Network traffic has grown exponentially over the last several years, and this trend is expected to continue into the foreseeable future. By 2018, there will be 20+ billion networked devices, up from 10 billion in 2011. Business IP traffic is expected to reach 13.1 exabytes per month in 2016^[1]. Networks must be capable of scaling well beyond the needs of today to deal with the traffic of tomorrow while at the same time providing investment protection.

The Cisco^® Catalyst^® 6840-X Series Switch (Figure 1) is a 2RU fixed backbone switch in the Cisco Catalyst 6800 family. The 6840-X is based on the Cisco Catalyst 6800, with more than 3000 features and maturity of software code. The Cisco Catalyst 6840-X is the smallest Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS) aggregator or Instant Access controller in the Cisco 6800 Catalyst Family. The 6840-X offers the following four SKUs:

• 16 and 32 ports of 10G SFP/SFP+
• 24 and 40 ports of 10G SFP/SFP+ with 2 Native uplink ports of 40G QSFP

This 10G/40G-ready platform is ideal for those who want to introduce premium 10G services in small or midsize campus backbones. This unique platform offers 10G port density, full IPv4/IPv6 and MPLS/VPLS functionality with large table sizes (up to 256,000 FIB entries), and more than 15 years of best-in-class features. With a full suite of L2/L3, virtualization, security, multicast, IPv6, application visibility, smart operations, and rich media services, the Cisco Catalyst 6840-X delivers unprecedented capabilities on day one. This platform also runs on the same architecture as the Cisco Catalyst 6500 Supervisor Engine 2T and therefore offers stability with proven operating system software.

The Cisco Catalyst 6840-X Series chassis offers integrated resiliency by providing 1+1 power supply redundancy, single removable fan-tray with four redundant fans, and support for Virtual Switching System (VSS), thereby limiting network downtime, and makes sure of workforce productivity, customer satisfaction, and profitability.

Cisco Catalyst 6840-X Product Details

The Cisco Catalyst 6840-X provides flexibility to build desired port density through four chassis versions. The four models come with a minimum of fixed 16x10G ports and up to 40x10G ports using SFP/SFP+. Two of the models come with 2x40G uplink ports with native QSFP. Table 1 outlines the 6840-X models and their capabilities.

Table 1.             6840-X Models and Capabilities

Figure 1.           

Cisco Catalyst 6840-X Series Chassis with All Four SKUs

The Cisco Catalyst 6840-X Series offers premium Campus Backbone features and benefits, including:

• Platform scalability:The platform supports up to 960Gbps of switching capacity, which doubles up to 1.92Tbps with VSS technology.
• Security:Support for Cisco TrustSec^® to provide IEEE 802.1AE MACsec encryption and role-based ACL, CoPP to prevent DoS attacks, and Cisco ISE to safeguard and manage end-to-end security for the enterprise.
• Virtualization:Comprehensive suite of virtualization features, including L2/L3 VPN, full MPLS, EVN, VRF-aware applications for NAT Netflow, GRE for v4/v6, L2 extensions with VPLS, and so on to segment different user groups and serve unique security/QoS policy requirements of each of these diverse user groups.
• Application visibility and control (AVC):Supports enhanced application monitoring such as Flexible and Sampled NetFlow and advanced priority queuing capabilities such as Hierarchical QoS.
• Smart operations:The Cisco Catalyst 6840-X supports Cisco Catalyst Instant Access^*, which allows an Instant Access client to act as a remote line card of the Cisco Catalyst 6840-X, as well as Smart Install Director, which provides zero-touch deployment of access switches.
• High availability:Two Cisco Catalyst 6840-X Series Switches can be combined into a VSS. In addition to high availability VSS, provides ease of operation by providing a single point of management, eliminating the need for First Hop Routing Protocol (FHRP) and removing the reliance on Spanning Tree Protocol (STP) for link failure restoration.

Product Specifications

System Specifications

Table 2 lists the system specifications for the Cisco Catalyst 6840-X Series Switch.

Table 2.             Cisco Catalyst 6840-X Series System Specifications

^* 750W power supply is not supported on the C6840-X-LE-40G. The 1100W power supply is only supported on the C6840-X-LE-40G.

^** AC Power Supply is 1Kg/2.2lbs and DC Power Supply is 1.05Kg/2.31lbs

Table 3 provides base system performance and scalability information.

Table 3.             Base System Scalability

^* 1K=1024.

Table 4 provides information about QoS features and scalability.

Table 4.             QoS Features and Scalability

Table 5 provides information about security features and scalability.

Table 5.             Security Features and Scalability

Table 6 provides information about Netflow and AVC features.

Table 6.            Netflow and AVC Features

Table 7 provides information about Multicast Features.

Table 7.             Multicast Features

Table 8 provides information about MPLS and virtualization features.

Table 8.          MPLS and Virtualization Features

^* VSS is supported between all of the four 6840-X chassis.

Table 9 provides information about supported optics for Cisco Catalyst 6840-X Series.

Table 9.            Pluggable Optics for Cisco Catalyst 6840-X Base System

^* Support of GLC-GE-100FX is available on 15.1(2)SY2 and later releases.

Table 10 provides information about software packaging.

Table 10.          Software Packaging

Cisco ONE Software

Cisco ONE Software for Access Switching is available for the Cisco Catalyst 6840-X Series Switch.

Cisco ONE Software is a new way for customers to purchase and use our infrastructure software. It offers a simplified consumption model, centered on common customer scenarios in the data center, WANs, and LANs.

Cisco ONE Software and services provide customers with four primary benefits:

• Software suites that address typical customer use scenarios at an attractive price
• Investment protection of their software purchase through software services-enabled license portability
• Access to ongoing innovation and new technology with Cisco Software Support Service (SWSS)
• Flexible licensing models to smoothly distribute customer's software spend over time

For ordering information for Cisco ONE Software for the Cisco Catalyst 6840-X Series Switch, go to https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/products/software/one-access/switching-part-numbers.html.

Ordering Information

Table 11 lists the ordering information for the Cisco Catalyst 6840-X Series chassis. To place an order, visit the Cisco ordering homepage.

Table 11.          Ordering Information

 Cisco Catalyst 6816-X-Chassis (Standard Tables) # C6816-X-LE