31.1 CISCO CATALYST 6000/6500 SWITCH - SUPERVISOR ARCHITECTURES

 The following topics are discussed here :
1. Supervisor architectures
2. Catalyst 6000/6500 operating systems

Supervisor Architectures

Several architectural options are available when designing a Catalyst 6000/6500 switch, each of which varies in terms of Layer 3 capabilities. Layer 3 capabilities are added to the Catalyst 6000/6500 switch by two key components:

 
Policy feature card (PFC)

The PFC provides the necessary ASICs to perform hardware-based Layer 3 switching, quality of service (QoS) classification, and access control list (ACL) filtering. The PFC requires a route processor to populate the route cache or optimized route table structure used by the L3 switching ASIC. If no route processor is present, the PFC can perform only Layer 3/4 QoS classification and ACL filtering and cannot perform L3 switching.

Multilayer switching feature card (MSFC)

 The MSFC is essentially a Cisco IOS router based upon the high-performance 7200 series router. This provides the route processor functions required by the PFC to implement L3 switching. The MSFC provides the necessary routing information in the PFC route cache so that the PFC can L3 switch packets.

When you purchase the Catalyst 6000/6500, you can choose any one of the following, depending on your Layer 3 requirements :

1. Supervisor 1A

2. Supervisor 2

3. Supervisor 720 - Next generation supervisor engine that includes an integrated PFC-3, MSFC-3 and 720-Gbps corossbar switching matrix.