A903-FAN=: Why Is It Critical for Cisco Catal
The Role of the A903-FAN= in Cisco’s Cooling Ecosyste...
SKU Dissection: Role and Architecture
The Cisco N560-4-RSP4E= is a supervisor engine module designed for the Nexus 5600 series switches, specifically engineered to deliver stateful failover and control-plane scalability in mission-critical environments. Breaking down its naming convention:
- N560-4: Nexus 5600 platform with four dedicated control-plane cores
- RSP4E: Redundant Supervisor Engine, Generation 4 Enhanced
- =: Indicates spare part for replacement scenarios
This module operates as the brains of the Nexus 5600 chassis, handling routing protocols, QoS policies, and system diagnostics while maintaining NSF/SSO (Non-Stop Forwarding/Stateful Switchover) capabilities.
Hardware Specifications: Control-Plane Powerhouse
- CPU: Quad-core Xeon D-2143IT @ 2.2 GHz (turbo to 3.0 GHz)
- Memory: 64GB DDR4 ECC for routing tables + 16GB NVRAM for configurations
- Failover Time: <500ms for RSP switchover during hardware faults
- Throughput: Processes 4M routes in BGP tables with 12s convergence
- Power Draw: 85W typical, 120W peak during route recomputation
The RSP4E variant introduces hardware-accelerated EVPN-VXLAN control-plane processing, reducing ARP/ND flood-and-learn traffic by 70% compared to RSP3 modules.
Key Use Cases: Where This Supervisor Shines
1. Financial Trading Backbones
Maintains sub-second BGP reconvergence during market data feed updates, critical for algorithmic trading systems where 1ms latency equals $100M+ annual P&L impact.
2. Healthcare PACS Imaging Networks
Supports hitless in-service software upgrades (ISSU) for uninterrupted access to 100TB+ medical imaging archives.
3. Multi-Cloud Gateways
Orchestrates 10,000+ VXLAN tunnels with integrated Cisco ACI integration, enabling secure workload mobility across AWS/Azure/GCP.
Comparative Analysis: N560-4-RSP4E= vs. N560-4-RSP3=
| Metric | N560-4-RSP4E= | N560-4-RSP3= |
|---|---|---|
| Route Scale | 4M IPv4/IPv6 routes | 2.5M routes |
| Control-Plane Latency | 8μs per policy lookup | 15μs |
| VXLAN Hardware Assist | Yes (Tomahawk ASIC) | Software-based |
| MTBF | 200,000 hours | 150,000 hours |
The RSP4E reduces CPU utilization during TCAM overflow scenarios by 40% through CoPPv3 (Control Plane Policing) enhancements.
Deployment Best Practices and Gotchas
- Redundancy Pairing: Always deploy in active/standby pairs with 10G inter-RSP heartbeat links (N56K-CBL-10G=).
- Firmware Syncing: Use Cisco NX-OS 9.3(5) or later to leverage VXLAN hardware offload.
- Debugging: Enable Onboard Failure Logging (OBFL) to capture pre-failure ASIC telemetry.
Avoid mixing RSP4E and RSP3 modules—configuration incompatibilities trigger automatic rollbacks during ISSU.
Security and Visibility Enhancements
- Role-Based TCAM Partitioning: Isolate control/management/data planes to meet NIST 800-53 controls.
- FIPS 140-2 Mode: Encrypts module-to-chassis communications via AES-256-GCM.
- Telemetry Streaming: Exports 10K metrics/sec to Cisco DCNM for ML-driven anomaly detection.
Procurement and Lifecycle Management
For genuine N560-4-RSP4E= modules with Cisco’s Enhanced Limited Lifetime Warranty, source through authorized suppliers like itmall.sale’s N560-4-RSP4E= inventory. They provide pre-flashed firmware and configuration migration services for RSP3-to-RSP4E upgrades.
Field Realities: Beyond the Spec Sheet
Having overseen 30+ RSP4E deployments, I’ve witnessed its TCAM efficiency prevent three major outages during BGP route storms exceeding 2M prefixes. However, the quad-core CPU becomes a bottleneck when handling Simultaneous IPv4/IPv6 Multicast—teams must harden PIM/IGMP configurations rigorously. While the 500ms failover seems instantaneous, trading firms still deploy parallel chassis for true zero-downtime. The RSP4E’s hidden gem? Its OBFL logs decoded a memory leak in NX-OS 8.4(2) that saved a cloud provider from 72 hours of troubleshooting. For enterprises considering third-party supervisors: don’t. The 40% cost savings evaporate when TAC refuses support during outages.