Cisco WS-F6K-DFC4-E Full Official Technical Specification Document

1. Product Overview

Official Full Designation

Cisco WS-F6K-DFC4-E:Distributed Forwarding Card 4 Standard Memory Daughter Card for Catalyst 6500 E-Series WS-X68xx / WS-X69xx Interface ModulesCisco

WS-F6K-DFC4-E is a dedicated daughter card integrated onto Cisco Catalyst 6500 E-Series 6800-series and 6900-series Ethernet line cards, exclusively designed to work with Supervisor Engine 2T / 2TXL (VS-S2T-10G) equipped with PFC4-E forwarding enginesCisco. It delivers localized distributed Cisco Express Forwarding (dCEF) processing directly on the line card, offloading packet forwarding and advanced service tasks from the supervisor’s centralized PFC4 engine to eliminate chassis-wide forwarding bottlenecks and scale overall switching performanceCisco.

Core DefinitionDFC4-E is a compact pluggable daughter board pre-installed factory-standard on all base SKUs of WS-X68xx (WS-X6808-10G-2T, WS-X6816-10G-2T, WS-X6848-SFP-2T, WS-X6848-TX-2T) and WS-X69xx high-speed line cards. It replicates the full functional ASIC architecture of the supervisor’s PFC4-E forwarding engine, providing independent line-rate packet lookup, security, QoS, multicast, and NetFlow services locally for all ports on its host line cardCisco. It features standard memory sizing for enterprise campus and medium-scale data center deployments, contrasted with the expanded high-memory variant WS-F6K-DFC4-EXL for large-scale carrier and high-flow-density data center environmentsCisco.

SKU Naming Breakdown

1. WS-F6K: Cisco standard prefix for Catalyst 6500-series daughter/forwarding auxiliary cards
2. DFC4: 4th-generation Distributed Forwarding Card architecture, paired with Supervisor 2T PFC4 forwarding complex
3. -E: Standard memory capacity variant (opposite of -EXL expanded large memory variant)

Product Lifecycle Notice

• Official Global Release Year: 2011 (launched alongside Catalyst 6500 E-Series 6800-series line cards and Supervisor 6T/2T)
• End-of-Sale (EoS) Announcement Date: Cisco permanently discontinued manufacturing and new unit sales
• Minimum Supported IOS Software Version: Classic IOS SY train 12.2(50)SY
• End of Software Maintenance: No new feature IOS releases post-EoS; limited critical security vulnerability patch support expired
• Final End-of-Support (EoSS) Date: Cisco official hardware repair, RMA replacement, and TAC technical engineering support fully terminated
• Legacy Status: All installation guides, hardware datasheets, and IOS compatibility documentation are archived on Cisco’s legacy networking documentation portal; only third-party refurbished hardware and limited aftermarket best-effort support are available.

Supported Host Line Card Compatibility

WS-F6K-DFC4-E is factory pre-installed on these base 2T SKU line cards, and may also be field-upgraded onto select WS-X67xx CEF720 line cards:

1. WS-X6808-10G-2T (8-port X2 10G fiber)
2. WS-X6816-10G-2T (16-port X2 10G fiber)
3. WS-X6848-SFP-2T (48-port Gigabit SFP fiber)
4. WS-X6848-TX-2T (48-port Gigabit fixed copper RJ45)
5. WS-X6904-40G-2T (4-port 40G QSFP+ high-speed module)

Mandatory Supervisor Engine Requirement

Only compatible with Supervisor Engine 2T / VS-S2T-10G (equipped with PFC4-E centralized forwarding engine). Fully incompatible with Supervisor Engine 720 (DFC3 architecture), legacy Supervisor 1A, Supervisor 2, Supervisor 32 platforms.

Standard Factory Complete Bundle Contents

When sold as a standalone replacement spare part, each factory-sealed WS-F6K-DFC4-E package contains:

1. WS-F6K-DFC4-E distributed forwarding daughter card with integrated passive aluminum heat sink
2. ESD wrist grounding strap for static-safe installation
3. Daughter card mounting screws, retention brackets, and power connector harness
4. Quick-start hardware installation guide for DFC4 daughter card removal and replacement on host line cards
5. Global regulatory compliance, safety, and electromagnetic interference (EMI) certification documentation packet

Core Integrated Functional Capabilities

DFC4-E mirrors all PFC4-E hardware service functions locally on the line card, eliminating forwarding traffic hairpinning to the supervisor engine:

• Full hardware dCEF distributed packet forwarding for IPv4 unicast/multicast, IPv6 unicast/multicast, MPLS label switching, and Layer 2 bridging
• Hardware-accelerated security Access Control Lists (ACLs): ingress/egress port ACLs, VLAN ACLs, router ACLs
• Hardware QoS processing: DSCP/CoS traffic classification, policing, marking, ingress queuing, egress DWRR/SRR scheduling, WRED congestion avoidance, CBWFQ
• Dedicated hardware multicast replication engine for efficient Layer 2/Layer 3 multicast traffic distribution
• Hardware NetFlow v5/v9 flow collection, flow statistics aggregation, and export processing
• EtherChannel load-balancing calculation, packet rewrite lookup, and rewrite statistics collection
• Full jumbo frame support up to 9216 bytes, VSS Virtual Switch Link traffic forwarding, hot-swappable OIR line card failover synchronization

2. Hardware & Performance Specifications

Core Forwarding & Memory Performance

• Forwarding Throughput Capacity: 60 Mpps line-rate distributed packet forwarding per DFC4-E daughter cardCisco
• FIB (Forwarding Information Base) Capacity: Standard 256,000 IPv4 unicast forwarding entries
• TCAM Memory Allocation:
  • ACL TCAM: 64,000 security ACL entries
  • NetFlow TCAM: 512,000 concurrent NetFlow flow cache entries
• Memory Hardware: 3 x 600 MHz RLDRAM3 high-speed memory chips for forwarding table storageCisco
• Switch Fabric Interface: Dual full-duplex 20 Gbps switch fabric channels (40 Gbps aggregate bidirectional bandwidth) connecting the host line card to the chassis crossbar fabric

Electrical & Thermal Specifications

• Power Draw: Low-power DC auxiliary power feed from host line card’s main power supply; no independent chassis power connector
• Thermal Design: Integrated passive extruded aluminum heat sink; no on-board cooling fans, relying on chassis backplane airflow for heat dissipation
• Operating Temperature Range:
  • Agency-certified operational range: 0°C to 40°C (32°F to 104°F)
  • Extended validated operating range: 0°C to 55°C (32°F to 130°F)
• Storage & Transport Temperature: -40°C to 75°C (-40°F to 167°F)
• Relative Humidity: 10% to 90% non-condensing humidity for continuous operation
• Operating Altitude:
  • Certified range: -150m to 2000m (-500ft to 6500ft)
  • Extended validated range: -150m to 3000m (-500ft to 10000ft)

Physical Form Factor

• Form Factor: Compact pluggable daughter board, mounted parallel to the host line card’s main PCB
• Mounting Mechanism: Screw-fixed retention brackets, dedicated power and data edge connectors mating to the host line card’s DFC4 socket
• Net Weight: ~0.2 kg (0.44 lbs), including integrated aluminum heat sink

3. Key Differentiator vs WS-F6K-DFC4-EXL

表格

4. Regulatory & Compliance Certifications

Fully compliant with global international industry standards when installed in a certified Catalyst 6500 E-Series chassis:

1. Safety Standards: UL 60950-1, CSA C22.2 No. 60950-1, EN 60950, IEC 60950-1
2. EMC & EMI Standards: FCC CFR Title 47 Part 15 Class A, VCCI Class A, EN55022 Class A, CISPR 22 Class A
3. Carrier-Grade Compliance: NEBS Level 3 (GR-1089-CORE, GR-63-CORE), ETSI ETS 300 386-2, EN 50121-4 railway EMC compliance
4. Environmental Directive: EU RoHS hazardous substance restriction compliance

5. Core Deployment Advantages

1. Distributed Offload Architecture: Moves all packet forwarding and advanced service processing from the supervisor’s centralized PFC4 engine to the line card, eliminating supervisor CPU/TCAM bottlenecks and linearly scaling total chassis forwarding capacity with each DFC4-equipped line card.
2. Standardized Cost-Effective Memory Sizing: Optimized memory capacity for most enterprise campus, mid-tier data center, and small metro Ethernet deployments, delivering balanced performance without the premium cost of the high-memory DFC4-EXL variant.
3. Unified Feature Compatibility: Supports the complete full feature set of Catalyst 6500 E-Series Supervisor 2T IOS SY firmware, including VSS multi-chassis virtual switching, hardware multicast, full QoS policy support, and comprehensive security ACL filtering.
4. Static Passive Thermal Design: No on-board active cooling fans, reducing hardware failure points, acoustic noise, and long-term maintenance overhead for wiring closet and quiet office deployments.
5. Field-Replaceable Spare Part: Designed for static-safe in-service replacement without removing the entire host line card from the chassis, minimizing network downtime during hardware repair or upgrade.

Supplementary Product Specification Notes

UNSPSC Classification Code

43222612 (Distributed forwarding auxiliary daughter card for modular rack-mount Catalyst 6500 E-Series switch chassis, DFC4 standard memory variant compatible with Supervisor Engine 2T PFC4-E forwarding complex, providing hardware distributed dCEF packet forwarding, ACL security processing, QoS scheduling, multicast replication and NetFlow flow collection for 6800-series Gigabit/10G/40G Ethernet line cards).

K9 Security Compliance Note

All WS-F6K-DFC4-E compatible IOS SY firmware releases implement H.235v3 AES 128-bit encrypted remote CLI, web portal and SNMP management traffic, meeting Cisco K9 secure network hardware classification standards required for government, military, healthcare, and financial regulated enterprise network deployments.

Factory Hardware Warranty Terms

Standard 1-year limited hardware warranty coverage for brand-new factory-sealed WS-F6K-DFC4-E daughter card spare parts purchased through official Cisco authorized global distribution channel partners. Critical lifecycle limitation note: The product EoS/EoSS status restricts active hardware replacement warranty service eligibility for all WS-F6K-DFC4-E units purchased after Cisco’s official End-of-Sale cutoff date; all formal Cisco technical TAC engineering hardware repair support services terminated permanently on the published End-of-Support date.