M1 vs M2 vs M3 : Cisco Nexus Line Cards
Cisco Nexus 7000/7700 Line cards fall under 2 categories – M series and F Series. While Nexus starting with M1 Series Line cards which majorly performed all Layer 3 related features and operations, F1-Series Line cards were basically layered 2 cards and used for FEX, Fabric Path, and FCoE etc.
Further drilling into M-Series, we understand that M1 Series was the introductory line cards for Nexus 7k by Cisco.
These cards had 10Gig links making them ideal for the Distribution layer. With technology development and more demand from the customer and IT industry, M1 XL, M2 and lately M3 series have been introduced.
Comparison Table of M-series Cisco Nexus Line Cards:
Below table enumerates the major difference between M1, M2 and M3 cards –
| PARAMETER | M1 SERIES | M2 SERIES | M3 SERIES |
|---|---|---|---|
| Line Cards | N7K-M148GS-11L N7K-M148GT-11L N7K-M108X2-12L N7K-M132XP-12L | N7K-M224XP-23L N7K-M206FQ-23L N7K-M202CF-22L | N7K-M348XP-25L N7K-M324FQ-25L N77-M348XP-23L N77-M324FQ-25L N77-M312CQ-26L |
| Fabric Path Support | No | No | Yes |
| VXLAN | No | No | Yes |
| BGP-EVPN | No | No | Yes |
| Interface type supported | SFP,RJ45,X2,SFP+ | SFP+,QSFP+,CFP | SFP,SFP+,QSFP+,QSFP28 |
| Chassis Supported | Cisco Nexus 7000 | Cisco Nexus 7000 | Cisco Nexus 7000 |
| Max Fabric bandwidth (Gbps) | 80 | 240 | 1200 |
| Max Performance (Mpps) | 120 | 120 | 1800 |
| FEX support | No | Yes | Yes |
| LISP | No | No | Hardware Ready |
| FCoE support | No | No | Hardware Ready |
| IEEE 1588 PTP | No | Yes | Hardware Ready |
| PONG | No | Yes | Hardware Ready |
Download the comparison table here.
Related- Nexus Interview Questions
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