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NX-OS commands are different but necessary with FibreChannel integration
February 18, 2021

NX-OS commands are different but necessary with FibreChannel integration

Anonymous | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 7 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User

Overall Satisfaction with Cisco NX-OS

Cisco NX-OS is used on some Nexus switches in our datacenter. These switches connect to both blade enclosures and individual servers, all of which contain virtual machines. The Nexus switches have the ability to connect to servers with 10GbE and can also converge Ethernet and FibreChannel on a single cable hence simplifying the data centre layout.
  • Commands to combine Ethernet and fibre channel are very useful
  • The ability to use APIs to interact with the OS
  • Being used to Catalyst iOS the change in some commands gets annoying
  • It also came with a new license model compared to iOS devices
  • Allows faster connection in datacenter
  • Will allow consolidated cabling in future if we move to fibre channel
  • Some re-training needed for network engineers with changed commands
We run NX-OS on 3548s and 5548s as that is the only firmware option available. Given that we are not utilising the fibre channel features I am not sure this is a benefit since all other switches run iOS or iOS-XE. I was not involved in the original purchase so I cannot comment why these were deployed in the network.
I have no issues with the performance of NX-OS, but I also do not have performance issues in other parts of the network to compare it against so I can't really give an accurate answer to this question.
Security is something I know Cisco take seriously and there are many security features across all their devices. I don't think features like zero-trust are enabled by default though, so it does require reading the relevant guide and applying commands that suit your environment which can mean the implementation is not always as robust as intended.
Security is something I know Cisco take seriously and there are many security features across all their devices. I don't think features like zero-trust are enabled by default though, so it does require reading the relevant guide and applying commands that suit your environment which can mean the implementation is not always as robust as intended.
I am much more familiar with the commands in Cisco IOS as it has been around for many more years. I know why NX-OS is a different system and can see the benefits of the fibre channel integration, but I do not understand why the commands had to use a different syntax. With the Nexus switches you don't get a choice of operating system unfortunately.

Do you think Cisco NX-OS delivers good value for the price?

Not sure

Are you happy with Cisco NX-OS's feature set?

Yes

Did Cisco NX-OS live up to sales and marketing promises?

I wasn't involved with the selection/purchase process

Did implementation of Cisco NX-OS go as expected?

I wasn't involved with the implementation phase

Would you buy Cisco NX-OS again?

Yes

Cisco NX-OS is designed to run on data centre switches, and for me the key benefit is the ability to merge Ethernet and fire channel management into a single switch hence reducing cabling and management. However we don't require fibre channel at present so these are just being used for the fact they offer 10GbE on every port, which is still a useful feature in the data centre core.
Given we don't use the fibre channel features, having to learn the difference in commands from iOS is a little frustrating at times.