Cisco N3K-C3064PQ-10GX Full Product Description

1. Short Overview

• Core suffix differentiation:
  • PQ= 48 SFP+ fiber downlinks + 4 universal 40G QSFP+ uplink slots
  • 10GX= Enhanced scale low-latency hardware variant, optimized for 10G fiber access deployments; distinct from-10GEbare chassis, the-GXversion uses upgraded silicon buffer architecture for larger burst traffic handling, ideal for heavy storage and virtualization east-west workloads
• Key competitive strengths: Compact 1RU rack footprint, 1.28 Tbps non-blocking full-duplex switching capacity, universal QSFP+ port compatibility with SR4/LR4/ER4/BiDi/AOC/Twinax transceivers, native unified fabric interoperability with Nexus 2000/2300 FEX family, POAP zero-touch provisioning and single-pane unified fabric management via Cisco DCNM.

2. Part Number Suffix Breakdown & Cross-Model Comparison

Full PN Breakdown

1. N3K: Cisco Nexus 3000 Series low-latency data center Layer 2/3 switch product family
2. C3064PQ-10GX: 1RU enhanced all-fiber leaf switch bare chassis
   • 3064: Base high-density 64-port aggregate platform
   • PQ= Multi-function SFP+ downlink ports + four universal 40G QSFP+ fabric uplink ports
   • 10GX: Enhanced low-latency 10G fiber optimized hardware variant with upgraded buffer scale, no factory pre-installed power, fan or optical transceivers
3. Airflow flexibility: Separate forward (port-side exhaust) and reverse (port-side intake) power supply and fan tray FRUs are available to match standardized hot/cold aisle rack cooling layouts; mismatched airflow modules trigger thermal protection shutdown.

Hardware Comparison Table

Factory Bare Chassis Included Hardware

1. 1RU standard 19-inch horizontal shallow-depth rack-mount passive switch chassis
2. Rear panel port bank:
   • 48 × auto-sensing SFP+ multi-speed host ports for blade servers, all-flash NVMe storage arrays, virtualization compute nodes
   • 4 × universal 40G QSFP+ fabric uplink ports; each QSFP+ slot supports 40G native mode or breakout with FET-10G transceivers to expand into four independent 10G fabric channels, compatible with BiDi 40G optical modules to reuse existing single-strand fiber cabling infrastructure
3. Front panel integrated out-of-band management subsystem:
   • Hybrid RJ45 RS232 serial console port
   • Dedicated 10/100/1000BASE-T out-of-band MGMT Ethernet port
   • USB Type-A flash storage port for offline firmware upload, configuration backup and POAP provisioning files
4. Full front-panel LED status array: Global system health, individual PSU fault alarm, fan tray fault indicator, per-SFP+/QSFP+ port link/activity dual-color LEDs, blue UID locator beacon for rapid rack asset identification during maintenance
5. Standard 19-inch rack mounting rails, front cable management brackets, hardware installation guide and global safety & regulatory compliance documentation
6. No power supplies, fan trays or optical transceivers pre-installed (all FRUs sold separately as spare parts)

Items Not Included (Must Be Ordered Separately)

• Hot-swappable AC/DC redundant power supplies (400W rated, forward or reverse airflow variants optional; dual PSUs recommended for 1+1 power redundancy to eliminate downtime during live replacement)
• Single hot-swappable fan tray assembly with dual redundant internal fans; airflow direction must fully match the selected power supply modules
• SFP+ transceivers for all 48 downlink ports: 1G/10G SR/LR/ER optical modules, passive Twinax DAC, active AOC fiber cables, 10G Fibre Channel SFPs for FCoE unified fabric
• 40G QSFP+ transceivers for uplink ports: SR4, LR4, ER4, BiDi optics, passive Twinax DAC, active AOC and 40G-to-4×10G FET-10G breakout splitter modules
• Optional auxiliary accessories: RJ45 serial console rollover cable, out-of-band management Ethernet patch cords, lockable front door, air filter panel

Supported Fabric & Parent Switch Compatibility

• Full unified fabric feature set (Ethernet + Lossless FCoE): Cisco Nexus 5500 / 5600 / 6000 Series (minimum NX-OS 7.3(0)N1(1) firmware release)
• Partial feature support (Ethernet only, FCoE disabled): Nexus 7000 / 7700 Series
• Ethernet-only operation (no FCoE/unified fabric): Nexus 9000 Series
• Native interoperability with Nexus 2000/2300 blade & rack FEX devices for end-to-end consolidated LAN/SAN data center architecture
• Minimum NX-OS firmware version: 6.0(2)U6(1) for complete Layer 2/Layer 3 feature activation

3. Hardware Port & Slot Layout

Rear Panel 48 SFP+ Downlink & 4 QSFP+ Uplink Ports

1. 48 × auto-sensing 1G/10G SFP+ Unified Host Ports
   Multi-purpose SFP+ interfaces compliant with IEEE 802.3ab/ae Gigabit and 10G Ethernet standards, fully supporting IEEE DCB PFC/ETS lossless transport for FCoE storage workloads. Port operational modes:

• 1G Ethernet mode: Legacy server/storage appliance connectivity
• 10G Ethernet mode: Virtualization hosts, blade server mezzanine adapters, high-performance compute nodes
• FCoE mode: Lossless Fibre Channel over Ethernet for unified LAN/SAN consolidation
  All ports support jumbo frames up to 9216-byte MTU and long-reach LR/ER optical transceivers for cross-rack replication links. All Layer 2 switching, ACL, MAC security and QoS policies are enforced locally on the switch hardware.

1. 4 × Universal 40G QSFP+ Fabric Uplink Ports
   Two configurable operating modes for leaf-spine fabric interconnection:
2. Native 40GE mode: Direct high-bandwidth 40G inter-switch uplinks to core spine aggregation switches
3. Breakout mode: With FET-10G splitter transceivers, each QSFP+ port expands to four independent 10GE fabric channels to multiply uplink port density and reduce optical hardware costs
   All four uplink ports can be bundled into LACP fabric port-channels to support vPC / Enhanced vPC (EvPC) high-availability topologies, eliminating STP blocked links and maximizing uplink bandwidth utilization.

Front Panel Redundant FRU Slots & Out-of-Band Management Interfaces

1. Dual hot-swappable AC/DC power supply bays (1+1 redundant power design enables non-disruptive PSU replacement without full switch reboot)
2. Single hot-swappable fan tray slot containing dual redundant internal fans; airflow direction determined by matching fan/PSU FRU selection (forward = port exhaust, reverse = port intake)
3. Dedicated independent out-of-band management block: Serial console port, 1G MGMT Ethernet port and USB flash storage port for offline firmware upgrade and configuration management, isolated from data plane production traffic.

Front Panel LED Status Array

• Global health LED: Solid green = normal operational state, solid amber = critical hardware fault
• Separate fault indicator LEDs for each power supply and fan tray assembly
• Per-port dual-color link/activity LEDs for all 48 SFP+ downlinks and four QSFP+ uplink ports
• Remote-activatable blue UID beacon LED for fast rack asset identification during maintenance windows

4. Hardware Performance Specifications

1. Total downlink bandwidth: 48 × 10G wire-speed ports, aggregate 480 Gbps full-duplex host bandwidth
2. Total uplink bandwidth: 4 × 40G full-duplex QSFP+ ports, aggregate 160 Gbps upstream fabric bandwidth
3. Fixed oversubscription ratio: 2:1 (480 Gbps total host bandwidth / 160 Gbps total fabric uplink bandwidth)
4. Non-blocking full-duplex switching fabric capacity: 1.28 Tbps
5. Wire-speed forwarding throughput: 950 Mpps at minimum 64-byte Ethernet frames (all ports operate full line-rate L2/L3 simultaneously)
6. Forwarding latency: Ultra-low deterministic microsecond-level latency, enhanced silicon buffer architecture minimizes latency jitter for HFT low-delay financial transaction workloads
7. Dynamic shared packet buffer: Expanded large deep shared buffer pool unique to the-GXvariant, optimized for massive bursty OLTP database, distributed all-flash storage and big-data parallel compute traffic
8. MAC address table capacity: 128,000 MAC address entry storage
9. VLAN scaling: Up to 4094 standard IEEE 802.1Q tagged VLANs, all VLAN provisioning managed exclusively on the local switch via NX-OS CLI
10. Jumbo frame MTU: Configurable up to 9216 bytes for storage replication and large-scale big-data workloads
11. Spanning tree scale: 64 MSTP instances, 512 RSTP instances
12. Port-channel scaling: Maximum 52 EtherChannels, up to 16 physical ports per LACP port-channel / vPC trunk
13. Zero-touch POAP provisioning: Automatic firmware synchronization, full configuration download and fleet-wide bulk upgrades triggered via a singleinstall allCLI command on the parent aggregation switch
14. Hardware lossless DCB & traffic offload features (fully controlled by NX-OS software):
    • IEEE 802.1Qbb PFC Priority Flow Control and 802.1Qaz ETS Enhanced Transmission Selection for lossless FCoE storage transport
    • vPC, FEX vPC and Enhanced vPC (EvPC) redundant Layer 2 multipathing high availability topologies
    • Four independent hardware priority queues per port with WRR/DRR traffic scheduling
    • PVLAN private VLAN isolation, UDLD link failure monitoring, broadcast/multicast storm control
    • IEEE 1588 PTP boundary clock for precise sub-microsecond time synchronization in financial co-location environments
    • Expanded SAN-specific debug counters to track FCoE pause frames and storage buffer credit loss under heavy traffic bursts

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, transceivers): ~8.8 kg (19.4 lbs)
• Fully loaded maximum weight (dual matching airflow PSUs + fan tray + fully populated SFP+/QSFP+ transceivers): ~9.3 kg (20.5 lbs)
• Operating temperature range: 0°C ~ 40°C (32°F ~ 104°F); certified altitude up to 3,000 meters (10,000 ft)
• Storage temperature range: -40°C ~ 70°C (-40°F ~ 158°F)
• Operating relative humidity: 10%–85% 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 (Sold Separately, Dual Airflow Options)

• AC input range: 100–240 VAC, 50/60 Hz, typical energy efficiency 89–91%
• DC input range: -40 to -72 VDC negative telecom DC power
• Typical full-system power consumption: 230W peak with all 48 downlink ports fully populated
• Hot-swappable OIR replacement capability; no full switch reboot required during live PSU hardware swap

5. NX-OS Software Feature Set (Managed via CLI / Cisco DCNM Graphical Platform)

Layer 2 Core Data Center Fabric Features

• IEEE 802.1Q trunking, PVLAN private VLAN isolation, transparent VTP mode
• RSTP/MSTP spanning tree suite with BPDU guard, root guard and aggressive UDLD link monitoring
• Static & dynamic LACP EtherChannels, vPC dual-active high availability to eliminate STP blocking links and maximize uplink bandwidth
• DHCP snooping, dynamic ARP inspection, port security MAC address locking, broadcast/multicast storm control
• DCB PFC/ETS lossless Ethernet for Fibre Channel over Ethernet unified storage convergence
• IEEE 1588 PTP precision time synchronization optimized for low-latency high-frequency trading environments

Layer 3 Routing Features (Requires Optional N3K-BAS1K9 Base License)

• Unicast routing protocols: Static routes, OSPFv2, EIGRP, RIPv2, BGP-4, 32-way ECMP multi-path load balancing
• Multicast routing suite: IGMPv2/v3, PIM-SM, MSDP for video streaming and inter-rack storage replication workloads
• First-hop redundancy protocols: HSRP, VRRP for gateway failover redundancy
• Hardware-accelerated IP ACLs, route redistribution, prefix lists and route-map traffic segmentation policies
• Maximum routing table capacity: 16,000 IPv4 prefix entries, 8,000 multicast routing entries

Security, Monitoring & Automation Tools

• AAA authentication stack (TACACS+/RADIUS/Local user database), SSHv2 encrypted out-of-band management sessions
• SNMP v1/v2c/v3 remote monitoring, centralized syslog logging, RMON traffic statistics collection
• Cisco DCNM single-pane graphical fabric monitoring, automated provisioning and REST API integration for data center automation
• GOLD Generic Online Diagnostics for continuous non-disruptive hardware health validation
• Unified bulk fleet-wide firmware upgrade via single parent switch CLI command for uniform fabric fleets
• Real-time streaming telemetry for port latency, buffer utilization and granular error counter visibility

6. Typical Deployment Scenarios for N3K-C3064PQ-10GX Bare Chassis

1. High-frequency trading (HFT) low-latency leaf switch deployments: Enhanced-GXsilicon buffer architecture delivers stable low-jitter forwarding latency for financial transaction workloads; 48×10G SFP+ fiber downlinks connect directly to fiber-based trading hosts, four flexible 40G QSFP+ uplinks build scalable leaf-spine fabric. Bare chassis design allows facility teams to select airflow-matched power/fan FRUs aligned with standardized cold/hot aisle rack cooling architecture.
2. Enterprise all-fiber leaf-spine data center access layer consolidation: High-density SFP+ fiber ports consolidate virtualization server racks connected via Nexus 2300 unified UPQ FEX devices, merging general LAN server traffic and lossless FCoE all-flash storage workloads on a single compact leaf switch tier with mild 2:1 oversubscription balanced for general enterprise virtualization workloads.
3. HPC & big-data parallel compute cluster rack aggregation: Expanded deep shared buffer absorbs massive bursty east-west cluster traffic; breakout 4×10G FET-10G transceivers reduce optical hardware procurement costs by expanding fabric port density without additional rack switches, ideal for large parallel compute and distributed storage environments.
4. Large-scale standardized enterprise data center uniform fabric rollout: Bare chassis SKU simplifies spare part inventory management (separate forward/reverse airflow FRUs stocked based on rack row cooling standards), eliminating thermal fault incidents caused by mismatched power/fan modules during on-site hardware replacement.
5. Mid-market unified LAN/FCoE small data center edge leaf switch: Native interoperability with Nexus 2000 blade FEX devices enables mixed blade enclosure + standalone fiber server rack consolidation, supporting lossless FCoE storage transport to eliminate separate dedicated SAN access switches for mid-sized storage deployments.

7. Standard Package Contents of N3K-C3064PQ-10GX Bare Chassis SKU

Separately Mandatory Components (Not Included in Base Chassis Bundle)

• One or two hot-swappable AC/DC power supplies (forward or reverse airflow variant selected to match fan trays; dual PSUs recommended for 1+1 power redundancy)
• One matching airflow hot-swappable fan tray (required for full system cooling; mismatched airflow fan modules trigger thermal protection shutdown)
• SFP+ transceivers for all 48 unified downlink SFP+ ports: 1G/10G SR/LR/ER optical transceivers, Twinax/AOC DAC cables, 2/4/8/16G Fibre Channel SFPs
• 40G QSFP+ transceivers, BiDi optics and 4×10G breakout FET-10G splitter cables for four fabric uplink QSFP+ ports
• Optional feature software licenses: N3K-BAS1K9 base license required to unlock full Layer 3 routing functionality; Layer 2 switching features enabled by default without license activation
• Auxiliary accessories: RJ45 serial console rollover cable, out-of-band management Ethernet patch cords, fiber patch cords, lockable front door, air filter panel

Short Commercial Catalog Summary for Quotation