This article explains the procedure that should be followed to correctly shutdown/powerdown a Cisco Nexus 7000 series module and remove it from the chassis. We also include important tips that will help ensure you avoid common problems and mistakes during the removal procedure.

The Nexus 7010 is one of the larger data center switches in the Nexus portfolio found in most enterprise-class data centers. Even though the Nexus 7000 series switches have been in the market since 2008 there are still a lot of data centers powering their core infrastructure using the well-known Cisco Catalyst series.

The Nexus 7000 series switches are designed for continuous operation, which means all parts are hot-swappable thereby eliminating downtime for upgrades or parts replacement.

The process covered in this installation guide can be used with all Nexus 7000 series modules including:

• 48-port 10/100/1000 Ethernet module (N7K-M148GT-11)
• 48-port 10/100/1000 Ethernet module with XL option (N7K-M148GT-11L)
• 48-port 1-Gigabit Ethernet I/O module (N7K-M148GS-11)
• 48-port 1-Gigabit Ethernet I/O module with XL option (N7K-M148GS-11L)
• 48-port 1-/10-Gigabit Ethernet I/O modules with XL (N7K-F248XP-25 and N7K-F248XP-25E)
• 32-port 10-Gigabit Ethernet I/O module (N7K-M132XP-12)
• 32-port 10-Gigabit Ethernet I/O module with XL option (N7K-M132XP-12L)
• 32-port 1- and 10-Gigabit Ethernet I/O module (N7K-F132XP-15)
• 8-port 10-Gigabit Ethernet I/O module with XL option (N7K-M108X2-12L)

Step 1. Nexus 7000 Module Shutdown - Poweroff

The Nexus 7000 series modules are hot swappable and support automatic shutdown when ejected, however, it is always advisable to poweroff the module before removing it. If the module is to be removed or swapped with a different module type it is advisable to also ensure all configuration associated with the old module’s ports is cleared and ports are shutdown before the module is removed.

Locate the slot number of the module to be uninstalled and remove all attached cables. It is very important no cables are attached to the module and there is enough space on both sides of the module. In our example we’ll be removing the module located in slot No.9:

Click on the images to enlarge

Figure 1. Nexus 7010 with module No.9 to be removed.

Issuing the show module 9 command will reveal the module’s model, status, capabilities, serial number and diagnostic status:

The output of the show module is also reflected on the module’s status LED. A green Status LED, as shown in the photo on the left, tells us that the module is currently online (powered on) and operating.

The orange interface LEDs confirm that the interfaces are in a shutdown state.

The specific card we are about to remove is a 48-port 10/100/1000 Ethernet card (N7K-M148GT-11L):

Figure 2. Nexus 7000 Module Status and Interface LEDs

Now proceed to power off the module using the poweroff module 9 command:

This section contains Cisco technical articles covering the installation and configuration of Cisco Catalyst Access/Distribution Layer & Data Center switches. Topics covered include Cisco Catalyst switches basic configuration, VLAN configuration, VLAN Trunking, VLAN Security, Access Lists, VTP Configuration, Installation of Supervisor Engines, Cisco 4507R & 6500 Catalyst switches, EtherChannel Configuration, Spanning Tree (including Rapid Per-VLAN Spanning Tree) configuration and more.

All articles contain step-by-step instructions and diagrams, making them easy to follow. More articles will be added as we progress with this category.

We hope you enjoy the provided articles and welcome your feedback and suggestions.

It’s a reality – Australia now has its own Official Cisco Data Center User Group (DCUG) and it’s growing fast! Originally inspired by Cisco Champions Chris Partsenidis and Derek Hennessy, the idea was fully backed by Cisco Systems as they happened to be looking to start up something similar on a global scale.

The idea was born in the morning hours of the 18^th of March 2016 over a hot cup of coffee when Chris Partsenidis and Derek Hennessy met for the first time, after Cisco’s Live! in Melbourne Australia. Both Chris and Derek agreed that it was time to create a friendly professional Cisco community group that would gather Cisco professionals and encourage users to share knowledge and experience.

The proposal was sent to Lauren Friedman at Cisco Systems, who just happened to be working on a similar concept on a global scale. Lauren loved the idea and, with her help, Australia got its first official Cisco Data Center User Group!

Becoming part of the Melbourne Cisco Data Center User Group is absolutely free and, by joining, you’ll be part of Australia’s first official Cisco user group, which is currently the largest in the world!

Where are the Meetings Held and What’s Included?

The user group will catch up on the first Tuesday of every month at the The Crafty Squire at 127 Russell Street in Melbourne CBD. We’ll be located upstairs in Porter Place. Our first meeting will be on Tuesday June 7th 2016 and all meetings will take place between 17:30 and 19:30.

For the duration of the meeting, we’ll have free beer for all registered members, food and if we are lucky – free Cisco beer mugs! The mugs are actually on their way from the USA and we are hoping to have them in time before the meeting otherwise we’ll be handing them out during the following meeting.

Figure 1. The Porter Place - Crafty Squire

For more details about our regular meet ups and join our community, head over to the Cisco Data Center User Group page on Meetup.com. 

We're really excited to start building a Data Center community in Melbourne so come along and join us!

Agenda – 7^th of June 2016

Vendor Session: Infrastructure as Code and DevOps

Speaker: Chris Gascoigne - Technical Solutions Architect, Cisco Systems Melbourne, Australia

Chris Gascoigne is a Technical Solutions Architect with Cisco Systems working in the Australia/New Zealand Data Centre team. Chris has been with Cisco for nine years and specialises in Application Centric Infrastructure.

Community Session: GNS3 Connectivity

Speaker: Will Robinson - Senior Systems Engineer, Cube Networks

Will Robinson is a Senior Systems Engineer with Cube Networks and has extensive networking and data center experience. Will is an active community member and is the only Australian member of the NetAppATeam group.

Running Spanning Tree Protocol (STP) in a large network environment can be a challenging task especially when features/enhancements such as BPDU Filter and BPDU Guard need to be configured to help STP adapt to the network infrastructure requirements.

The key to a successful STP deployment is understanding how each STP feature should be used and implemented.

Understanding and Configuring BPDU Guard

BPDU Guard is an STP enhancement which, when enabled, will place a port in the errdisable mode when it receives any BPDU packet from that port.

BPDU Guard is usually configured on access layer ports where we are not expecting to see any BPDU packets arriving from devices connected to these ports e.g computers, printers, IP phones or other user-end devices.

Ports used as uplinks or downlinks to other switches should not have BPDU Guard enabled as these are more likely to have BPDU packets transmitted and received as switches actively monitor for network loops.

BPDU Guard can be configured either in Global mode or Interface mode.

When configured in Global mode the feature is enabled globally for all switch ports configured with port-fast configuration. Port-Fast is an STP feature configured at each individual port that forces the port to go directly into a forwarding state rather than through the normal STP states (Listening, Learning, Forwarding).

While port-fast is a very handy feature that forces a network port to transition immediately to the forwarding state (similar to an unmanaged switch), it must be used with caution as STP won’t be able to immediately detect a network loop through a Port-Fast enabled port.

To configure BPDU Guard in Global mode use the spanning-tree portfast bpduguard default command in Global Configuration Mode:

SW2(config)# spanning-tree portfast bpduguard default

To configure BPDU Guard in Interface mode use the spanning-tree bpduguard enable command under the interface:

SW2(config-if)# spanning-tree bpduguard enable

Note: It is important to keep in mind that if the interface is configured as an access port, with port-fast enabled, and receives a BPDU packet it will automatically be disabled and placed in an errdisabled state.

To help illustrate how BPDU Guard works, we’ve configured port G1/0/1 on our 3750-X as an access link with port-fast and BPDU Guard enabled:

Figure 1. Spanning Tree BPDU Guard configuration and example

Next, we connect another switch (rogue switch) running spanning tree protocol to port G1/0/1 on SW2. As soon as a BPDU packet is received on G1/0/1, here’s how SW2 reacted: