Cisco N9K-X9736C-FX Full Official Technical Specification Document

1. Product Overview

Official Full Designation

Cisco N9K-X9736C-FX:Cisco Nexus 9500 Cloud-Scale Hot-Swappable I/O Line Card, 36-Port QSFP28 Multi-Rate 40/100-Gigabit Ethernet Ports, FX Silicon Spine/Aggregation Module for Large-Scale Clos Data Center Fabrics and ACI Deployments

Core DefinitionN9K-X9736C-FX is a cloud-scale hot-pluggable line card exclusively designed for Cisco Nexus 9500 modular data center switch chassis (4-slot N9K-C9504, 8-slot N9K-C9508, 16-slot N9K-C9516)Cisco. Powered by Cisco FX cloud-scale ASIC, this high-density 100G line card features 36 universal QSFP28 ports optimized for spine-layer core interconnection, large-scale leaf-spine fabric aggregation, and Cisco ACI multi-tenant data center fabrics. Every QSFP28 port supports flexible breakout speeds to adapt to mixed 10G/25G/40G/50G/100G workloads. It is equipped with a large 160MB shared dynamic packet buffer, delivers wire-speed non-blocking forwarding, and provides full hardware acceleration for modern data center features including VXLAN EVPN, Segment Routing, MACsec encryption, and real-time streaming telemetry.

SKU Naming Breakdown

1. N9K: Standard prefix for Cisco Nexus 9000 series modular chassis switch hardware
2. X9736: Cloud-scale FX silicon line card identifier; 36 represents total QSFP28 port count
3. C: Multi-rate QSFP28 port suffix, supporting flexible breakout to lower-speed lanes
4. FX: FX generation cloud-scale ASIC silicon variant for 100G high-throughput spine line cards
5. =: Optional suffix for standalone spare-only line card kits (N9K-X9736C-FX=)Cisco

Product Lifecycle Notice

• Official Global Release Year: 2019
• End-of-Sale (EoS) Status: Active production hardware as of 2026, no official EoS announcement released
• Minimum Supported NX-OS Software Version: NX-OS Release 9.3(16) and later; fully compatible with ACI spine OS releasesCisco
• Software Maintenance Status: Active Cisco TAC engineering support, regular feature updates and critical security patch releases available via Cisco DNA support contracts
• Legacy Status: Not end-of-life hardware; genuine spare parts, certified firmware upgrades, and 24×7 technical support are fully accessible through authorized Cisco distribution channels

Supported Chassis Compatibility

This line card is fully hot-swappable and interoperable with all three Nexus 9500 modular chassis models:

1. N9K-C9504 (4-slot chassis)
2. N9K-C9508 (8-slot chassis)
3. N9K-C9516 (16-slot chassis)Cisco

Mandatory Fabric Module Requirement

• Mixed chassis configuration (coexist with other line card types): Minimum 4 × N9K-C95xx-FM-E / FM-E2 fabric modules, provides 3.2 Tbps per-slot bandwidthCisco
• Pure N9K-X9736C-FX chassis (all slots populated with FX line cards): Minimum 5 × N9K-C95xx-FM-E / FM-E2 fabric modules to unlock full 3.6 Tbps per-slot non-blocking bandwidth with N+1 fabric redundancyCisco

Standard Factory Complete Bundle Contents

Each factory-sealed N9K-X9736C-FX retail/spare package includes all hardware for chassis installation:

1. N9K-X9736C-FX base hot-swappable cloud-scale line card with integrated passive aluminum heat sink assembly
2. Front panel dust blanking plugs for all unused QSFP28 ports
3. Chassis mounting retention screws and anti-static ESD handling bag
4. Quick-start hardware installation guide for line card insertion/removal
5. Global regulatory compliance, safety, and electromagnetic interference (EMI) certification documentation packet

Core Integrated Functional Capabilities

• Non-blocking wire-speed packet forwarding for all 36 QSFP28 ports simultaneously; full line-rate performance for packets larger than 170 bytes with 4 fabric modules, and packets larger than 120 bytes with 5 fabric modulesCisco
• Hardware-accelerated Layer 2 / Layer 3 forwarding: IPv4/IPv6 unicast/multicast, MPLS label switching, Segment Routing, VXLAN EVPN tunnel termination for large-scale leaf/spine Clos fabrics and ACI spine deployments
• Comprehensive Layer 2 feature suite: IEEE 802.1Q VLAN trunking (4096 VLAN IDs), vPC multi-chassis link aggregation, LACP/static EtherChannel, RSTP/MSTP spanning tree, UDLD, private VLANs, PVLAN edge isolation
• Layer 3 dynamic routing protocols: Static routing, RIPv2, OSPFv2/v3, EIGRP, BGP, HSRP/VRRP first-hop redundancy, uRPF loose/strict anti-spoofing mode
• Hardware security pipeline: Ingress/egress TCAM ACL filtering, MACsec 128/256-bit port encryption, DHCP snooping, dynamic ARP inspection, broadcast/multicast/unicast storm control, control-plane policing (CoPP)
• Hardware QoS scheduling: DSCP/802.1p CoS traffic classification, traffic policing/marking, ingress buffer tuning, egress DWRR weighted queuing, WRED congestion avoidance
• Dedicated hardware multicast replication engine: PIM-SM, PIM-SSM, BiDir-PIM, MSDP, optimized for IPTV broadcast video and media fabric workloads
• Advanced data center automation & observability features: PoAP zero-touch provisioning, NX-API REST API, NETCONF/YANG, Python scripting, EEM embedded event manager, real-time streaming telemetry
• Full jumbo frame support up to 9216-byte MTU, SPAN/ERSPAN port mirroring, IEEE 1588 PTP boundary clock, NTP time synchronization, SSHv2 encrypted management, AAA/RADIUS/TACACS+ access control

2. Hardware & Performance Specifications

Core Forwarding & Buffer Performance

• Shared Packet Buffer: 160MB dynamic tunable buffer pool shared across all 36 QSFP28 portsCisco
• Per-Slot Bidirectional Switching Throughput:
  • 4 fabric modules mixed chassis: 3.2 Tbps full-duplex
  • 5 fabric modules pure FX line card chassis: 3.6 Tbps full-duplex non-blocking crossbarCisco
• Packet Forwarding Rate: Up to 10.23 Bpps (billion packets per second) wire-speed L2/L3 forwarding
• MAC Address Table Capacity: Up to 160,000 unique MAC addresses
• Maximum LPM IPv4/IPv6 Routes: 128,000 prefixes
• Multicast Route Scale: Up to 32,000 multicast routes
• NetFlow Capacity: Hardware-accelerated NetFlow v5/v9 flow collection, support for high-volume concurrent flow cache entries

Port Hardware Specifications

Universal QSFP28 Ports (36 × QSFP28 Multi-Rate Ports)

• Supported Native Speeds: 40 Gbps QSFP+, 100 Gbps QSFP28
• Breakout Mode Support: Each QSFP28 port can be split via breakout cables to multiple low-speed lanes:
  • 1 × 100G, 2 × 50G, 1 × 40G, 4 × 25G, 4 × 10G EthernetCisco
• Supported Transceiver & Cable Types:
  • QSFP28 100G SR4/LR4/ER4/ZR4 optical transceivers
  • QSFP+ 40G SR4/LR4 optical transceivers
  • QSFP28/QSFP+ passive/active copper direct-attach cables
  • QSFP28 breakout cables for 4x10G / 4x25G lane splitting

Electrical & Thermal Specifications

Power Consumption

• Typical Line Card Operating Power Draw: ~380 Watts
• Maximum Full-Load Power Consumption: ~460 Watts
• Power Delivery: Powered via chassis backplane; no external power connectors on the line card

Thermal & Environmental Operating Parameters

• Certified Continuous Operating Temperature Range: 0°C to 40°C (32°F to 104°F) standard data center environment
• Extended Validated Short-Term Operating Temperature: 0°C to 55°C (32°F to 131°F)
• Storage & Transport Temperature Range: -40°C to 70°C (-40°F to 158°F)
• Operating Relative Humidity: 10% to 90% RH, non-condensing
• Operating Altitude: Certified operational range -150 m to 2,000 m (-500 ft to 6,500 ft); extended validated range up to 3,000 m (10,000 ft)
• Cooling Design: Passive aluminum heat sink assembly on the line card PCB; cooling airflow supplied by the host Nexus 9500 chassis rear fan trays
• Airflow Direction: Port-side intake, rear exhaust standard airflow design

Physical Form Factor & Weight

• Form Factor: Standard Nexus 9500 hot-swappable vertical cloud-scale line card form factor
• Bare Line Card Net Weight (without transceivers/dust plugs): ~5.5 kg

3. Regulatory & Compliance Certifications

Fully compliant with global international industry, safety, EMC, and carrier-grade standards when installed in certified Nexus 9500 chassis:

1. Safety Standards: UL 62368-1, CSA C22.2 No. 62368-1, EN 60950-1, 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, GB 4943 (Chinese national standard)
3. Carrier-Grade Compliance: NEBS Level 3 (GR-1089-CORE, GR-63-CORE), ETSI ETS 300 386-2, EN 50121-4 railway EMC compatibility
4. Environmental Directive: EU RoHS 2 hazardous substance restriction compliance

4. Core Deployment Advantages

1. High-Density 36-Port 100G QSFP28 Spine Port Layout: The industry-leading 36 × 100G port density per slot maximizes spine-layer fabric throughput, reducing the total number of chassis required for large-scale leaf/spine data center and cloud fabric architectures.
2. Flexible Multi-Rate Breakout Port Design: Every QSFP28 port supports multiple native speeds and breakout lane configurations, allowing seamless coexistence of 10G/25G/40G/50G/100G workloads without line card replacement, enabling gradual fabric bandwidth migration.
3. Massive 160MB Dynamic Shared Packet Buffer: The ultra-large shared buffer pool drastically reduces packet loss during extreme traffic bursts for high-throughput spine-layer cross-fabric interconnection workloads, outperforming classic-generation line cards with much smaller buffer capacities.
4. Full ACI & NX-OS Dual OS Compatibility: Natively supports both standard NX-OS for traditional IP leaf/spine fabrics and ACI spine OS for Cisco Application Centric Infrastructure multi-tenant policy-driven data center deployments, delivering unified hardware for hybrid fabric environments.
5. Complete Chassis Redundancy Compatibility: Works seamlessly with all Nexus 9500 high-availability components, including redundant fabric modules (N+1 fabric redundancy supported with 5 fabric modules), redundant AC power supplies, and redundant fan trays, enabling zero-downtime in-service line card replacement without chassis power cycling.
6. Comprehensive Hardware Acceleration of All Advanced Data Center Services: Forwarding, MACsec encryption, ACL security filtering, QoS scheduling, multicast replication, Segment Routing, VXLAN EVPN tunnel termination, and streaming telemetry all run on dedicated FX silicon ASICs, eliminating supervisor CPU bottlenecks and maintaining consistent wire-speed performance under full 100G port traffic load.

Supplementary Product Specification Notes

UNSPSC Classification Code

43222612 (Hot-swappable cloud-scale FX silicon I/O line card for Cisco Nexus 9500 modular data center switch chassis, N9K-X9736C-FX, 36-port multi-rate QSFP28 40/100G fiber ports with flexible breakout lane support, 160MB large dynamic shared packet buffer, hardware-accelerated L2/L3 forwarding, MACsec port encryption, VXLAN EVPN and Segment Routing fabric support, compatible with NX-OS and ACI spine OS, for large-scale cloud, enterprise and carrier data center spine-layer core interconnection deployments).

K9 Security Compliance Note

All N9K-X9736C-FX supported NX-OS and ACI spine OS firmware releases implement AES 128-bit encrypted remote CLI, web portal, SNMP, and NETCONF management traffic, meeting Cisco K9 secure network hardware classification standards required for government, military, healthcare, and financial regulated data center deployments.

Factory Hardware Warranty Terms

Standard 1-year limited hardware warranty coverage for brand-new factory-sealed N9K-X9736C-FX line card spare kits purchased through official Cisco authorized global distribution channel partners. Extended 3-year / 5-year hardware support contracts are available as optional add-ons via Cisco DNA Support Services, covering spare part replacement, 24x7 Cisco TAC engineering technical support, and certified NX-OS / ACI spine OS firmware upgrade releases.

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