Cisco Nexus 5596UP Switch

Cisco Nexus 5596UP Switch – Product Overview

The Cisco Nexus 5596UP is a high-performance, low-latency, 1/10 Gigabit Ethernet switch designed for data center environments. It is a fixed-form-factor switch in a 2-rack-unit (2RU) chassis that provides architectural flexibility by supporting traditional Ethernet, Fibre Channel (FC), and Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE) on its Unified Ports .

Key Features & Specifications

General Information

• Product Line: Cisco Nexus 5000 Series 

• Device Type: Switch – 48 ports – Managed 

• Enclosure Type: Rack-mountable – 2U 

• Performance: Forwarding performance up to 1.92 Tbps 

• MAC Address Table Size: 32K entries 

Ports & Slots

• Fixed Ports: 48 x SFP+ Unified Ports. These can be configured as 1/10 Gigabit Ethernet, FCoE, or 1/2/4/8 Gbps native Fibre Channel ports .

• Expansion Slots: 3 total slots for optional Generic Expansion Modules (GEMs) .

  • GEM Options Include:

    • 16-port Universal GEM2: Provides 16 additional unified ports .

    • 4-port QSFP+ GEM (N55-M4Q): Provides 4 x 40G QSFP+ ports .

    • Layer 3 GEM (N55-M160L3): Provides up to 160 Gbps of Layer 3 forwarding capability .

• Management Ports: 1 x 1000Base-T RJ-45 management, 1 x RJ-45 console, 1 x USB Type A .

Power & Physical

• Power Supplies: 2 hot-pluggable, redundant (1+1) power supply slots . Supports AC 100-240V and DC -40 to -72V .

• Power Consumption: 660W (typical AC) ; 972W (maximum with L3 module) .

• Cooling: 4 hot-swappable fan modules .

• Dimensions (HxWxD): 3.5 x 17.3 x 29.5 in. (8.8 x 43.9 x 74.9 cm) .

• Weight: 47.5 lb (21.55 kg) .

Software & Protocols

Supported Protocols

• Routing Protocols: RIP-2, BGP, EIGRP, OSPFv2, Static IP Routing, HSRP, VRRP, PIM-SSM, ECMP .

• Management Protocols: SNMPv1, v2, v3, RMON, Telnet, SSH-2, CLI .

• Security & Authentication: RADIUS, TACACS+, MS-CHAP, AES Encryption .

• Standards Compliance: IEEE 802.3, 802.1D, 802.1Q, 802.3x, 802.3ad (LACP), 802.1w, 802.3ae, 802.1s .

Advanced Features

• Unified Ports: Allows flexible configuration of ports for Ethernet, FC, or FCoE, simplifying infrastructure .

• Fabric Extender (FEX) Support: Supports up to 16 Fabric Extenders in Layer 2 mode, enabling a unified fabric .

• Data Center Bridging (DCB): Supports Priority Flow Control (PFC), Enhanced Transmission Selection (ETS), and DCBX .

• Quality of Service (QoS): Features 8 hardware queues per port, CoS marking, and Weighted Round-Robin (WRR) queuing .

Ordering Information

The base product is often ordered as N5K-C5596UP or N5K-C5596UP-FA, which includes the 2RU chassis, two power supplies, and four fan modules . The switch was officially discontinued on October 6, 2022 .