3 in FEX mode is supported only with N9K-C93180YC-FX switches in NPV mode beginning with NX-OS Release 10.3(1)F.

• For FEX HIF port channels, Cisco recommends that you enable STP port type edge using the spanning tree port type edge [trunk] command.

• The Cisco Nexus 9300-FX3 device (acting as a FEX) does not require any license, and is covered by the parent switch.

• Straight-through FEX and Dual-homed FEX considerations:

  • Unless noted otherwise, NX-OS mode FEX support includes both dual-homed and straight-through support. Dual-homed FEX is added in NX-OS Release 7.0(3)I5(2).

  • Cisco 9300-EX series switches support straight-through FEX beginning with Cisco NX-OS Release 7.0(3)I5(1).

  • Cisco 9300-FX series switches support only straight-through FEX until NX-OS Release 9.2(1), when dual-homed support was added.

  • Cisco 9300-FX2 series switches support only straight-through FEX until NX-OS Release 9.3(5), when dual-homed support was added.

  • Cisco Nexus N9K-C93180YC-FX supports straight-through FEX with N2K-C2232PP and N2K-C2248TP FEX models in NX-OS Mode beginning with NX-OS Release 7.0(3)I7(3). Dual-homed FEX is added in NX-OS Release 9.2(1). FCoE Over FEX is not supported with Nexus N9K-C93180YC-FX in NX-OS Release 7.0(3)I7(3). However  FCoE over FEX is supported with N9K-C93180YC-FX in NPV mode from NX-OS Release 9.2(1).

• Breakout considerations:

  • Beginning with NX-OS Release 7.0(3)I7(1), if a switch supports FEX and supports breakout, the breakout ports of the parent switch can be connected using breakout cables to the FEX switch.

  • The Cisco Nexus 2248PQ, 2348TQ, and 2348UPQ FEX switches support connections to the Cisco Nexus 9300 or 9500 platform parent switches by using supported breakout cables to connect a QSFP+ uplink on the FEX (40 Gbps links) and an SFP+ link on the parent switch (4x10 Gbps links).

  • For Cisco Nexus 9500 platform switches, 4x10 Gbps breakout for FEX connectivity is supported on N9K-X9432PQ, N9K-X9536PQ, and N9K-X9636PQ beginning with NX-OS Release 7.0(3)I7(1).

• Beginning with NX-OS Release 9.3(9) and Release 10.2(2), the Cisco Nexus 2248PQ, 2348TQ, 2348TQ-E, and 2348UPQ FEX switches support using a QSA adapter on the FEX NIF to connect to an 10 Gbps/SFP+ link on the parent switch.

Notes for ACI Mode

• Dual-homed FEX is not supported in ACI mode.

• ACI leaf default uplinks converted to downlinks can be used to connect FEX switches.

• The Cisco Nexus 9300-FX3 device (acting as a FEX) is required to have Essentials license.

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