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This document describes the Cisco IP fabric for media solution, new hardware and software features, upgrade instructions, and caveats for Cisco NX-OS Release 9.3(7) software for use on the following:
● Cisco Nexus 92160YC-X switch
● Cisco Nexus 9236C switch
● Cisco Nexus 9272Q switch
● Cisco Nexus 9364C switch
● Cisco Nexus 93108TC-EX, 93180LC-EX, 93180YC-EX, 93108TC-FX, and 93180YC-FX switches
● Cisco Nexus 93216TC-FX2, 93240YC-FX2, 93360YC-FX2, 9336C-FX2, 9348GC-FXP, 93180YC-FX3S, and N9K-C93180YC-FX3 switches
● Cisco Nexus 9316D-GX, 93600CD-GX, and 9364C-GX switches
● Cisco Nexus 9504 or 9508 switches with the N9K-X9636C-R, N9K-X9636C-RX, and N9K-X9636Q-R line cards
Table 1. Online History Change
Date |
Description |
March 11, 2021 |
Cisco NX-OS Release 9.3(7) became available. |
IP Fabric for Media
Today, the broadcast industry uses a serial digital interface (SDI) router and SDI cables to transport video and audio traffic. The SDI cables can carry only a single unidirectional signal. As a result, many cables, frequently stretched over long distances, is required, making it difficult and time-consuming to expand or change an SDI-based infrastructure.
Cisco’s IP fabric for media solution helps transition from an SDI router to an IP-based infrastructure. In an IP-based infrastructure, a single cable has the capacity to carry multiple bidirectional traffic flows and can support different flow sizes without requiring changes to the physical infrastructure. The solution uses Cisco Nexus 9000 Series switches in conjunction with the Cisco non-blocking multicast (NBM) algorithm (an intelligent traffic management algorithm) and with or without the Cisco DCNM Media Controller to provide a highly reliable (zero drop multicast), highly visible, highly secure, and highly available network.
Cisco Nexus 9000 Series NX-OS IP Fabric for Media Release 9.3(7) supports two deployment methods:
● Spine-leaf topology—A single or multi-spine deployment method with variable flow size that allows the NBM fabric to form a multicast flow.
● Single modular switch—An architecture suitable for fixed deployments, with the controller providing features such as flow visibility, security, and monitoring.
Supported Device Hardware
Table 2 lists the hardware that the Cisco Nexus 9000 Series NX-OS IP Fabric for Media Release 9.3(7) supports. For additional information about the supported hardware, see the Hardware Installation Guide for your Cisco Nexus 9000 Series device.
Table 2. Cisco Nexus 9000 Series Hardware
Product ID |
Hardware Description |
Role in Topology |
N9K-C92160YC-X |
Cisco Nexus 92160YC-X 1-RU switch with 48 10/25-Gigabit SFP+ downlink ports and 6 40-Gigabit QSFP+ uplink ports, with 4 of the uplink ports capable of supporting QSFP28 transceivers (100 Gigabits) |
Leaf switch in spine-leaf topology |
N9K-C9236C |
Cisco Nexus 9236C 1-RU switch with 36 40/100-Gigabit QSFP28 ports (144 10/25-Gigabit ports when using breakout cables) |
Spine or leaf switch in spine-leaf topology |
N9K-C9272Q |
Cisco Nexus 9272Q 2-RU switch with 72 40-Gigabit Ethernet QSFP+ ports (up to 35 of the ports [ports 37-71] also support breakout cables providing up to 140 10-Gigabit connections) |
Spine or leaf switch in spine-leaf topology |
N9K-C93108TC-EX |
Cisco Nexus 93108TC-EX 1-RU switch with 48 10GBASE-T ports and 6 40/100-Gigabit QSFP28 ports |
Leaf switch in spine-leaf topology |
N9K-C93108TC-FX |
Cisco Nexus 93108TC-FX 1-RU Top-of-Rack switch with 48 10GBASE-T (copper) ports and 6 40/100-Gigabit QSFP28 ports |
Leaf switch in spine-leaf topology |
N9K-C9316D-GX |
Cisco Nexus 9316D 2RU switch with 28 fixed 40/100G QSFP-28 ports and 8 fixed 40/100/400G QSFP-DD ports |
Leaf switch in spine-leaf topology |
N9K-C93180LC-EX |
Cisco Nexus 93180LC-EX 1-RU switch with 32 40/50-Gigabit downlink QSFP+ ports or 18 fixed 100-Gigabit uplink QSFP28 ports |
Leaf switch in spine-leaf topology |
N9K-C93180YC-EX |
Cisco Nexus 93180YC-EX 1-RU switch with 48 10/25-Gigabit Ethernet ports and 6 40/100-Gigabit QSFP28 ports |
Leaf switch in spine-leaf topology |
N9K-C93180YC-FX |
Cisco Nexus 93180YC-FX 1-RU Top-of-Rack switch with 48 10/25-Gigabit SFP28 ports and 6 40/100-Gigabit QSFP28 ports |
Leaf switch in spine-leaf topology |
N9K-C93180YC-FX3S |
Cisco Nexus 93180YC-FX3S 1-RU Top-of-Rack switch with 48 25/50/100-Gigabit Ethernet SFP28 ports and 6 10/25/40/50/100-Gigabit QSFP28 ports |
Leaf switch in spine-leaf topology |
N9K-C93216TC-FX2 |
Cisco Nexus 93216TC-FX2 2-RU switch with 96 100M/1G/10G RJ45 ports and 12 40/100-Gigabit QSFP28 ports |
Leaf switch in spine-leaf topology |
N9K-C93240YC-FX2 |
Cisco Nexus 93240YC-FX2 1.2-RU Top-of-Rack switch with 48 10/25-Gigabit SFP28 fiber ports and 12 40/100-Gigabit Ethernet QSFP28 ports |
Spine or leaf switch in spine-leaf topology |
N9K-C93360YC-FX2 |
Cisco Nexus 93360YC-FX2 2-RU switch with 96 10/25-Gigabit SFP+ ports and 12 40/10-Gigabit Ethernet QSFP28 ports |
Leaf switch in spine-leaf topology |
N9K-C9336C-FX2 |
Cisco Nexus 9336C-FX2 1-RU switch with 36 40/100-Gigabit Ethernet QSFP28 ports |
Spine or leaf switch in spine-leaf topology |
N9K-C9348GC-FXP |
Cisco Nexus 9348GC-FXP switch with 48 100M/1GBASE-T (copper) ports, 4 10/25-Gigabit SFP28 ports, and 2 40/100-Gigabit QSFP ports |
Leaf switch in spine-leaf topology |
N9K-C93600CD-GX |
Cisco Nexus 93600CD-GX 2RU switch with 28 fixed 40/100G QSFP-28 ports and 8 fixed 40/100/400G QSFP-DD ports |
Leaf switch in spine-leaf topology |
N9K-C9364C |
Cisco Nexus 9364C 2-RU Top-of-Rack switch with 64 40/100-Gigabit QSFP28 ports and 2 1/10-Gigabit SFP+ ports |
Spine switch in spine-leaf topology |
N9K-C9364C-GX |
Cisco Nexus 9364C-GX 2RU switch with 64 fixed 40/100G QSFP-28 ports |
Leaf switch in spine-leaf topology |
Cisco Nexus 9504 or 9508 switch with the following line cards: N9K-X9636C-R N9K-X9636C-RX N9K-X9636Q-R |
Cisco Nexus 9504 4-slot or 9508 8-slot switch N9K-X9636C-R: 36-port 40/100-Gigabit Ethernet QSFP28 line card N9K-X9636C-RX: 36-port 40/100-Gigabit Ethernet QSFP28 line card N9K-X9636Q-R: 36-port 40-Gigabit Ethernet QSFP+ line card |
Spine in spine-leaf topology or single modular switch |
New and Enhanced Features
There are no new and enhanced features for Cisco Nexus 9000 Series NX-OS IP Fabric for Media Release 9.3(7).
There are no open issues in Cisco Nexus 9000 Series NX-OS IP Fabric for Media Release 9.3(7).
Resolved Issues
There are no resolved issues in Cisco Nexus 9000 Series NX-OS IP Fabric for Media Release 9.3(7).
Limitations
NBM static OIF can include an SVI; however, an IGMP snooping entry must be manually created to force the traffic out of the Layer 2 physical interface.
To prevent packet drops for NBM flows, configure 5% more bandwidth than the traffic being sent.
Upgrade Instructions
Follow these steps to upgrade from a Cisco NX-OS 7.x or 9.x release to Cisco NX-OS Release 9.3(7) in an IP fabric for media deployment.
Note: For Cisco Nexus 9504 and 9508 switches with -R line cards, you must upgrade from Cisco NX-OS Release 7.0(3)F3(4) to a 9.x release.
1. Shut down the endpoint-facing ports on the switches.
2. Disable NBM (using the no feature nbm command).
3. Disable the ip pim pre-build-spt force command on the spine switches in your fabric.
4. Disable PIM passive mode (using the no ip pim passive command).
5. Upgrade the switch software from 7.x or 9.x to 9.3(7).
6. For Cisco Nexus 9504 and 9508 switches with -R line cards, configure these TCAM carving commands in the following order and then reload the switch:
hardware access-list tcam region redirect_v6 0
hardware access-list tcam region ing-nbm 2048
7. Upgrade DCNM.
8. Configure PIM and MSDP, if applicable.
9. Enable NBM (using the feature nbm command).
10. Configure NBM policies using the CLI or DCNM. (See the Cisco Nexus 9000 Series IP Fabric for Media Solution Guide, Release 10.1(x).)
11. If you're not using DCNM, disable IGMP static OIF and create an NBM flow definition to establish a flow.
12. Re-enable all ports facing the endpoints.
Related Documentation
● Cisco Nexus 9000 Series IP Fabric for Media Solution Guide, Release 10.1(x)
● Cisco Nexus 9000 Series NX-OS Release Notes, Release 10.1(x)
● Cisco Nexus 9000 Series NX-OS Verified Scalability Guide, Release 10.1(x)
● Cisco Nexus 3000 and 9000 Series NX-API REST SDK User Guide and API Reference
● Cisco DCNM Media Controller Configuration Guide, Release 11.5(1)
● Cisco DCNM Installation and Upgrade Guide for Media Controller Deployment, Release 11.5(1)
● The entire Cisco Nexus 9000 Series NX-OS documentation set is available at the following URL:
To provide technical feedback on this document, or to report an error or omission, please send your comments to nexus9k-docfeedback@cisco.com. We appreciate your feedback.
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