Cisco Nexus N9K

[salvadorb]

Hi guys,
I hope you're doing well. I have a question for the ones familiar with Cisco Nexus and licenses. I currently only use Arista 7060 (32x100G) and 7170 (64x100G) switches purchased on ebay, but recently prices are super high. I tried Celestica DX010 + Sonic, but didn't work since it doesn't support Port-Security and some other basic functionalities for our application. So, I'm considering alternatives, I was able to find some Cisco Nexus N9k (32x100G) for a better price, but I'm not familiar with Cisco in terms of licenses and everything...

In Arista I can use any functionality without any special license, is the same with regular Cisco Nexus N9K? Or a license key is required to unlock features?

Also, are Cisco switches compatible with Arista (or Arista compatible) QSFP28 modules?

Thank you in advance!

 

[BoGs]

I am wondering the same - so would love some feedback from people that know. In search for a 100G core switch to play with, and the Aristas are crazy expensive.

 

[BoGs]

Not sure if it changed but it seems Cisco is honor based outside some log lines.

N9K licenses are honor-based. There are some show license commands that let you see which features activate which license.

https://www.reddit.com/r/Cisco/comments/pu27op

 

[blinkenlights]

For context: I transitioned from Brocade/Ruckus to two Cisco C9348GC-FXPs (48x 1 GbE, 4x 25 GbE, 2x 100GbE) switches in the last three months. I have one active, one spare - pro tip for these and other switches: it's far cheaper to buy an entire kitted out switch than two spare power supplies. Upgraded memory and SSD in both.... who needs a warranty?

In Arista I can use any functionality without any special license, is the same with regular Cisco Nexus N9K? Or a license key is required to unlock features?

NX-OS transitioned over to web-based "smart" licensing several releases back, meaning feature licensing is either device based (built in) or online entitlement based. If you are just looking for basic Layer-2 functionality - VLANs, SPAN sessions, etc. - it is pretty simple: the features are built in. If you are looking for advanced L3 features and more, welcome to licensing purgatory: Cisco NX-OS Software - Cisco NX-OS Licensing Options Guide

My homelab use case does not require any of that jazz, but anyone trying to build out a Cisco lab for certification and/or learning newer features is going to spend a lot of money. Unless you personally know a Cisco employee and they have mercy on your wallet. Don't forget that these switches originally listed for tens of thousands of dollars and the only customers were big data centers and hyperscalers (niche market, captive ecosystem).

Also, are Cisco switches compatible with Arista (or Arista compatible) QSFP28 modules?

It's funny, I already had a big collection of Cisco transceivers, DACs, and AOCs on hand for the Brocade switches so that was really never a big concern for me. I understand you can do the "service unsupported transceiver" command to suppress any warning messages but, in general, the ones I have tried just work out of the box: Troubleshoot Unsupported Transceiver in Catalyst 3850 Switch Sub-module

One helpful bit of information... unlike the Brocade switches, Cisco seems to recognize and care/enforce speed capabilities, even when it is a downgrade. What do I mean by that? On the Brocade, I could easily "downclock" transceiver speed capabilities to interoperate with legacy equipment. On the Cisco, I tried configuring a 100GbE transceiver for 4x10GbE mode, but the switch would not - it more or less said "this transceiver only supports 4x25GbE breakout."

 

[dbCIT]

Reach out to me in DM for more information on Arista and Cisco, will check what I can help you with.