Cisco 6500 Virtual Switching System ( VSS ) hardware requirement and capacity

Supervisor Engine

The four supervisor engine model number supporting VSS are:

• VS-S2T-10G
• VS-S2T-10G-XL
• VS-S720-10G-3C
• VS-S720-10G-3CXL

Policy Feature Card of Supervisor Engine VS-S720-10G-3C and VS-S720-10G-3CXL is “PFC3C”, Policy Feature Card of Supervisor Engine VS-S2T-10G and VS-S2T-10G-XL is “PFC4”.

The VSS requires that the system PFC operating mode is in PFC3C or PFC4; a mix of PFC3 and PFC4 forwarding engines is not supported. The differences between the PFC3 and PFC4 forwarding engines are significant enough that a compatibility mode is not supported. However, one can operate with a mix of non-XL and XL versions, as long as the forwarding engines are all PFC3 or all PFC4.

How to verify the VSS PFC operating mode:

Example for Sup720-10GE:
vss#show platform hardware pfc mode
PFC operating mode : PFC3C
Configured PFC operating mode : None

Example for Sup2T:
vss#show platform hardware pfc mode
PFC operating mode : PFC4
Configured PFC operating mode : None

VSS Capable Supervisor Comparison

Supervisor Engine/ Feature	VS-S2T-10G	VS-S2T-10G -XL	VS-S720-10G-3C	VS-S720-10G-3CXL
Routes	256K (IPv4) 128K (IPv6)	1024K (IPv4) 512K (IPv6)	256K (IPv4) 128K (IPv6)	1024K (IPv4) 512K (IPv6)
IPv4 Forwarding Rate	In hardware; up to 720 Mpps*	In hardware; up to 720 Mpps*	In hardware; up to 450 Mpps*	In hardware; up to 450 Mpps*
IPv6 Forwarding Rate	In hardware; up to 390 Mpps*	In hardware; up to 390 Mpps*	In hardware; up to 225 Mpps*	In hardware; up to 225 Mpps*
Switch Fabric Capacity	2 Tbps (80 Gbps per slot including the 6513-E chassis)	2 Tbps (80 Gbps per slot in all chassis including the 6513-E chassis)	720 Gbps (40 Gbps per slot in all chassis except the 6513 and 6513-E)	720 Gbps (40 Gbps per slot in all chassis except the 6513 and 6513-E)
MPLS	Layer 3 VPNs and EoMPLS tunneling. Up to 8192 VRFs with a total of up to 256K* forwarding entries per system.	Layer 3 VPNs and EoMPLS tunneling. Up to 8192 VRFs with a total of up to 1024K* forwarding entries per system.	Layer 3 VPNs and EoMPLS tunneling. Up to 1024 VRFs with a total of up to 256K* forwarding entries per system.	Layer 3 VPNs and EoMPLS tunneling. Up to 1024 VRFs with a total of up to 1024K* forwarding entries per system.
VPLS	Any Ethernet LAN port in hardware (up to 390 Mpps**)	Any Ethernet LAN port in hardware (up to 390 Mpps**)	Supported with SIP and SPA modules	Supported with SIP and SPA modules
NetFlow Entries	512 K	1024 K	128 K	256 K
Layer-3 classification and marking access control entries (ACEs)	64 K shared for QOS/Security	256 K shared for QOS/Security	32 K QoS entries 32 K Security entries	32 K QoS entries 32 K Security entries
Chassis Supported	6500 E-series chassis only	6500 E-series chassis only	6500 E-series and 6500 non E-series	6500 E-series and 6500

Virtual Switch Link (VSL) capable interface list:

VSL is crucial for VSS, the below list is the supervisor and line card which support the VSL

Module	Description	# VSL Ports 10 GE (Capable)
VS-S2T-10G/XL	Supervisor Engine 2T	2
WS-X6904-40-2T/2TXL	40 GE Linecard/10 GE Linecard	4 (40 Gigabit Ethernet) 8 (10 Gigabit Ethernet)
WS-X6908-10G-2T/2TXL	10 GE Linecard	8
WS-X6816-10G-2T	16-Port 10 GE X2 Fiber Linecard with DFC4/DFC4XL	4 (Performance mode) *
WS-X6816-10T-2T/2TXL	16-Port 10 GE Copper Linecard with DFC4/DFC4/XL	4 (Performance mode) *
VS-S720-10G-3C/XL	Supervisor Engine 720-10GE	2
WS-X6708-10G-3C/XL	10 GE Linecard	8
WS-X6716-10G-3C/XL	16-Port 10GE X2 Fiber Linecard with DFC3C/DFC3CXL	4 (Performance mode) *
WS-X6716-10T-3C/XL	16-Port 10GE Copper Linecard with DFC3C/DFC3C/XL	4 (Performance mode) *

Supported Chassis

• For a Supervisor Engine 720-10 G-based system, both non-E-series chassis, as well as E-series chassis, are supported. 
• For a Supervisor Engine 2T-based system, only E-series chassis are supported. 
• There is no requirement to match the types of chassis used in the VSS. The chassis consisting of the Cisco Virtual Switching System can be different chassis with varying slot counts.

Other Supported Modules

• Supported interface modules that can coexist within a Cisco Virtual Switching System-enabled chassis include all CEF720 modules (WS-X6700 series). 
• These modules can also support either a centralized forwarding card (CFC) or a DFC. 
• If a DFC is installed, it must be compatible with the supervisor PFC operating mode (for example, PFC3C mode for the Supervisor Engine 720-10G and PFC4 mode for the Superviosr Engine 2T). 
• A lower-mode DFC inserted in the module will be denied system power until the system-wide PFC mode has been configured and the system is reloaded

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