Difference between M-series and F-series card in Nexus 7000.

Cisco Nexus line cards are of two types: - M series and F series.

M card is basically used for L3 purpose like routing etc. whereas F series card was originally a Layer2 card. New third generation of F-series can support L3 features like MPLS, OTV etc.

Below is the list of M-series and F-series cards:-

M-series:-

Few key points 

• All Cards supports OTV
• FCOE and fabricpath not supported in M-series cards.
• VPC is supported in all cards.
• All M2 series cards and only one M1 cards N7K-M132XP-12L supports FEX whereas other M1 cards don’t support Fex connectivity.
• Below are the current M-series cards.

a) M1 cards:-

• N7K-M148GS-11L            
• N7K-M148GT-11L            
• N7K-M108X2-12L            
• N7K-M132XP-12L            

b) M2 card:-

• N7K-M224XP-23L

F series:-

Few key points :

• All F-series cards support VPC.
• Fex is also supported in all F cards.
• FCOE and Fabricpath is also supported in all cards.
• OTV, LISP, MPLS is only supported in F3 cards.
• M-Series Interoperability in same VDC is only supported with F2e and F3 cards.
• Below are the current F-series cards.

a) F1 Card:- F1 card is now end of sale and end of life.

•  N7K-F132XP-15  

b) F2 card:-

• N7K-F248XP-25

b) F2e cards:-

• N7K-F248XP-25E              
• N7K-F248XT-25E

c) F3 card:- 

• N7K-F312FQ-25

There are various model available for not M and F-series and question is can we get any detail by looking at the model number like What is 12 in N7K-M132XP-12L?

Below is the chart which explains the fields in the model number of Line cards. By looking at it you can drive the fields in all available line cards.

Note:

1. There is a separate Fabric in the line card as well. Don't confuse it with the fabric present in the chassis.

2. Number of Fabric card required to support the card can be calculated as:-

Like this card supports 480 Gbps backplane BW, so to get the full BW we need 5 (no. of Fabric cards) *110( BW of each Fbaric card - FAB-2) =550Gbps of fabric speed and hence require 5 fabric card in the chassis.