High-Performance Enterprise Access, Branch, Small and Medium-Sized Business (SMB) and Carrier Ethernet Supervisor Engine with CenterFlex Technology.
Overview
The Cisco® Catalyst® 4500 Supervisor Engine 6-E with CenterFlex technology is an intelligent, high-performance, next-generation extension to the Cisco Catalyst 4500 Series optimized for customers deploying business-critical applications (Figure 1). CenterFlex technology is enabled by Cisco developed application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs) specific to the Supervisor Engine 6-E that deliver industry-leading centralized performance and configuration flexibility. CenterFlex technology helps enable granular optimization of real-time voice, video, and data communications to ensure workforce productivity and profitability and customer success for organizations of all sizes.
• Centralized 320-Gbps switching capacity with 250Mpps of throughput
• IPv6 support in hardware, providing wire-rate forwarding for IPv6 networks
• Dual 10 Gigabit Ethernet uplinks (X2 optics)
• Hardware forwarding entries: 256,000
• Quality of service (QoS) services hardware entries: 64,000
• Security services entries: 64,000
• Low latency
Flexible
• Flexibility to operate at 6 or 24 Gbps per line-card slot
• Ability to mix and match 6-Gbps classic and 24-Gbps E-Series line cards, with no performance degradation
• Twin gigabit converter modules that enable flexibility for up to 4 Gigabit Ethernet (Small Form-Factor Pluggable [SFP]) uplinks in the X2 optic slots
• Dynamic hardware forwarding table allocations for ease of IPv4-to-IPv6 migration
• Advanced QoS support with up to 8 queues per port, dynamic queue sizing, and hierarchical policing to provide flexibility and control
• Enhanced security with Unicast Reverse Path Forwarding (uRPF) for added protection against network spoofing attacks
• File allocation table (FAT)-based file system for easier network administration
The Cisco Catalyst 4500 Supervisor Engine 6-E is compatible with classic Cisco Catalyst 4500 line cards, chassis, and power supplies, providing full investment protection. The Supervisor Engine 6-E delivers 24 Gbps per slot of switching capacity when deployed with the E-Series line cards in a Cisco Catalyst 4500 E-Series chassis. You can mix and match classic line cards and E-Series line cards within a Cisco Catalyst 4500 E-Series chassis with no performance degradation. When you deploy the Cisco Catalyst Supervisor Engine 6-E with classic line cards, all of the new features except the 24-Gbps per-slot switching capacity are inherited.
The Cisco Catalyst Supervisor Engine 6-E also provides flexibility and an easy migration path to 10 Gigabit Ethernet uplinks with dual-purpose X2 slots that can accommodate wire-speed 10 Gigabit Ethernet optics or Cisco Twin Gigabit Converter modules (Figure 2), enabling Gigabit Ethernet SFP optics.
The Cisco Twin Gigabit Converter Module, which ships standard with the Supervisor Engine 6-E (unless you order 10 Gigabit Ethernet optics on the configuration tool), converts a single 10 Gigabit Ethernet X2 interface into two Gigabit Ethernet port slots that can be populated with appropriate SFP optics, providing a total of 4 Gigabit Ethernet uplinks if used in both X2 interface slots. With the flexibility offered by the Cisco Twin Gigabit Converter Module, you can initially use the gigabit uplinks and then, as your business demands change, you can simply remove the Cisco Twin Gigabit Converter Module and insert 10 Gigabit Ethernet X2 optics to provide full line-rate 10 Gigabit Ethernet uplinks without having to upgrade. The ability to support both Gigabit Ethernet uplinks and 10 Gigabit Ethernet uplinks on a single supervisor engine further demonstrates the flexibility and the investment protection of the Cisco Catalyst 4500 Series.
Figure 2. Cisco Twin Gigabit Coverter Module: Converting 10 Gigabit Ethernet X2 Interface into Two Gigabit Ethernet SFP Interfaces
The increased capabilities and investment protection provided by the Supervisor Engine 6-E and CenterFlex technology facilitates not only scalability for today's network requirements but also future-proofing by providing significant hardware resources for future growth.
Predictable Performance and Scalability
The Supervisor Engine 6-E provides a fourfold increase in per-slot switching capacity from previous-generation Cisco Catalyst 4500 supervisor engines: from 6 to 24 Gbps per slot. Table 1 highlights the performance and scalability enhancements of the Cisco Catalyst 4500 Supervisor Engine 6-E.
Table 1. Cisco Catalyst 4500 Supervisor Engine 6-E Performance and Scalability Features
Feature and Description
Supervisor Engine 6-E
Centralized Switching Capacity
320 Gbps
Per-Slot Switching Capacity
24 Gbps
Throughput
• 250 Mpps for IPv4
• 125 Mpps for IPv6
IP v4 Routing Entries
256,000
IP v6 Routing Entries
128,000
Multicast Entries
• 128,000 for IP v4
• 64,000 for IPv6
• 16,000 (Layer 2) shared between IPv4 and IPv6
CPU
1.3 GHz
CPU Queues
64
Synchronous Dynamic RAM (SDRAM)
512 MB upgradable to 1 GB
NVRAM
No through Bootflash (64 MB)
Security and QoS Hardware Entries
128,000
Cisco Network Admission Control (NAC) and Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) Snooping Entries
12,000
MAC addresses
55,000
Active VLANs
4096
Spanning Tree Protocol Instances
3000
Switched Virtual Interfaces (SVIs)
4096
Switched Port Analyzer (SPAN)
Maximum of 8 sessions: ingress and or egress
The Supervisor Engine 6-E is also optimized for multimedia applications with its advanced multicast support offered by features such as Protocol Independent Multicast (PIM), Source Specific Multicast (SSM), and Pragmatic General Multicast (PGM), giving your network additional scalability to support multimedia applications.
Chassis and Line-Card Support
Already-installed Cisco Catalyst 4500 chassis with classic line cards can take advantage of the new features and functions of the Supervisor Engine 6-E on all ports with a simple supervisor-engine upgrade. However, to take advantage of the increased switching capacity of 24 Gbps per slot, the Cisco Catalyst 4500 E-Series chassis and E-Series line cards are required. You can mix and match Cisco Catalyst 4500 E-Series line cards and classic line cards in an E-Series chassis with no performance degradation to either line-card type. Table 2 shows the supervisor-engine and line-card slot-assignment options in the Cisco Catalyst 4500 E-Series chassis.
Supervisor slots are 5 or 6, Lince card 1 to 4 and 7 to 10
Supervisor slots are 5 or 6, Lince card 1 to 4 and 7 to 10
Supervisor slots are 5 or 6, Lince card 1 to 4 and 7 to 10
Slots 1 to 4 and 7 to 10
Note: You can mix E-Series and classic line cards within a chassis. The Cisco Catalyst 4510R-E supports only classic line cards in slots 8 to 10 with Supervisor Engine 6-E.
Table 3 summarizes the performance capacities of the Supervisor Engine 6-E on a per-chassis basis.
The Cisco Catalyst 4500 Series was designed for nonstop communications with noninterrupted hardware switching. In addition to redundant power supplies, fans, and clock modules, the Cisco Catalyst 4510R-E and 4507R-E chassis models support 1 + 1 supervisor-engine redundancy, using the Supervisor Engine 6-E. The primary supervisor engine is active and is responsible for normal system operation. The other supervisor engine serves as a secondary standby, monitoring the operation of the primary supervisor engine.
Alerts are generated to the network-monitoring software if either of the redundant supervisors fails. Hot-swapping of supervisor engines is supported without disrupting system operation. You can configure software to force switchover of supervisor engines, or you can use the Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) to perform switchover. The resiliency features of the Cisco Catalyst 4500 prevent network outages that could result in lost business and revenue.
Nonstop Forwarding with Stateful Switchover (NSF/SSO) offers continuous packet forwarding during supervisor-engine switchover. Information is fully synchronized between supervisor engines to allow the standby supervisor engine to immediately take over in subsecond time if the primary fails. In Service Software Upgrade (ISSU) allows you to upgrade or downgrade complete Cisco IOS® Software images with minimal to no disruption to the network when using a redundant Cisco Catalyst 4500 E-Series system with dual supervisor engines. Facilitating rapid, nondisruptive software upgrade for new line cards, new power supplies, new features, or bug fixes, ISSU offers continuous packet forwarding during the supervisor-engine switchover running different Cisco IOS Software releases.
NSF/SSO and ISSU dramatically improve the network reliability and availability in a Layer 2 or Layer 3 environment. NSF/SSO and ISSU are essential for business-critical applications such as voice over IP (VoIP). These features help ensure that VoIP calls are not dropped .. NSF/SSO and ISSU will be supported in the Supervisor Engine 6-E in a Q1 CY'08 Cisco IOS Software release.
Table 4 shows the high-availability and uplink options for the Supervisor Engine 6-E.
Table 4. Supervisor Engine 6-E High-Availability and Uplink Options
Feature and Description
Supervisor Engine 6-E
Redundant Capable
• Yes
• Cisco Catalyst 4507R or 4507R-E model
• Cisco Catalyst 4510R or 4510R-E model
Active Supervisor-Engine Uplinks in Redundant Mode
• Two 10 Gigabit Ethernet (wire-speed)
or
• Four 10 Gigabit Ethernet (2:1 oversubscribed)*
or
• Four Gigabit Ethernet (Cisco Twin Gig Converter Module)
• One 10 Gigabit Ethernet and Two Gigabit Ethernet each supervisor-engine*
Active Supervisor-Engine Uplinks (Nonredundant Mode)
• Two 10 Gigabit Ethernet
or
• One 10 Gigabit Ethernet and 2 Gigabit Ethernet (Cisco Twin Gig Converter Module)
or
• Four Gigabit Ethernet (Cisco Twin Gig Converter Module)
Uplink Optic Types
SFP (Gigabit Ethernet) with Cisco Twin Gig Converter Module or X2 optics (10 Gigabit Ethernet ports)
SSO/NSF and ISSU
Yes*
* Will be supported in a Q2 CY'08 Release.
Please refer to the "Features at a Glance" section of this data sheet for a complete listing of supported features.
IP v6 Support
IPv6 is important for the future of IP networking and is critical for the expansion of IP address space in the future. IPv6 capability is required by many companies and is being mandated by governments worldwide. This protocol has been supported on the Cisco Catalyst 4500 Supervisor Engine II-Plus to V-10GE engines since Cisco IOS Software Release 12.2(20)EW with software forwarding. The Cisco Catalyst 4500 Supervisor Engine 6-E supports IPv6 Unicast and Multicast in hardware for full line-rate forwarding performance of up to 125 Mpps. The Supervisor Engine 6-E also dynamically allocates hardware table space between IPv4 and IPv6 routes to maximize table-space usage for optimal IPv4-to-IPv6 migration The Supervisor Engine 6-E supports Multicast Listener Discovery (MLD) Snooping for IPv6, enhancing performance and reducing network traffic by allowing a switch to dynamically add and remove hosts from a multicast group.
Table 5 highlights the IPv6 capabilities of the Supervisor Engine 6-E.
Table 5. Summary of Supervisor Engine 6-E IPv6 Capabilities
Feature and Description
Supervisor Engine 6-E
IPv6 Support
Unicast and Multicast forwarding done in hardware
IPv6 Performance
125 Mpps
IPv6 Routing Entries
128,000
Dynamic Hardware Route Table Allocations
Yes
MLD Snooping for IPv6
Yes, in hardware
uRPFv6: Strict Mode
Yes, in hardware
Please refer to the "Features at a Glance" section of this data sheet for a complete listing of supported features.
Intelligent Network Services with QoS and Sophisticated Traffic Management
The Cisco Catalyst 4500 Supervisor Engine 6-E provides enhanced QoS features to help ensure that network traffic is classified, prioritized, and scheduled optimally to efficiently deploy a unified communications network that comprises bandwidth-hungry multimedia, time-sensitive (voice), and mission-critical applications. This type of network allows the administrator to differentiate between traffic flows and enforce policies. QoS capabilities include sharing, shaping, and strict-priority configurations for optimal scheduling of egress traffic as well as Dynamic Buffer Limiting (DBL), a flow-based congestion-avoidance feature. The Supervisor Engine 6-E extends the capabilities of previous-generation supervisor engines by providing flexible queuing with up to 8 transmit queues per port with dynamic queue sizing for greater flexibility in classifying and prioritizing traffic. Classification has also been enhanced by providing configurable classification mapping tables applied on a per-port basis, providing greater flexibility in marking traffic. Policing has also been enhanced to include 2-Rate, 3-Color Policing for more granular control and enforcement of traffic policies. Table 6 summarizes the enhanced QoS features of the Supervisor Engine 6-E.
Table 6. Summary of Supervisor Engine 6-E Enhanced QoS Features
Feature and Description
Supervisor Engine 6-E
QoS Hardware Entries
64,000
Policers
16,000 with flexible assignment for input/output
Hierarchical Policers
Yes: 2-Rate, 3-Color
Number of Tx Queues
Flex queues up to 8*
Maximum Tx Queue Size
Dynamic 56 to 8192 packets per queue, depending on the number and type of line card and the number of queues configured on the port (refer to documentation for more details)
Dynamic Queue Sizes
Yes
Configurable Classification Mapping Tables
Yes
Match IP on MAC Header
Yes
Modular QoS Compliant
Yes
DBL: Congestion-Avoidance Feature
Yes
QoS Sharing
Supported on all ports
Shaping
Yes, per Tx queue
Broadcast Suppression
Supported in Hardware for all ports
Multicast Suppression
Supported in Hardware for all ports
* Supported Q1 CY'08 Release
Please refer to the "Features at a Glance" section of this data sheet for a complete listing of supported features.
Comprehensive Centralized Management
The Cisco Catalyst Supervisor Engine 6-E features a single console port and a single IP address to manage all system features. Remote in-band management is available with SNMP, Telnet client, BOOTP, and Trivial File Transfer Protocol (TFTP). Support for local or remote out-of-band management is delivered through a terminal or modem attached to the console interface. USB drive support will be provided in a future software release. The Cisco Smartports macro for Cisco Catalyst switches is also supported, simplifying the configuration of the critical features for Ethernet networks.
The Cisco Catalyst 4500 Supervisor Engine 6-E is also FAT file system-capable, allowing images to be copied, saved, etc. with Windows-based machines with a Compact Flash. This capability will be available in a future software release.
Table 7. Key Supervisor Engine 6-E Management Features
Feature and Description
Supervisor Engine 6-E
USB Drive Support
Yes, future software release
Compact Flash Support
Yes, 64- and 128-MB options
FAT file System Support
Yes
SPAN
Up to 8 sessions: ingress and/or egress
Please refer to the "Features at a Glance" section of this data sheet for a complete listing of supported features.
The Cisco Catalyst 4500 Supervisor Engine 6-E also delivers a comprehensive set of management tools to provide the required visibility and control in the network. Managed with CiscoWorks solutions, Cisco Catalyst switches can be configured and managed to deliver end-to-end device, VLAN, traffic, and policy management. The CiscoWorks LAN Management Solution (LMS) bundle offers tools such as CiscoWorks Resource Manager Essentials and CiscoView. These Web-based management tools offer several services, including automated inventory collection, software deployment, easy tracking of network changes, views into device availability, and quick isolation of error conditions.
Advanced Security
The Cisco Catalyst 4500 Supervisor Engine 6-E extends the rich set of industry-leading, integrated security features to proactively lock down a critical network infrastructure by supporting unicast Reverse Path Forwarding (uRPF) in hardware. uRPF helps prevents traffic spoofing by identifying traffic coming in on an unexpected port. The Cisco Catalyst 4500 Supervisor Engine 6-E also reduces network security risks with a rich set of Cisco NAC capabilities and 802.1X-based user authentication, authorization, and accounting (AAA). The security policy enforcement is uncompromised with the wire-rate, dedicated access control lists (ACLs) to fend off ever-increasing virus and security attacks. The Cisco Catalyst 4500 Supervisor Engine 6-E offers powerful, easy-to-use tools to effectively prevent untraceable man-in-the-middle attacks, control-plane resource exhaustion, IP spoofing, and flooding attacks, without any change to the end-user or host configurations. Secure remote access, file transfers, and network management are accomplished with the Secure Shell (SSH Versions 1 and 2) Protocol, Secure Copy Protocol (SCP), and SNMPv3, respectively.
Table 8. Key Supervisor Engine 6-E Security Features
Feature and Description
Supervisor Engine 6-E
Security Hardware Entries
64,000
Cisco NAC and DHCP Snooping Entries
12,000
uRPF
Yes, supported in hardware
802.1X
Yes
802.1X extensions
Yes*
IP Source Guard, Dynamic ARP Inspection (DAI), and DHCP Snooping
Yes
Cisco NAC
Yes
* This feature will be supported in a Q1 CY'08 Release.
Please refer to the "Features at a Glance" section of this data sheet for a complete listing of supported features.
Features at a Glance
Layer 2 Features
• Layer 2 hardware forwarding at 250 Mpps
• Layer 2 switch ports and VLAN trunks
• IEEE 802. 1Q VLAN Encapsulation
• Dynamic Trunking Protocol (DTP)
• VLAN Trunking Protocol (VTP) and VTP domains
• VTP Pruning
• Port Security on trunk port
• Port Security on Private VLAN
• Port Security on Voice VLAN
• QinQ Passthrough
• Support for 4096 VLANs per switch
• Per-VLAN Spanning Tree Plus (PVST+) and Per-VLAN Rapid Spanning Tree (PVRST)
• Spanning Tree PortFast and PortFast Guard
• Spanning Tree UplinkFast and BackboneFast
• 802.1s
• 802.1w
• 802.3ad
• 802.3af (Power over Ethernet [PoE])
• Spanning Tree Root Guard
• Cisco Discovery Protocol
• Internet Group Management Protocol (IGMP) Snooping v1, v2, and v3
• IPv6 MLD Snooping v1 and v2
• Cisco EtherChannel® technology, Cisco Fast EtherChannel technology, and Cisco Gigabit EtherChannel technology across line cards
• Port Aggregation Protocol (PAgP)
• Link Aggregation Control Protocol (LACP)
• IGMP Querier
• IGMP Fast Leave
• VMPS client
• Unidirectional Link Detection (UDLD) and aggressive UDLD
• Voice VLAN and VLAN ID (VVID)
• Jumbo Frames (up to 9216 bytes)
• Baby Giants (up to 1600 bytes)
• Traffic Storm Control (formally known as Broadcast/Multicast Suppression)
• Forced 10/100 Autonegotiation
• Bridge Protocol Data Unit (BPDU) Guard
• Link Layer Discovery Protocol (LLDP)
Layer 3 Features
• Hardware-based IP Cisco Express Forwarding routing at 250 Mpps
• IP routing protocols: Enhanced Interior Gateway Routing Protocol (EIGRP), Open Shortest Path First (OSPF), Routing Information Protocol (RIP), and RIPv2
• Static Routing
• Inter-VLAN Routing
• Border Gateway Protocol Version 4 (BGPv4) and Multicast Border Gateway Protocol (MBGP): Q1 CY'08 Release
