High-Performance Small Form-Factor Cisco Catalyst Switch with Flexibility and Investment Protection for Top-of-Rack Switching or Midmarket Collapsed Core and Aggregation Layer Deployment

Product Overview

The Cisco^® Catalyst^® 4900M Switch (Figure 1) is designed for data center network top-of-rack switching and midmarket collapsed core and aggregation layer deployment. Optimized for ultimate deployment flexibility for the data center, the Cisco Catalyst 4900M can be deployed for 10/100/1000 or 1/10GBASE-T server access with 1:1 uplink-to-downlink oversubscription and environments with a mix of 10/100/1000 and 10 Gigabit Ethernet servers or all 10 Gigabit Ethernet servers.

The Cisco Catalyst 4900M is a 320-Gbps, 250-million-packets-per-second (mpps), two-rack-unit (2RU) fixed-configuration switch with eight fixed wire-speed X2 ports on the base unit and two optional half-card slots for deployment flexibility and investment protection. Low latency, scalable buffer memory, and high availability with 1+1 hot-swappable AC or DC power supplies and a field-replaceable fan tray optimize the Cisco Catalyst 4900M for data centers of any size.

For the midmarket collapsed core and aggregation layer and in the branch office, the Cisco Catalyst 4900M provides an ideal solution for space-constrained deployments that require high-performance wire-speed services and high availability. With the unique semifixed architecture and support of the Cisco TwinGig Converter Module, the Cisco Catalyst 4900M can be used in a collapsed core and aggregation layer LAN deployment, providing the flexibility to deploy Gigabit Ethernet now and cost-effectively migrate to 10 Gigabit Ethernet as requirements change.

The Cisco Catalyst 4900M configuration provides wire-speed connection, buffers to handle bursty traffic, and a comprehensive set of Layer 3 features required at the collapsed core and aggregation layer of the network. The Cisco Catalyst 4900M also supports a suite of ease-of-management features to simplify operations.

Features and Benefits

The Cisco Catalyst 4900M half cards provide a wide variety of combinations of Gigabit Ethernet and 10 Gigabit Ethernet media types. The base unit can accommodate up to two of the half cards shown in Figures 2, 3, 4, and 5, in any combination.

In addition to deployment flexibility, the half slots provide investment protection for further additions of Gigabit Ethernet and 10 Gigabit Ethernet media.

Table 1 summarizes the features and benefits of the Cisco Catalyst 4900M.

Table 1.       Features and Benefits

One System, Many Configurations

The Cisco Catalyst 4900M can be configured to meet the needs of many types of top-of-rack deployments. Table 2 summarizes the configuration options.

Table 2.       Cisco Catalyst 4900M Configuration Options

10 Gigabit Ethernet and Gigabit Ethernet on the Same Half Card

The Cisco TwinGig Converter Module (Figure 6) converts a single 10 Gigabit Ethernet X2 interface into two Gigabit Ethernet port slots that can be populated with SFP optics, enabling customers to use Gigabit Ethernet SFPs on the same card in combination with 10 Gigabit Ethernet X2 optics. The Cisco OneX Converter Module is supported on all 10 Gigabit Ethernet modules of the Cisco Catalyst 4900M. The Cisco OneX converts an X2 interface into one SFP+ interface and uses the full range of Cisco SFP+ transceivers (Figure 7).

Operational Consistency and Control

The Cisco Catalyst 4900M includes a console port to manage all system features. Remote in-band management is available with Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP), Telnet client, BOOTP, and Trivial File Transfer Protocol (TFTP). Support for local or remote out-of-band management is delivered through a terminal or modem attached to the console interface.

The Cisco Catalyst 4900M supports file allocation table (FAT) file systems. System images can be updated directly through Microsoft Windows–based machines with compact flash memory readers.

Using CiscoWorks solutions, Cisco Catalyst switches can be configured and managed to deliver end-to-end device, VLAN, traffic, and policy management. The CiscoWorks LAN Management Solution (LMS) bundle offers tools such as CiscoWorks Resource Manager Essentials and CiscoWorks CiscoView. These web-based management tools offer several services, including automated inventory collection, software deployment, easy tracking of network changes, views into device availability, and quick isolation of error conditions.

Software Configuration Options

Table 3 describes the software configuration options for the Cisco Catalyst 4900M Switch, and Table 4 describes the hardware options.

Table 3.       Software Configuration Options for the Cisco Catalyst 4900M Switch

Table 4.       Cisco Catalyst 4900 Series Hardware Comparison

Features at a Glance

Layer 2 Features

●   Layer 2 switch ports and VLAN trunks

●   IEEE 802.1Q VLAN encapsulation

●   Dynamic Trunking Protocol (DTP)

●   VLAN Trunking Protocol (VTP) and VTP domains

●   VTP pruning

●   VTPv3

●   Port security on trunk port

●   Q-in-Q passthrough

●   Support for 4096 VLANs per switch

●   PVST+ and Per-VLAN Rapid Spanning-Tree Protocol (PVRST)

●   Spanning Tree PortFast and PortFast guard

●   Spanning Tree UplinkFast and BackboneFast

●   IEEE 802.1s

●   IEEE 802.1w

●   IEEE 802.3ad

●   Spanning Tree root guard

●   Cisco Discovery Protocol

●   Internet Group Management Protocol (IGMP) versions 1, 2, and 3 snooping

●   IPv6 Multicast Listener Discovery (MLD) snooping

●   Cisco EtherChannel technology, Cisco Fast EtherChannel technology, and Cisco Gigabit EtherChannel technology across half cards and base unit

●   Port Aggregation Protocol (PAgP)

●   Link Aggregation Control Protocol (LACP)

●   Unidirectional link detection (UDLD) and aggressive UDLD

●   Jumbo frames (up to 9216 bytes)

●   Baby Giants (up to 1600 bytes)

●   Storm control (formally known as broadcast and multicast suppression)

●   Forced 10/100 autonegotiation

●   Bridge protocol data unit (BPDU) guard

●   FlexLink and FlexLink with VLAN Load Balancing

●   IEEE 802.1ab Link Layer Discovery Protocol (LLDP) and 802.1ab LLDP Media Endpoint Devices (LLDP-MED)

●   Resilient Ethernet Protocol (REP)

●   IEEE 802.1Q tunneling (Q-in-Q) in hardware

●   Layer 2 protocol tunneling

Layer 3 Features

●   Jumbo frames on all ports (up to 9216 bytes)

●   Hardware-based IP Cisco Express Forwarding routing at 250 mpps

●   IP routing protocols: EIGRP, OSPF, BGP4, RIP, and RIPv2

●   OSPF fast convergence

●   OSPF and EIGRP fast convergence protection

●   EIGRP stub

●   Static routing

●   Inter-VLAN routing

●   Virtual Route Forwarding lite (VRF-lite)

●   Multicast VRF-lite

●   VRF-aware IP services

●   EIGRP to Multi-VRF CE (VRF-lite)

●   Equal Cost Multi Path Routing (ECMP), up to 8 paths

●   IPv6: RIP next generation (RIPng) for IPv6

●   IPv6: OSPFv3

●   IPv6: EIGRP

●   Software-based generic routing encapsulation (GRE) tunneling

●   IGMP v1, v2, and v3

●   IGMP filtering on access and trunk ports

●   IP multicast routing protocols: Protocol Independent Multicast (PIM) (sparse mode [SM], dense mode [DM], SDM)

●   Protocol Independent Multicast Version 6 (PIMv6) (SM)

●   Pragmatic General Multicast

●   Bidirectional (Bi-dir) PIM

●   Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP)

●   ICMP Router Discovery Protocol

●   Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) server

●   Per-port multicast suppression

●   Unicast Reverse Path Forwarding (RPF)

●   Policy-based routing (PBR)

●   PIM source-specific multicast (SSM) mapping

High Availability Features

●   1+1 hot-swappable AC or DC power supplies

●   Hot-swappable field-replaceable fan tray with redundant fans

●   Hot Standby Router Protocol (HSRP)

●   HSRPv2

●   Virtual Router Redundancy Protocol (VRRP)

●   Cisco IOS Embedded Event Manager (EEM)

●   Cisco Generic Online Diagnostics (GOLD)

●   Enhanced Object Tracking (EOT)

IPv6 Support

●   RIP next generation (RIPng) for IPv6

●   OSPFv3

●   EIGRP

●   PIMv6 (SM)

●   IPv6 unicast and multicast forwarding in hardware

●   IPv6 addressing architecture

●   Cisco Discovery Protocol IPv6 address family

●   Cisco Express Forwarding and Distributed Cisco Express Forwarding in hardware

●   Extended ACL

●   ICMP rate limiting

●   ICMPv6

●   ICMPv6 redirect

●   IP MIB

●   IPv6 over IEEE 802.1Q

●   IPv6 over IPv4 GRE tunnel (tunnel support in software)

●   Intrasite Automatic Tunnel Addressing Protocol (ISATAP)

●   Loopback

●   MLD snooping

●   MLDv1 and v2

●   Maximum transmission unit (MTU) path discovery for IPv6

●   Ping

●   IPv6: Secure Shell (SSH) over an IPv6 transport

●   Stateless autoconfiguration

●   Static routes within IPv6

●   Authentication, authorization, and accounting (AAA)

●   Telnet

●   Trivial FTP (TFTP)

●   Traceroute

●   Duplicate address detection

●   Standard ACL

●   IPv6 tunnels in software

●   Hop-by-hop option header; in software

●   DHCPv6 relay agent

●   HSRPv2 IPv6

Sophisticated QoS and Traffic Management

●   Modular QoS command-line interface (MQC)

●   Per-port per VLAN QoS

●   Dynamic Tx queue sizing

●   Strict priority queuing

●   IP differentiated services code point (DSCP)

●   IEEE 802.1p class of service

●   Flexible classification marking

●   Classification and marking based on full Layer 3 and 4 headers

●   Input and output policing based on Layer 3 and 4 headers

●   Support for 16,000 policers with flexible assignment for input and output

●   2-rate 3-color policing

●   Output queue management shaping and sharing

●   Dynamic buffer limiting: Congestion-avoidance feature

Performance and Scalability

●   320-Gbps switching fabric

●   Layer 2 hardware forwarding at 250 mpps

●   Layer 3 hardware-based IP Cisco Express Forwarding routing at 250 mpps

●   Layer 4 TCP and User Datagram Protocol (UDP) hardware-based filtering at 250 mpps

●   Software-based learning at a sustained rate of 10,000 hosts per second

●   55,000 unicast MAC addresses

●   16,000 multicast MAC addresses

●   200,000 entries in routing table (shared between unicast and multicast)

●   4000 virtual ports (VLAN port instances)

●   Bandwidth aggregation up to 16 Gbps through Cisco Gigabit EtherChannel technology.

●   Bandwidth aggregation up to 160 Gbps for 10 Gigabit Ethernet through 10 Gigabit EtherChannel technology

●   Hardware-based multicast management

●   Hardware-based ACLs

Management

●   Console port to manage all system features

●   Software configuration management, including local and remote storage

●   Optional compact flash memory card to store software images for backup and easy software upgrades (future)

●   USB drive support (future)

●   FAT file system support

●   Manageable through CiscoWorks Windows network-management software on a per-port and per-switch basis, providing a common management interface for Cisco routers, switches, and hubs

●   SNMP v1, v2, and v3 instrumentation, delivering comprehensive in-band management

●   CLI-based management console to provide detailed out-of-band management

●   Remote monitoring (RMON) software agent to support four RMON groups (history, statistics, alarms, and events) for enhanced traffic management, monitoring, and analysis

●   Analysis support, including ingress port, egress port, and VLAN SPAN

●   Layer 2 traceroute

●   Cisco SmartPort macros

●   SPAN ACL filtering

●   DHCP client autoconfiguration

●   Enhanced SNMP MIB support

●   Network Timing Protocol (NTP)

●   E-OAM 802.3ah and Connectivity Fault Management (CFM; 802.1ag)

●   Ethernet management port

●   Remote SPAN (RSPAN)

●   Smart Call Home

●   Network Mobility Service Protocol (NMSP)

●   Management port features

Advanced Security

●   TACACS+ and RADIUS, which enable centralized control of the switch and restrict unauthorized users from altering the configuration

●   Standard and extended ACLs on all ports

●   IEEE 802.1X user authentication (with VLAN assignment, voice VLAN, and port security)

●   Router ACLs (RACLs) on all ports (no performance penalty)

●   VLAN ACLs (VACLs)

●   Port ACLs (PACLs)

●   Private VLANs (PVLANs) on access ports

●   DHCP snooping and Option 82 insertion

●   Port security

●   Sticky port security

●   SSHv1 and SSHv2

●   Unicast port flood blocking

●   Dynamic Address Resolution Protocol (ARP) inspection

●   IP source guard

●   VLAN Management Policy Server (VMPS) client

●   Network Admission Control (NAC) Layer 2 IEEE 802.1X

●   NAC LAN port IP

●   Secure Copy Protocol (SCP)

●   Unicast RPF

●   IEEE 802.1X Guest VLAN

●   IEEE 802.1X Radius Accounting

●   IEEE 802.1X MAC Authentication Bypass

●   Control plane policing

●   Access Node Control Protocol (ANCP) client

●   Cisco Trusted Security Multihop Security Group Tag Exchange Protocol

Technical Specifications

Management

●   CiscoWorks LMS; includes CiscoWorks Resource Manager Essentials

●   CiscoWorks CiscoView

●   SNMP v1, v2, and v3

●   RMON I and II

●   RFC 1213-MIB (MIB II)

●   UDP-MIB

●   TCP-MIB

●   BGP4-MIB

●   OSPF-MIB

●   LLDP-MIB

●   CISCO-FLASH-MIB

●   CISCO-IMAGE-MIB

●   RFC 2233 (IF-MIB)

●   CISCO-CONFIG-MAN-MIB

●   CISCO-MEMORY-POOL

●   CISCO-CDP-MIB

●   RMON-MIB lite (RFC 1757)

●   RMON2-MIB lite (RFC 2021)

●   HC-RMON-MIB

●   SMON-MIB

●   ENTITY-MIB (V1-RFC 2037) (V2- RFC 2737)

●   CISCO-PROCESS-MIB

●   CISCO-CONFIG-COPY-MIB

●   CISCO-ENTITY-EXT-MIB

●   CISCO-ENTITY-ASSET-MIB

●   CISCO-ENTITY-FRU-CONTROL-MIB

●   CISCO-ENTITY-SENSOR-MIB

●   CISCO-ENVMON-MIB

●   BRIDGE-MIB (RFC 1493)

●   CISCO-PAGP-MIB

●   CISCO-PRIVATE-VLAN-MIB

●   CISCO-STP-EXTENSIONS-MIB

●   CISCO-VLAN-MEMBERSHIP-MIB

●   CISCO-VLAN-IFTABLE-RELATIONSHIP-MIB

●   IGMP-MIB

●   CISCO-ENTITY-VENDORTYPE-OID-MIB

●   CISCO-SYSLOG-MIB

●   CISCO-BULK-FILE-MIB

●   CISCO-CLASS-BASED-QOS-MIB

●   CISCO-FTP-CLIENT-MIB

●   CISCO-HSRP-MIB

●   CISCO-IGMP-FILTER-MIB

●   CISCO-IPMROUTE-MIB

●   CISCO-PORT-SECURITY-MIB

●   CISCO-RMON-CONFIG-MIB

●   CISCO-VTP-MIB

●   ETHERLIKE-MIB

●   EXPRESSION-MIB

●   CISCO-PORT-STORM-CONTROL-MIB

●   Static multicast MAC address in BRIDGE-MIB

Industry Standards

●   Ethernet: IEEE 802.3 and 802.3an (10GBASE-T)

●   Fast Ethernet: IEEE 802.3u and 100BASE-TX

●   Gigabit Ethernet: IEEE 802.3z and 802.3ab

●   10 Gigabit Ethernet: IEEE 802.3ae

●   IEEE 802.1D Spanning Tree Protocol

●   IEEE 802.1w rapid reconfiguration of spanning tree

●   IEEE 802.1s multiple VLAN instances of spanning tree

●   IEEE 802.3ad LACP

●   IEEE 802.1p class of service (CoS) prioritization

●   IEEE 802.1Q VLAN

●   IEEE 802.1X user authentication

●   1000BASE-X (SFP)

●   1000BASE-SX

●   1000BASE-LX/LH

●   1000BASE-ZX

●   RMON I and II standards

Optics Support

SFPs used with Cisco TwinGig Converter Module for Gigabit Ethernet connectivity (supported only in WS-X4908-10GE(=) half card):

●   GLC-T: 1000BASE-T SFP

●   GLC-SX-MM: Gigabit Ethernet SFP, LC connector, and SX transceiver

●   GLC-LH-SM: Gigabit Ethernet SFP, LC connector, and LX/LH transceiver

●   GLC-BX-D: 1000BASE-BX10 SFP module for single-strand SMF, 1490-nm TX/1310-nm RX wavelength

●   GLC-BX-U: 1000BASE-BX10 SFP module for single-strand SMF, 1310-nm TX/1490-nm RX wavelength

●   GLC-ZX-SM: 1000BASE-ZX SFP

●   Cisco (CWDM) SFP solution

X2 Modules for 10 Gigabit Ethernet Connectivity

●   X2-10GB-LR=: 10GBASE-LR X2 module

●   X2-10GB-CX4=: 10GBASE-CX4 X2 module

●   X2-10GB-LX4=: 10GBASE-LX4 X2 module

●   X2-10GB-SR=: 10GBASE-SR X2 module

●   X2-10GB-ER=: 10GBASE-ER X2 module

●   X2-10GB-LRM=: 10GBASE-LRM X2 module

●   X2-10GB-ZR=: 10GBASE-ZR X2 module

●   DWDM-X2 =: 10GBASE-DWDM X2 module

Cisco SFP+ Transceiver Modules for Cisco OneX Converter Module

●   SFP-10G-SR=: Cisco 10GBASE-SR SFP+ module for multimode fiber (MMF)

●   SFP-H10GB-CU1M: 10GBASE-CU SFP+ Cable 1 meter (Version -02)

●   SFP-H10GB-CU3M: 10GBASE-CU SFP+ Cable 3 meter (Version -02)

●   SFP-H10GB-CU5M: 10GBASE-CU SFP+ Cable 5 meter (Version -02)

Product Specifications

Tables 5 and 6 list the specifications for the Cisco Catalyst 4900M.

Table 5.       Product Specifications: Dimensions

Table 6.       Product Specifications: Weight

Indicator and Port Specifications

●   System status: Green (operational), red (faulty)

●   Console: RJ-45 socket

●   Reset (switch recessed for protection)

●   Image management port: 10/100/1000BASE-T (RJ-45 socket) data terminal equipment (DTE); green (good), orange (disabled), and off (not connected)

●   Air flow specifications (average):

◦     Air flow at 25°C (77°F) is approximately 77 cubic feet per minute (cfm)

◦     Air flow at 55°C (131°F ) is approximately 150 to 160 cfm

Table 7 shows the air flow specifications by speed.

Table 7.       Air Flow Specifications by Speed

Power Supply Specifications

The Cisco Catalyst 4900M offers a choice of 1000W AC or DC power supplies. The switch can operate with one power supply present. When two power supplies are installed, the switch shares the power load between the two power supplies (Table 8).

Table 8.       AC and DC Power Supply Specifications