Introduction - Nvidia Spectrum-3 SN4000 Series Hardware User Manual

Introduction


This document is preliminary and subject to change.
The SN4000 series switches are the 4th generation of NVIDIA Spectrum® switches, purpose-built for
leaf/spine/super-spine datacenter applications. Allowing maximum flexibility, SN4000 series
provides port speeds spanning from 1GbE to 400GbE, and a port density that enables full rack
connectivity to any server at any speed. In addition, the uplink ports allow a variety of blocking
ratios to suit any application requirement. The SN4000 series is ideal for building wire-speed and
cloud-scale layer-2 and layer-3 networks. The SN4000 platforms deliver high performance,
consistent low latency along with support for advanced software defined networking features,
making it the ideal choice for web scale IT, cloud,
hyperconverged storage and data analytics applications.
Open Ethernet breaks the paradigm of traditional switch systems, eliminating vendor lock-in.
Instead of forcing network operators to use the specific software that is provided by the switch
vendor, Open Ethernet offers the flexibility to use a choice of operating systems on top of Ethernet
switches, thereby re-gaining control of the network, and optimizing utilization, efficiency and
overall return on investment. Open Ethernet adopts the same principles as standard open solutions
for servers and storage, and applies them to the world of networking infrastructure. It encourages
an ecosystem of open source, standard network solutions. These solutions can then be easily
deployed into the modern data center across network equipment that eases management and
ensures full interoperability. With a range of system form factors, and a rich software ecosystem,
SN4000 series allows you to pick and choose the right components for your data center.
NVIDIA SN4000 series platforms are based on the high-performance NVIDIA Spectrum-3 ASIC with a
switching capacity of 12.8 Tb/s. SN4000 platforms are available in a range of configurations, each
delivering high performance combined with feature-rich layer 2 and layer 3 forwarding, ideally
suited for both top-of-rack leaf and fixed configuration spines. The NVIDIA SN4000 series provides
full wire speed, cut through-mode latency, on-chip fully-shared 64MB packet buffering, and flexible
port use in addition to advanced capabilities. Combining a wide range of innovations in the area of
programmability, telemetry, and tunneling with industry leading performance, NVIDIA SN4000 series
is capable of addressing today's data center's complex networking requirements.
For a full list of all available ordering options, see Ordering Information.
SN4410 Front View
8