Catalyst 6000 Family - Multilayer Switches Catalyst

• The Catalyst 6000 Family consists of the Catalyst 6000 Series and the Catalyst 6500 Series. Both series support 6- and 9-slot versions, providing a wide range of configuration and price/performance options.
• The architecture of the Catalyst 6500 Series supports scalable switching bandwidth up to 256 Gbps and scalable multilayer switching up to 150 Mpps.
• For customers not requiring the performance of the Catalyst 6500 Series, the Catalyst 6000 Series provides a more cost-effective solution, delivering backplane bandwidth of 32 Gbps and multilayer switching up to 30 Mpps.
• For investment protection, both series support the same suite of supervisors, interface line cards, and common equipment +providing a wide range of price/performance options.

• Scalable platforms, ranging from the Catalyst 6000 Series which offers 32 Gbps of switching capacity and scalable multilayer switching up to 30 Mpps, to the Catalyst 6500 Series offering scalable switching capacity up to 256 Gbps and multilayer switching up to 150 Mpps.
• Modular chassis within both Catalyst 6000 and 6500 Series, offering slot densities of 6- and 9-slot systems. Catalyst 6006, 6009, 6506, and 6509 support a wide range of configuration and price/performance options. Both switches series support the same suite of supervisors, interface line cards, and common equipment, easing sparing requirements and protecting investments with upward performance migration
• Supports a wide range of interface types and densities, to include support for up to 384 10/100 Ethernet, 192 100FX Fast Ethernet, and up to 130 gigabit Ethernet ports
• MultiLayer Switch Feature Card (MSFC) available for wire-rate IP, IPX and IP-multicast routing support, as well as support for AppleTalk, DecNet, and Vines. MSFC also supports web-caching techniques for cost-effective web-scaling.
• Policy Feature Card (PFC) available for wire-rate traffic detection and classification, admission control, and access list. PFC also supports Accelerated Server Load-Balancing in conjunction with Cisco Local Director intelligence.
• Support for Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP), Domain Name System (DNS), and dynamic VLAN services for optimal, scalable performance, and easing moves, adds and changes
• Extensive Quality of Service (QoS) support through use of Layer-2/3/4 information such as precedence bits from IP, Cisco"s ISL, and 802.1p frames or Layer-4 port numbers. Support for multiple queues with configurable thresholds, and ToS/CoS-mapping mechanisms to insure that QoS is maintained as packets traverse Layer-2/Layer-3 boundaries. Resource Reservation Protocol (RSVP) priority mapping also used, ensuring timely delivery of time-sensitive intranet applications
• Supports up to 8 physical Fast Ethernet or Gigabit Ethernet links using either Fast EtherChannel (FEC) or Gigabit EtherChannel (GEC), respectively, for logical connections up to 16 Gbps. EtherChannel ports can also be aggregated across modules for even higher-availability connectivity.
• Efficient intranet multimedia and multicast support through Protocol Independent Multicast (PIM), Internet Group Management Protocol (IGMP), Cisco Group Management Protocol (CGMP), and GARP Multicast Registration Protocol (GMRP) deliver end-to-end, scalable bandwidth for multimedia and multicast applications
• Support for a broad range of Cisco IOS-based security mechanisms such as port filtering, enabling individual ports to allow access only to certain workstations. TACACS+ and IP permit lists prevent unauthorized access to the switch in secure management environments. Access control lists (ACLs) secure networks from unauthorized users. MD5 Route Authentication is also used to prevent fraudulent routing updates

• The Catalyst 6006 and Catalyst 6506 switch chassis have six slots each .
• Slot 1 is reserved for the supervisor engine, which provides switching, local and remote management, and multiple gigabit uplink interfaces.
• Slot 2 can contain an additional redundant supervisor engine, which can act as a backup in case the first module fails. If a redundant supervisor engine is not required, slot 2 is available for a switching module.

Release 5.3CSX

• Catalyst 6000 Family PFC (WS-X6K-SUP1A-PFC)
• Catalyst 6000 Family MSFC (WS-X6K-SUP1A-MSFC)
• Catalyst 6000 Family Supervisor 1A (WS-X6K-SUP1A)
• 16-port Gigabit Ethernet switching module, MT-RJ (WS-X6416-GE-MT)
• 24-port 10BaseFL Ethernet switching module, multimode fiber, MT-RJ (WS-X6024-10FL-MT)
• One-port multimode OC-12 ATM uplink module, multimode fiber (WS-X6101-OC12-MMF)
• One-port multimode OC-12 ATM uplink module, singlemode fiber (WS-X6101-OC12-SMF)

• The addition of a Multilayer Switch Feature Card (MSFC) enables full multiprotocol routing support for Enterprise and Service Provider networks, in addition to the benefits provided by the PFC. A wide range of routed protocols are supported, such as wire-speed IP, IPX^® and IP Multicast traffic at rates up to 15 Mpps, with additional support for AppleTalk, DecNet, and VINES.
• Network managers will additionally have the option to deploy any routing protocol as necessary to scale intranet or interdomain networks, such as Open Shortest Path First (OSPF), Interior Gateway Routing Protocol (IGRP), Enhanced IGRP (EIGRP), Routed Information Protocol (RIP), RIP II, Border Gateway Protocol 4 (BGP4), Intermediate System to Intermediate System (IS-IS), IPX RIP or EIGRP, AppleTalk Routing Table Maintenance Protocol (RTMP) or EIGRP, DecNet Phase IV.
• The MSFC also provides an extremely wide range of software services to enable scalable end-to-end multicast traffic, security, and extra QoS mechanisms in addition to those provided by the PFC. For example, the MSFC provides support for the Protocol Independent Multicast (PIM) multicast routing protocol, as well as granular security access control lists. In addition, the MSFC also supports the Resource Reservation Protocol (RSVP), which allows for the creation of end-to-end QoS "tunnels" that guarantee and reserve specific bandwidth rates throughout a network. Network-wide visibility and management is ensured through various traffic accounting and NetFlow data export mechanisms. Please see the "Catalyst 6000 Family Multilayer Switch Feature Card" data sheet for more detailed information.

• Performance---The MSFC when used in combination with the PFC provides hardware based layer three switching for IP, IPX and IP Multicast at 15 Mpps. Additional protocol support is via Cisco IOS software.
• Support for large routing tables---With 128 MB of DRAM, the MSFC can carry the full Internet routing table.
• Fast convergence---In the backbone, the ability to recover from route failures and to route around them is of paramount importance. The MSFC addresses this need for immediate convergence by responding to routing topology changes and performing hardware-assisted invalidation of flow entries.
• Security---An important attribute of classical routing in a network is the ability to set up access lists to filter or altogether prevent traffic between hosts on different subnets. The MSFC is able to enforce multiple levels of security on every packet of the flow at wire speed. Because the MSFC parses the packet up to the transport layer, it enables access lists to be validated. By providing multiple levels of security, the MSFC enables users to set up rules and control traffic based on IP addresses as well as transport-layer application port numbers.
• Standards-based---The MSFC is standards based. It uses Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) standard routing protocols such as Open Shortest Path First (OSPF), Routing Information Protocol (RIP) or Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) for route determination. By being standards based, the MSFC can be deployed in a multivendor network.
• Accounting and traffic management---A key requirement when deploying Layer 3 switching is to provide visibility of flows as they are switched for troubleshooting, traffic management, and accounting purposes. The MSFC and the PFC enable detailed data collection of flow statistics maintained in hardware, with no impact on switching performance. The records for expired flows are grouped together and exported to applications such as Netsys for network and Remote Monitoring II (RMON II) traffic management and monitoring, as well as to accounting applications.
• CoS---Based on the RSVP, which enables applications to request a specific CoS, the MSFC supports CoS guarantees by advanced queuing techniques such as WFQ.

Cisco's Catalyst^® 6000 Family supports a full line of Fast Ethernet switching modules that deliver high performance, excellent scalability, and superior manageability---all at industry-leading price/performance ratios. The Catalyst 6000 Family Fast Ethernet switching modules offer unparalleled physical interface flexibility, including 10/100Base-TX with RJ-45 or Telco RJ-21 interfaces as well as 100Base-FX with multimode fiber MT-RJ connectors. And with up to 48 10/100 ports per module, the Catalyst 6000 Family switches provide high port density 10/100---up to 384 Fast Ethernet connections per platform.

Catalyst 6000 Family Fast Ethernet Switching Modules


100Base-FX Fast Ethernet Module (WS-X6224-100FX-MT)


10/100 Fast Ethernet Module (WS-X6248-RJ-48)

• 1000BaseSX: 50 um multimode fiber: up to 550 m
• 1000BaseLX: 62.5 um multimode fiber: up to 550 m
• 1000BaseLX: 50 um multimode fiber: up to 550 m
• 1000BaseLX: 9/10 um single mode fiber: up to 5 km
• 1000BaseLH: 62.5 um multimode fiber: up to 550 m
• 1000BaseLH: 50 um multimode fiber: up to 550 m
• 1000BaseLH: 9/10 um single mode fiber: up to 10 km
• 1000BaseZX: 9/10 um single mode fiber: up to 70 km
• 1000BaseZX: disposition shifted fiber: up to 100 km

The MSM requires a single slot (with no slot dependency) in any Catalyst 6000 (WS-C6006 and WS-C6009) or Catalyst 6500 (WS-C6506 and WS-C6509) Series platform.

The MSM module was designed with fully integrated Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASIC) enabling aggregate throughput of up to six million packets per second for Layer 3 switching (IP, IPX^®, and IP multicast). Combined with industry-leading IOS software, the high performance MSM enables the Catalyst 6000 Family to be particularly effective as a backbone/distribution switch.

The MSM supports feature-rich IP, IPX, and IP multicast Layer 3 switching without sacrificing the performance required in a scalable backbone/distribution platform. This unique combination of performance and flexibility enables customers to integrate the Catalyst 6000 Family into existing IOS network configurations while at the same time scaling their backbone capacity to gigabit speeds. Routing protocols supported in the MSM module include:

• Enhanced IGRP (EIGRP)
• Interior Gateway Routing Protocol (IGRP)
• Open Shortest Path First (OSPF)
• Routing Information Protocol (RIP) Versions I and II
• Static routes
• Route redistribution

Additional IOS protocols supported in the Catalyst 6000 Family MSM module include:

• Hot Standby Router Protocol (HSRP)
• Internet Group Management Protocol (IGMP) Version I and II
• Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) Relay
• Cisco Group Management Protocol (CGMP)
• Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP)
• Gateway Discovery Protocol (GDP)
• ICMP Router Discovery Protocol (IRDP)
• Bootstrap Protocol (BOOTP) Relay
• PIM (sparse and dense mode)

The Catalyst 6000 Family MSM module is also a full-featured IPX router. The MSM provides basic services such as Novell network RIP and Service Advertising Protocols (SAPs), and Novell Enhanced IGRP, as well as route distribution among all of these protocols. In addition, the MSM supports the following features to scale Novell networks:

• Get Nearest Server (GNS) response filtering and round-robin GNS support
• Novell RIP
• SAP, protocol, and NetBIOS name filtering
• Equal-cost path loadsharing
• Variable RIP and SAP timers
• Novell NetBIOS type 20 propagation support for legacy applications that continue to be mission critical
• Novell-compliant IPX ping utility

The MSM module supports IP multicast at wire speeds across the multigigabit Catalyst 6000 Family backplane. As multicast applications such as Microsoft NetShow and NetMeeting become more widely deployed, end-to-end multicast support becomes increasingly important with multicast routing protocols, which are integral for a consistent, end-to-end multicast solution. The MSM supports both Protocol Independent Multicast (PIM) sparse and dense modes and Distance Vector Multicast Routing Protocol (DVMRP) interoperability for legacy applications. The MSM provides support for IGMP, Versions 1 and 2, and CGMP server capabilities for integrating IP multicast support with Catalyst^® wiring closet switches. These protocols are necessary not only for IP multicast clients to join groups but also for efficient leave processing, which is necessary to save bandwidth and end-station CPU cycles.

Advanced Management for Critical Backbone Switch Availability

The MSM module in the Catalyst 6000 Family supports a wide variety of CiscoAssure Policy Networking management tools and applications to enable fault management, configuration management, performance management, security management, and other functions. These network management applications are critical in backbone switch configurations with concentrated network traffic. The MSM and Catalyst 6000 Family platforms support full SNMP functions, password requirements for local or Telnet access and, to reduce the costs of administering software upgrades, Flash memory allows remote downloads using Trivial File Transfer Protocol (TFTP) of new revisions of operating systems without hardware changes.

Quality of Service

The Multilayer Switch Module incorporates rich QoS capabilities enabling important services such as support for dedicated bandwidth, avoidance and management of network congestion, and traffic prioritization across the network. To support these services, the MSM implements Weighted Round Robin (WRR) queuing, Per-Queue Drop Thresholds, and Per-Flow Queuing (PFQ) to differentiate and protect mission-critical application bandwidth from other, less critical, traffic.

The Quality of Service capabilities of the multilayer switch module, when combined with CiscoAssure Policy Networking, deliver the ability to protect mission-critical traffic by allowing network administrators to easily provision and manage traffic flows in the network without sacrificing performance.

• The MSM may be deployed in a single slot (no slot dependency) of either the Catalyst 600X or Catalyst 650X.
• Multiple MSM modules can be configured in a single platform for redundancy and high availability. The MSM module is hot swappable and can be removed or replaced without resetting any other modules within the chassis.
• The MSM is integrated directly onto the Catalyst 6000 Family multigigabit switching backplane enabling the MSM module's ASIC technology to be fully utilized for Layer 3 performance of up to 4-6 million packets per second.
• The MSM is fully compatible with all line cards in the Catalyst 6000 Family platforms, including 10/100 modules (RJ-45, RJ-21), 100Base-FX, Gigabit Ethernet (1000BASE-SX, LX/LH), and is supported by the Supervisor 1 module.
• Supports a wide range of IP, IPX, and IP multicast routing protocols, including IGRP and EIGRP, OSPF, RIP and RIP II, PIM (sparse and dense mode), DVMRP interoperability, and IPX RIP.
• Supports other features supported including DHCP, IPX SAP, HSRP, CGMP, ICMP, IGMP, IRDP, and BOOTP.
• Supports port-based VLAN and up to 64 VLANs simultaneously.

Supports a wide variety of SNMP with comprehensive management.