Chapter 1 Introduction To Mellanox Sn2000 Spectrum™ Ethernet Switch Systems; Overview; Figure 1: Sn2700 Front Side View - Mellanox Technologies Spectrum SN2700 Hardware User Manual

1 Introduction to Mellanox SN2000 Spectrum™ Ethernet
Switch Systems
1.1

Overview

Mellanox Spectrum™ based 1U switch systems are an ideal spine and Top of Rack (ToR) solu-
tion, allowing maximum flexibility, with port speeds spanning from 10Gb/s to 100Gb/s per port,
and port density that enables full rack connectivity to any server at any speed. The uplink ports
allow a variety of blocking ratios that suit any application requirement. Powered by the Spectrum
ASIC, the systems carry whopping switching and processing capacities in a compact 1U form
factor.
Keeping with the Mellanox tradition of setting performance record switch systems, the Spectrum
based systems introduce the world's lowest latency for 100GbE switching and routing elements,
and do so while having the lowest power consumption in the market. They enable the use of 10,
25, 40, 50 and 100GbE in a large scale without changing power infrastructure facilities.
The Spectrum™ based 1U switch systems are a part of Mellanox's complete end-to-end solution,
which provides 10GbE through 100GbE interconnectivity within the data center. Other devices
in this solution include ConnectX-4 based network interface cards, and LinkX copper or fiber
cabling. This end-to-end solution is topped with NEO, a management application that relieves
some of the major obstacles standing in the way when deploying a network. NEO enables a fully
certified and interoperable design, speeds up time to service and RoI. The systems introduce
hardware capabilities for multiple tunneling protocols that enable increased reachability and scal-
ability for today's data centers. Implementing MPLS, NVGRE and VXLAN tunneling encapsu-
lations in the network layer of the data center allows more flexibility for terminating a tunnel by
the network, in addition to termination on the server endpoint.
While Spectrum provides the thrust and acceleration that powers the switch systems, they get yet
another angle of capabilities, running with a powerful x86-based processor, which allows them to
not only be the highest performing switch fabric elements, but also grants them the ability to
incorporate a Linux running server into the same device. This opens up multiple application
aspects of utilizing the high CPU processing power and the best switching fabric, to create a
powerful machine with unique appliance capabilities that can improve numerous network imple-
mentation paradigms.
The Spectrum™ based 1U switch systems support the Open Network Install Environment
(ONIE) for zero touch installations of network operating systems. While all Ethernet systems can
be purchased preloaded with MLNX-OS, the SN2000 switches (in both the 100GbE and the
40GbE versions) are offered, in addition, with Cumulus Linux support, as an alternative operat-
ing system. For a full list of all available ordering options, see
12

Figure 1: SN2700 Front Side View

Mellanox Technologies
"Ordering Information".
Rev 1.9