The primary positioning of the CiscoCatalyst4500 E-Series: It is the Cisco lead modular access portfolio. This platform is positioned for enterprise wiring closet, small and medium-sized business (SMB) core/aggregation, and metro fiber to the home, office, and so on (FTTX)/aggregation.
Cisco Catalyst 4500 Series Supervisors
Q. What is being introduced with the Cisco Catalyst 4500E Supervisor Engine 8-E launch?
A. the Cisco Catalyst 4500E Supervisor Engine 8-E is the next generation of enterprise-class switching engine and provides full convergence between wired and wireless networks on a single platform.
Q. What it means to be converged wired and wireless platform?
A. Wired and wireless convergence brings IOS excellence and consistency to wireless by extending wired infrastructure features, resiliency, application visibility and granular QoS.
Q. How much wireless traffic is terminated on Catalyst 4500E?
A. New Supervisor Engine 8-E is hardware ready to provide up-to 20G of wireless termination.
Q. Are the Cisco Catalyst 4500E Supervisor Engine 8-E, 7-E, and 7L-E supported in classic chassis?
A. No. The Cisco Catalyst 4500E Supervisor Engine 8-E, 7-E, and 7L-E work only with E-Series chassis.
Q. What type of uplinks are supported on the different supervisor engines?
A. The table summarizes available uplinks as follows:
Table. Available Uplinks
| Cisco Catalyst 4500E Supervisor Engine 8-E | Cisco Catalyst 4500 Supervisor Engine 7-E | Cisco Catalyst 4500 Supervisor Engine 7L-E | Cisco Catalyst 4500 Supervisor Engine 6-E | Cisco Catalyst 4500 Supervisor Engine 6L-E | |
| Uplinks | 8x10G or 8x1G | 4x10G or 4x1G | 2x10G or 4x1G | 2 X2 | 2 X2 |
| Type | Small Form-Factor Pluggable Plus (SFP+)/SFP | SFP+/SFP | SFP+/SFP | X2 | X2 |
Q. Are Nonstop Forwarding (NSF), Stateful Switchover (SSO), and In-Service Software Upgrade (ISSU) supported with redundant supervisor engines?
A. Yes, these features are supported on all shipping Cisco Catalyst 4500E supervisor engines.
Licensing
Q. What different levels of software licenses are available on the Cisco Catalyst 4500 E-Series?
A. The following levels are available:
• Cisco IOSXE Software LAN Base: This feature set on the bundles provides Layer 2 features for access.
• Cisco IOS XE Software IP Base: This feature set is upgradable with a software activation license (SAL). It includes all Layer 2 features and some basic Layer 3 features. ISSU and SSO are supported in this package.
• Cisco IOS XE Software Enterprise Services: This feature set is upgradable with a SAL; it supports full Layer 3 protocols and advanced features such as complete routing scalability, Border Gateway Protocol (BGP), Virtual Route Forwarding (VRF), Policy-Based Routing (PBR), and so on.
These features can be enabled using the software-licensing mechanism. For details about software licensing, refer to the “Licensing” section later in this document or visit https://www.cisco.com/go/sa.
Q. What licensing model does the Cisco Catalyst 4500E use?
A. The Cisco Catalyst 4500E uses a right-to-use (RTU) licensing model. RTU is a trust-based licensing model designed to give customers the flexibility to upgrade, downgrade, or move the license for RMA purpose by using simple EXEC CLI commands.
Q. Is the Enterprise Services image required to enable IPv6 in hardware?
A. No. The IPv6 capability is provisioned in the hardware. Like IPv4, Layer 2+ IPv6, such as static routes and Multicast Listener Discovery (MLD) snooping, provides multicast support in the IP Base image. The Enterprise Services image is required to enable Layer 3.
Q. What licenses are required to enable wireless termination capability on available on an Cisco Catalyst 4500E Supervisor Engine 8-E?
A. No additional license on top of IP Base is required to enable wireless termination. Note that this feature is targeted for 1HCY14.
Q. What licenses are required to enable wireless controller capability on available on a Cisco Catalyst 4500E Supervisor Engine 8-E?
A. In addition to IP Base or Enterprise Services, the customer would need to buy access point licenses to enable wireless controller functionality. Note that this feature and license are targeted for 1HCY14.
Q. What licenses are required to configure Virtual Switch System (VSS) on the Cisco Catalyst 4500E platform?
A. For VSS support with the Supervisor Engine 7-E, an IP Base license is required, and with the Supervisor Engine 7L-E, and Enterprise Base license is required.
Cisco Catalyst 4500 E-Series Line Cards
Q. Is there a price premium for a Universal Power over Ethernet (UPOE) line card?
A. No. The UPOE line card is priced the same as the Power over Ethernet Plus (PoE+) line card.
Q. What is a UPOE splitter?
A. the UPOE splitter is designed to support end devices that don’t support PoE natively but can benefit from being powered over PoE.
Q. Are the E-Series line cards supported in non-E-Series chassis?
A. No. The classic Cisco Catalyst 4000 and 4500 chassis maximum per slot capacity is 6 gigabits per slot.
Q. Is local switching supported on the E-Series line cards?
A. No.
Q. Are there any visual differentiators between the E-Series line cards and the classic line cards?
A. Yes. The E-Series line cards will have a subtle cross-hatch pattern and a yellow circle on the right end tab, visually identifying them as E-Series line cards. This will be useful in a mixed E-Series/classic line-card configuration.
Cisco Catalyst 4500 E-Series Chassis
Q. Can I use the classic Cisco Catalyst 4500 line cards in the E-Series chassis?
A. Yes. They will continue to operate at 6 gigabits per slot.
Q. Can I mix and match classic line cards with E-Series line cards?
A. Yes. This requires a Supervisor Engine 6-E to support both types of line cards.
Q. When mixing classic line cards with E-Series line cards, is there a down speed to 6 gigabits?
A. You can mix and match with no down speed. The E-Series line cards will operate at 48 or 24 gigabits per slot, and the classic line cards will continue to operate at 6 gigabits per slot.
Q. Can I use the existing Cisco Catalyst 4500 power supplies in the E-Series chassis?
A. Yes.
Q. Can I use Cisco Catalyst 4006 and 4003 power supplies in the E-Series chassis?
A. The Cisco Catalyst 4006 and 4003 power supplies only operate in a Cisco Catalyst 4006 or 4003 chassis.
Cisco Catalyst 4500 E Series Software
Q. What network automation features are supported on the Cisco Catalyst 4500E?
A. the Cisco Catalyst 4500 E-Series supports Cisco Smart Operations innovations such as Smart Install to automate deployment of switches and Auto Smart Ports (ASP) to automate configuration of ports for devices such as access points.
Reference from https://www.cisco.com/en/US/prod/collateral/switches/ps5718/ps4324/prod_qas0900aecd806d8b06.html
Cisco Catalyst 4500 Supervisor Engine 6-E with CenterFlex Technology
The Cisco Catalyst4500 E-Series with CenterFlex technology provides secure, flexible, nonstop communications to facilitate business resilience for enterprises, small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs), and Metro Ethernet customers deploying business-critical applications. The Cisco Catalyst 4500 E-Series, including the new Cisco Catalyst 4500 Supervisor Engine 6-E, three new E-Series line cards, and four new E-Series chassis, is a next-generation extension to the widely deployed Cisco Catalyst 4000 and 4500 Series of switches.
CenterFlex technology is enabled by the Supervisor Engine 6-E centralized application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs), which deliver the highest centralized performance and configuration flexibility in the industry. CenterFlex technology facilitates granular optimization of real-time voice, video, and data communication, maximizing performance and enhancing user experience. The new E-Series with CenterFlex technology is designed with unprecedented backward and forward compatibility, delivering exceptional investment protection and deployment flexibility to meet the evolving needs of organizations of all sizes.
Cisco Catalyst 4500 Supervisor Engine 6-E
The Cisco Catalyst 4500 Supervisor Engine 6-E with CenterFlex technology is an intelligent, high-performance, next-generation extension to the Cisco Catalyst 4500 Series optimized for customers deploying business-critical applications.
Key Supervisor Engine 6-E features include:
• Centralized 320-Gbps switching capacity with 250 Mpps of throughput
• Flexibility to operate at 6 or 24 Gb per line-card slot
• Ability to mix-and-match classic 6-Gb and E-Series 24-Gb line cards, with no performance degradation
• Dual 10 Gigabit Ethernet uplinks (X2 optics)
• Twin gigabit converter modules that offer flexibility for up to 4 Gigabit Ethernet (Small Form-Factor Pluggable [SFP]) uplinks in the X2 optic slots
• IPv6 support in hardware, providing wire-rate forwarding for IPv6 networks
• Dynamic hardware forwarding-table allocations for ease of IPv4-to-IPv6 migration
• Advanced quality of service (QoS) support with 8 queues per port, dynamic queue sizing, and hierarchical policing
• Enhanced security with Unicast Reverse Path Forwarding (URPF) for added protection against network spoofing attacks
• FAT file system for easier network administration
• Quack support for protection against counterfeit line cards
For more information, refer to the Cisco Catalyst 4500 Supervisor 6-E data sheet at: https://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/hw/switches/ps4324/products_data_sheets_list.html.
Reference from https://www.cisco.com/en/US/prod/collateral/switches/ps5718/ps4324/prod_bulletin0900aecd806e1508.html
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