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Cisco Nexus: Workhorse of the Data Center
February 25, 2019

Cisco Nexus: Workhorse of the Data Center

Anonymous | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User

Software Version

Nexus 7000 Series

Overall Satisfaction with Cisco Nexus

Currently our entire data center is supported by Cisco Nexus switches, specifically the Nexus 5600 series and 7000 series Nexus switches. These switches utilized in data center operations in a small to medium size data center. These switches support the need for extremely fast, low latency switches that are required for data center speeds.
  • Easy to use yet robust command line interaction
  • Python support
  • ISSU is available
  • Support for VPC
  • Fast, true near line rate speeds
  • Powerful and stable hardware
  • Well supported and updated operating system with robust online community support and manufacturer support
  • More Linux based commands
  • Add more programming support in the 5k and 7k series switches. While support for programming and automation is very extensive some small improvements could be made
  • Support for additional Python packages, support for more structure protocols like YML, YANG, XML, and JSON
  • Having Nexus switches in our data center has dramatically enhanced the entire data center performance. We expected this when we purchased our first Nexus switches in 2015.
  • Because these switches are such workhorses, they've outlasted our expectations, often running at full capacity for the last four years while remaining relevant technology wise. This is an outstanding achievement for any product.
  • Because of their longevity, they've allowed us to invest in other hardware for our datacenter.
Cisco Nexus has a few competitors out there like BigSwitch, Extreme Networks, and others. While I don't have a lot of experience with any of their competitors, and I don't feel like it would be fair to say exclusively that Cisco Nexus is the best data center switch out there, I will say that Cisco has been around the network game for a long time. Their products perform and often surpass expectations. Also, with the upcoming and current state of the data center, SDN Cisco has not been left behind. Usually, when a company gets as big as Cisco has, they neglect innovation. This isn't the case with Cisco, and I expect they'll be able to keep up or surpass any competitor out there for the foreseeable future.
Nexus is well placed already as the industry-wide as a standard data center, core, and backbone layer 3 series switches. Nexus switches are very capable to support any data center or core task. Everything required for this type of support is already packaged into the Nexus OS. Throw in ACI and they become a powerhouse for the data center, able to compete and, in most cases, outperform any other type of networking gear available today. However, because the ASIC is built more to support data center traffic and not access layer traffic, they're not intended for comm closets or edge switching in the enterprise.