XL vs non XL M cards- 7000 Nexus

M1 card are primary used for L3 functionality.M1 card can also perform basic Layer 2 function. It cannot perform advance Layer 2 feature like Fabricpath and FCOE.

M1 line card comes with two version XL and non XL version. Both have the same architecture, the only difference between them is the memory to handle TCAM, FIB and mac address.

Below table shows the comparison between the XL and non XL card. XL needs a license in order to increase its capacity. Without License there is no performance difference between XL and non XL card.

I got the below information from Cisoc document.

How to recognize the XL line card?

By looking at the Line card model number you can identity whether it is a XL or non XL card. XL card has a word “ L “ in the end of the model number like N7K-M132XP-12L. But without license it will have same capability as in non XL card.

SCALABLE_SERVICES_PKG is required to extract the full capacity of the card. It is installed per system which enables all the XL capable cards in the chassis. It increases the performance of the following features:-

·         IPv4 routes

·         IPv6 routes

·         ACL entries

·         Mac address table

Note:- To work in XL mode all card in a vdc must be XL capable otherwise it will work in non XL mode only.