Cisco N2K-C2348UPQ12F Full Product Description

1. Short Overview

• Core hardware strengths: 32 MB configurable deep shared dynamic packet buffer optimized for bursty OLTP databases, distributed storage and big-data clusters, native BiDi 40G transceiver compatibility to reuse single-strand fiber cabling, fixed mild 2:1 oversubscription ratio, 1+1 hot-swappable redundant AC power supplies and 2+1 hot-swappable redundant fan trays for carrier-grade non-stop production operation.
• Unique bundled value: Factory pre-loaded 12×FET-10G breakout transceivers (2 transceivers per 40G QSFP+ port) to expand each 40G uplink into four independent 10G fabric channels, eliminating separate transceiver procurement for fabric uplinks at deployment.

2. Part Number Suffix Breakdown & Model Differentiation

Full PN Breakdown

1. N2K: Nexus 2000/2300 Series Fabric Extender product family
2. C2348UPQ12F: 1RU pre-populated fixed reverse airflow unified-port FEX chassis bundle
   • 48 × SFP+ multi-function unified host ports
   • UP = Unified Port: Reconfigurable between 1/10GE Ethernet, FCoE, native Fibre Channel
   • Q = Six integrated 40G QSFP+ fabric uplink ports (2 yellow dedicated uplinks + 4 white flexible multi-purpose uplinks)
   • 12 = Pre-included 12 pcs FET-10G breakout transceivers for fabric uplink breakout
   • F = Fixed Back-to-Front Airflow (Port-Side Exhaust); reverse airflow hardware locked, forward airflow FRUs physically incompatible
3. Fixed cooling preset: All power supply and fan FRUs must be back-to-front airflow type; mismatched forward airflow modules trigger thermal protection shutdown.

Hardware Comparison Table

Factory Pre-Included Hardware

1. 1RU standard 19-inch EIA horizontal shallow-depth passive rack-mount chassis
2. Rear panel fixed port bank:
   • 48 × auto-configurable SFP+ unified host ports (HIF) for rack servers, blade enclosures, all-flash storage and FC SAN arrays; port operational mode (Ethernet/FCoE/FC) defined on parent switch, FEX reload required after modification
   • 6 × 40G QSFP+ fabric uplink ports (2 yellow dedicated uplinks, 4 white flexible uplinks); factory pre-installed12 × FET-10G breakout transceivers, each QSFP+ port splits into four independent 10G SFP+ fabric channels
3. Front panel redundant FRU slots: Dual AC power supply bays, three hot-swappable fan tray slots (2+1 N+1 cooling redundancy; only back-to-front airflow FRUs supported)
4. Integrated out-of-band management suite: HDMI hybrid RS232 serial console, dual 10/100/1000BASE-T out-of-band management Ethernet, USB Type-A diagnostic flash port
5. Full LED status array: Global system health, per-PSU fault, per-fan fault, per-port link/activity, UID rack locator beacon for maintenance identification
6. Standard 19-inch rack mounting rails, front cable management brackets, hardware installation guide and global safety compliance documentation
7. Factory bundled accessories: 12 integrated FET-10G breakout transceivers pre-inserted into six fabric QSFP+ uplink ports

Items Not Included (Must Be Ordered Separately)

• Hot-swappable back-to-front airflow AC power supplies (single PSU for basic operation, dual PSUs mandatory for 1+1 N+1 power redundancy; forward airflow PSUs incompatible)
• Three hot-swappable back-to-front airflow fan trays (2+1 redundant cooling; mismatched forward airflow fans trigger thermal protection shutdown)
• SFP+ transceivers for 48 unified host ports: 1G/10G Ethernet SR/LR/ER, Twinax/AOC DAC, 2/4/8/16G Fibre Channel SFPs
• Optional accessories: Lockable front door, air filter panel, airflow optimization sleeve, serial console rollover cable
• Additional 40G QSFP+ transceivers, BiDi optics, active AOC for alternative uplink deployments (FET-10G already preloaded for breakout use)

Supported Parent Switch Platforms

• Full feature support (Ethernet + FCoE + Native Fibre Channel): Nexus 5500 / 5600 / 6000 Series (minimum NX-OS 7.3(0)N1(1) for native FC functionality)
• Ethernet & FCoE only (no native Fibre Channel): Nexus 7000 / 7700 Series
• Ethernet-only (FCoE & Fibre Channel unsupported): Nexus 9000 Series

3. Hardware Port & Slot Layout

Rear Panel Fixed Ports

1. 48 × SFP+ Unified Host Ports (HIF)
   Multi-purpose SFP+ unified ports compliant with IEEE 802.3ae 10G Ethernet and IEEE DCB lossless standards (PFC, ETS). Port operational mode is provisioned centrally on the upstream parent switch:

• Ethernet mode: Auto-sensing 1G / 10G for virtualization servers and blade server enclosures
• FCoE mode: Lossless Fibre Channel over Ethernet for unified storage access
• Native Fibre Channel mode: 2/4/8/16G FC (maximum 24 ports running 16G FC simultaneously) for direct disk array SAN connectivity
  All Layer 2 switching, SAN zoning, security and QoS enforcement is handled on the parent switch, no local switching logic on FEX hardware.

1. 6 × 40G QSFP+ Fabric Uplink Ports (2 Yellow / 4 White Labeled)
   Wire-speed 40G Ethernet/FCoE uplinks for high-capacity leaf-spine fabric connectivity to upstream aggregation/spine parent switches. Each QSFP+ port is factory populated with two FET-10G breakout transceivers, splitting every 40G port into four independent 10G fabric channels, expanding total uplink 10G capacity to 24 ports out-of-box without additional breakout cables or optics. Native BiDi transceiver support remains available for alternative single-fiber rack cabling deployments. All six uplinks can be bundled into LACP port-channels for load balancing and complete link failure redundancy.

Front Panel Redundant FRU Slots

1. Two independent hot-swappable AC power supply bays (1+1 redundant deployment eliminates production downtime during live PSU replacement; only back-to-front airflow power supplies compatible)
2. Three independent hot-swappable fan tray slots (2+1 N+1 cooling architecture removes single cooling failure points; forward airflow fan trays physically restricted and unsupported)

Front Panel LED Status Array

4. Hardware Performance Specifications

1. Total host port capacity: 48×10G wire-speed downlink ports, total 480 Gbps aggregate host bandwidth
2. Fabric uplink bandwidth: 6×40G full-duplex uplinks, total 240 Gbps aggregate upstream bandwidth; preloaded FET-10G enables 24×10G breakout fabric uplinks
3. Fixed oversubscription ratio: 2:1 (480G host bandwidth / 240G uplink bandwidth)
4. Full-duplex switching capacity: 480 Gbps; wire-speed forwarding throughput: 2160 Mpps (64-byte minimum frame size)
5. Dynamic shared packet buffer: 32 MB user-configurable deep shared buffer, optimized for bursty virtualization, OLTP database, big-data and lossless FC/FCoE storage workloads
6. VLAN support: Up to 4094 standard IEEE 802.1Q VLANs, configured and managed exclusively on the parent switch
7. Port-channel scaling: Supports up to 8 physical fabric uplink ports per LACP port-channel / vPC trunk
8. Zero-touch provisioning: Automatic firmware synchronization, configuration download and bulk firmware upgrades triggered via a singleinstall allcommand on the parent switch
9. Hardware offload & lossless features (controlled by parent NX-OS):
   • IEEE DCB standards (PFC Priority Flow Control, ETS Enhanced Transmission Selection) for lossless FCoE transport over fiber host ports
   • Native Fibre Channel buffer-to-buffer credit support for low-latency SAN storage connectivity
   • vPC dual-homing, PVLAN private VLAN, MSTP multi-instance spanning tree, four-level hardware QoS traffic classification per port
   • VNTag virtual machine-aware traffic tagging for multi-tenant virtualized environments
   • Jumbo frame support up to 9216-byte MTU for storage and big-data workloads
   • Expanded buffer utilization and granular drop debug counters for storage burst and pause-frame troubleshooting

Physical & Environmental Parameters

• Form Factor: 1 RU (43.7 mm height), standard 19-inch horizontal rack mount
• Dimensions (H × W × D): 43.7 mm × 439.4 mm × 356.9 mm (1.72 × 17.3 × 14.05 inches)
• Bare chassis weight (no PSUs/fans): ~5.7 kg (12.6 lbs); preloaded with 12 FET-10G transceivers: ~6.1 kg (13.4 lbs)
• Fully loaded maximum weight (dual back-to-front PSUs + three matching fans + full host transceivers + factory FET uplink optics): ~7.5 kg (16.5 lbs)
• Operating temperature range: 0°C ~ 40°C (32°F ~ 104°F); certified altitude up to 3,000 meters
• Storage temperature range: -40°C ~ 70°C (-40°F ~ 158°F)
• Operating relative humidity: 8%–80% non-condensing; storage humidity 5%–95% non-condensing
• Compliance Certifications: FCC Class A, UL 60950-1, CE, VCCI Class A, NEBS Level 3, GR63 seismic compliance, RoHS 6 validated

AC Power Supply FRU Specifications (Back-to-Front Airflow Only, Sold Separately)

• Input: Universal 90–264V AC, 47–63Hz
• Typical full-load power consumption: 135W with all 48 host ports active + 12 FET uplink transceivers; maximum 210W peak power draw
• Heat dissipation: 460 BTU/h typical, 716 BTU/h maximum
• Hot-swappable OIR replacement, supports 1+1 redundant power deployment

5. NX-OS Feature Set (Managed Centrally on Parent Switch)

Layer 2 Ethernet & Converged FC/FCoE Unified Fabric

• Single centralized management plane; all FEX ports appear as logical HIF (Host Interface) interfaces on the parent NX-OS switch
• 802.1Q VLAN tagging, PVLAN private VLAN isolation (max 4094 VLANs)
• MSTP multi-instance spanning tree, vPC dual-active peer-link redundancy for server high availability
• Hardware slow drain detection and buffer credit isolation to eliminate FCoE/FC packet loss over fiber host ports
• NPV/NPIV FCoE edge virtualization + native Fibre Channel FEX support for end-to-end SAN consolidation
• POAP zero-touch automatic provisioning for mass rack FEX deployment
• Port security, static MAC locking to restrict unauthorized server/storage device attachment
• Dynamic unified port mode conversion (Ethernet ↔ FCoE ↔ Fibre Channel) via parent switch CLI (FEX reload required after port type modification)

QoS & Traffic Prioritization

• Four hardware priority queues per port (all SFP+ unified host ports and 40G QSFP+ uplinks)
• Ingress policing, egress bandwidth shaping to throttle low-priority tape backup and replication traffic
• Pre-built QoS templates optimized for OLTP databases, all-flash NVMe storage, virtual server farms and big-data compute clusters
• DCBX auto-negotiation for lossless FCoE LAN/SAN traffic over fiber DAC/AOC cabling
• Configurable per-port queue limits and shared buffer partitioning to prevent buffer starvation for latency-sensitive FC/FCoE storage workloads

Monitoring & Automation Tools

• Cisco DCNM centralized converged fabric monitoring, provisioning and REST API automation
• Real-time streaming telemetry: port throughput, latency, frame error counters, SFP/QSFP optical transmit power, detailed buffer utilization statistics
• Expanded SAN-specific debug counters for Fibre Channel credit loss, pause frames and storage traffic bursts
• Fault alert notifications via email, syslog and SNMP v1/v2c/v3
• GOLD Generic Online Diagnostics for continuous FEX hardware health validation without production traffic interruption
• Unified bulk firmware upgrade: Single CLI command on parent switch upgrades all attached FEX devices simultaneously

6. Typical Deployment Scenarios for N2K-C2348UPQ12F Pre-Populated Chassis

1. Standardized cold-aisle fully converged LAN/SAN rack mass deployment: Fixed back-to-front airflow eliminates thermal faults from mismatched cooling FRUs in uniform enterprise data center fleets; factory preloaded 12 FET-10G transceivers remove separate uplink optics procurement, accelerating rack rollout. 48 unified SFP+ ports consolidate 10G virtualization servers, FCoE all-flash storage and native 16G Fibre Channel disk arrays on one compact 1RU FEX, eliminating standalone LAN and SAN top-of-rack switches.
2. Enterprise financial database & cross-rack storage replication racks: Large 32 MB shared buffer absorbs massive storage traffic bursts; LR/ER long-reach SFP+ transceivers support inter-rack SAN replication without dedicated FC extension hardware, pre-populated breakout uplinks deliver abundant redundant 10G fabric channels for high-volume replication traffic.
3. Blade server enclosure standardized cold-aisle aggregation: All-fiber unified port design matches blade server 10G fiber mezzanine adapters, supporting simultaneous VM host connectivity and direct SAN storage attachment; pre-installed FET breakout transceivers simplify blade rack cabling standardization.
4. Large-scale data center uniform fabric expansion with fast deployment: The 12F pre-populated bundle reduces spare part inventory (only back-to-front PSUs/fans stocked, no separate FET transceivers needed), cuts on-site deployment labor and human error during rack commissioning.
5. Mid-market multi-tenant storage PoP cold-aisle rack access: Isolate tenant LAN and SAN traffic via separate VLAN/VSAN zoning controlled centrally on the upstream parent switch; 24 breakout 10G fabric uplink channels support multi-link port-channels for high-bandwidth tenant traffic separation, with consistent reverse airflow design for uniform facility cooling management.

7. Standard Package Contents of N2K-C2348UPQ12F Factory Pre-Populated SKU

Separately Mandatory Components (Not Included in This Bundle)

• One or two hot-swappableback-to-front airflow onlyAC power supplies (dual PSUs recommended for N+1 power redundancy; forward airflow PSUs physically incompatible)
• Three matching back-to-front airflow hot-swappable fan trays (three fans required for 2+1 cooling redundancy; mismatched forward airflow fans trigger thermal protection faults)
• SFP+ Ethernet/Fibre Channel transceivers, Twinax/AOC DAC cables for all 48 unified host SFP+ ports
• Optional feature software licenses: All fabric, routing and SAN convergence features are licensed on the upstream parent Nexus switch; no separate FEX licenses required
• HDMI-format serial console rollover cable, mini USB console cable, fiber patch cords, rack cable management accessories, lockable front door, air filter panel

Short Commercial Catalog Summary for Quotation