Product Brief
Nortel Ethernet Routing Switch 8300 Series
Resilient, high-performance switching for the Core or the Wiring Closet
The Nortel Ethernet Routing Switch 8300 continues to evolve; it is now featurecapable for deployment into the mid-tier
Core; delivering simplified yet superior networking, creating one network using less but more intelligent equipment — increasing availability and performance while minimizing costs. In addition, the
Ethernet Routing Switch 8300 remains the premier wiring closet switch that meets and exceeds the requirements of enterprises embarking on convergence as part of their strategic plan for success.
Ethernet Routing Switch 8300
Flexible deployment options
The highly versatile Ethernet Routing
Switch 8300 offers a wide range of capabilities that integrate easily into many network designs.
With its performance and network resiliency features, the Ethernet Routing
Switch 8300 (ERS 8300) provides an excellent option for the core of the medium-sized enterprise network; offering high density 1G and 10G interface options, individual device redundancy and delivering overall network and application resiliency.
Established and newly-enhanced access features ensure that the ERS 8300 remains the platform of choice for large-scale, enterprise-class deployments that value performance, density and security — and convergence-friendly access capabilities.
Table 1. Nortel Ethernet Routing Switch 8300 Series
Model
8306
83 10
Port densities of up to:
36 ports of 10G Ethernet, 208 ports of 1000 (SFP pluggable) or 192 ports of 10/100/1000 (Copper) with or without PoE
68 ports of 10G Ethernet, 400 ports of 1000 (SFP pluggable) or 384 ports of 10/100/1000 (Copper) with or without PoE
Ethernet Routing Switch
8300 highlights
• 6- and 10-slot chassis, with highdensity dedicated 1G and 10G pluggable modules, and 10/100 and 10/100/1000 copper modules
• Available with or without
Standard-based Power over
Ethernet
• Supports large-scale convergence deployments of IP telephony, unified communications and wireless LAN mobility
• Optional redundant N-1 Switch
Fabric and N+1 Power Supplies
• Supports Nortel’s “Switch
Cluster” technology for delivering
99.999 percent end-to-end resilient application availability
• “Pay-as-you-grow” option that has all of the advantages of a modular solution
• Enhanced network security with access control and host integrity checking via Nortel’s Secure
Network Access (SNA)
For network designs that require a third
“Distribution” tier, the ERS 8300 is an ideal option. The switch provides:
• High-density 1G and 10G for both the core and access tier connectivity requirements
• High performance and low latency to ensure optimized application performance
• Switch Clustering to extend subsecond fail-over and full session load-sharing across the network infrastructure — from user to application
Application-level availability and resilience
In a converged world, reliability goes beyond individual nodes and is measured at the application level, end-to-end across the network — providing trusted and dependable fail-over that is consistently less than one second, regardless of the failure scenario. Through simplified, resilient solutions, Nortel is uniquely positioned to address these needs.
Switch Clustering
Nortel’s advanced resilient technology
— Split Multi-Link Trunking (SMLT)
— provides complete protection against any individual component, link or node failure. This solution provides for subsecond recovery combined with user session-based load-balancing — all leveraging standards-based link aggregation at the network edge (user or server).
Deploying the ERS 8300 in the core is the ideal solution for delivering highlyavailable services.
High availability chassis-based solution
As a stand-alone device, ERS 8300 provides an extremely robust platform for resilient networking. The system supports dual redundant switch fabric modules, N+1 power supplies and hotswappable modules and fan trays.
Precision performance
Real-time applications are sensitive to variable performance and are relatively bandwidth-intensive. Performance is closely linked to reliability. Many of the design options for today’s networks can be a trade-off between performance needs and reliability requirements.
Nortel’s ERS 8300 eliminates the need to choose one over the other by delivering high-speed, low-latency performance with superior reliability.
Performance architecture
At the heart of the ERS 8300 is a passive backplane design and a distributed forwarding architecture that leverages the advantages of dual N-1, active-active Switch Fabrics. The 720
Gbps Crossbar and the new 8394SF
Switch Fabric module deliver up to
464Gbps of genuine data throughput and 345Mpps of frame-forwarding performance per switch. Putting these figures into a business context, an ERS
8300 Core Switch Cluster can transport more than 60,000 average-sized office files per second, and still not be subject to contention.
Advanced Quality of
Service (QoS)
The ERS 8300’s QoS features allow more efficient use of bandwidth to optimize existing network resources and capabilities, and also provide packet classification and marking at the edge of the network to simplify the QoS solution at the core. By classifying, prioritizing, policing and marking LAN traffic, networks can deliver the right service levels for mission-critical and quality-sensitive applications. The ERS
8300 provides eight hardware queues per port. Advanced QoS features support the standard Internet Engineering Task
Force (IETF) Differentiated Services
(DiffServ) QoS architecture — packet classification based on the contents of the IP Packet Header fields (e.g., voice, video and data).
Traffic Policing and Shaping
Traffic Policing enables the provisioning of different service levels by limiting traffic throughput at the ingress
(inbound) port of the ERS 8300. This feature ensures that limits can be placed upon the amount of bandwidth that particular users or applications can push into the network. An associated capability — Customizable Auto-Negotiation Advertisements (CANA) — allows for only specified connection rates to be advertised by auto-negotiation, and therefore limits low priority devices to the appropriate connection speed.
Traffic Shaping offers the ability to limit traffic on egress (outbound) from the
ERS 8300, typically to comply with some form of service tariff. Enterprises working with service providers or carriers can use this feature when they deploy Ethernet as an alternative to traditional Frame Relay or ATM WAN access solutions.
IP Filtering
IP Filters can be used to manage traffic and provide security, by ensuring that specific actions are performed when defined criteria are matched. Only data that matches the pattern is allowed to pass through the filter, and these filters can be used to set traffic priority, drop or allow IP packets, as well as define the conditions for mirroring traffic
(e.g., IP telephony in a contact center environment).
Convergence and Unified
Communications
The reality of today's networks is that different applications must be given the quality of service appropriate to their differing needs and requirements. The
ERS 8300 facilitates enterprises’ transition to convergence-based applications by implementing key enabling technologies while minimizing capital and operational costs.
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Figure 1. Deployment options for the Nortel Ethernet Routing Switch 8300
Enterprise
Access
Core Cluster
Distribution
Desktop Gigabit
New graphically intense applications and the deployment of converged services such as IP telephony and unified communications are placing increasing demands on network resources.
Many enterprises are looking to transition from Fast Ethernet to Gigabit
Ethernet as the default for desktop connectivity. Gigabit Ethernet offers an alternative that is more strategic; as PCs gain more performance and efficiency there is opportunity to exploit that zone between 100 Mbps and 1 Gbps. The
ERS 8300 enables a seamless transition to Gigabit Ethernet by offering similarly high-density 10/100 and 10/100/1000 modules that can readily co-exist in the same system.
Standards-based Power- over-Ethernet (PoE)
PoE is increasingly becoming the default solution for connectivity for the converged desktop, often in combination with Gigabit Ethernet. The ERS
8300 supports the deployment of IP telephony, wireless LAN and any thirdparty line-powered device by offering standards-based PoE support on both
10/100 and 10/100/1000 interface modules.
Dynamic power management
To increase flexibility and ensure that the highest priority users and devices always have service when they need it,
ERS 8300 PoE modules support an option to configure the priority level for power delivery. In the event that total available power is less then that requested by the sum of all the devices, power will be dynamically — not statically — served on the basis of the configured priority level.
Device Auto Discovery
The ERS 8300 automatically recognizes the connection of a convergence device and immediately provides power to it.
The switch supports two schemes —
Nortel’s Auto-Discovery and Auto
Configuration (ADAC) and standardsbased 802.1AB. This capability eases the roll-out of convergence applications and devices, saving time and money.
Integrated Access
Control Security
Lapses or failures in network security can have a costly impact on the profitability of companies. Nortel has developed a multi-layered strategy for enhanced defense against threats from external and internal sources. The ERS
8300, a key element of this strategy, supports comprehensive security services for access control at the access layer.
802.1X/Extensible
Authentication Protocol
Nortel’s commitment to open standards is proven with the Ethernet Switching portfolio’s support for IEEE 802.1X/
Extensible Authentication Protocol
(EAP) across the entire range of access switches. The ERS 8300 has comprehensive 802.1X/EAP support with additional enhancements such as:
• Multiple Hosts Multiple
Authentications (MHMA)
• Multiple Hosts Single Authentication
(MHSA)
• Guest VLAN
• Mixed EAP/Non-EAP
• Centralized MAC-based
Authentication
These enhancements ensure a highly deployable solution that’s compatible with all standards-compliant third-party
802.1X/EAP products — providing enterprises with a means of effectively authenticating access to the network.
Nortel Secure Network Access
Secure Network Access (SNA) —
Nortel’s endpoint security and policy compliance solution — inspects, assesses, ensures compliance to policy and enables remediation at the network endpoint source, prior to network access.
With SNA, the enterprise is able to define acceptable criteria for the security software installed on PCs, test these criteria and confirm user credentials — all before the user is given any access to corporate servers and information. Any failures or inconsistencies during the check process can be resolved from the safety of a quarantined remediation
VLAN, and guest users can be given access to an isolated VLAN (for example,
Internet-only access). Assuming successful logon and checking, the user’s port is automatically assigned to the appropriate production VLAN, given the correct quality settings.
3
Enhanced usability and flexibility
With the network now needing to be closely aligned with the business — often subject to seasonal variations, or changes through merger and acquisition activity — the network needs to have great flexibility and the capability to adapt without impacting availability.
The flexible ERS 8300 includes a comprehensive set of features that ensure the most cost-effective solution for enterprises.
Integrated Time Domain
Reflectometer (TDR)
The ERS 8300 provides an integrated
TDR to simplify troubleshooting of the physical copper cable plant, enabling operations to quickly identify faults, isolating the source of problems and helping ensure maximum uptime of the network. This provides for remote and non-invasive diagnosis of cabling issues such as cable opens, cable shorts or impedance mismatch reporting. The
ERS 8300 can detect and report these issues without the need to unplug cables or use expensive cable testers and additional personnel.
Active circuit protection
The ERS 8300 can automatically disable a port if there is a short. The remaining ports will be unaffected by the short and be able to forward traffic without disruption to service.
Pay-as-you-grow
With the introduction of base and advanced licenses, Nortel enables customers to pay only for the functionality that meets their business needs.
Network management
The ERS 8300 can be managed by a variety of management tools offering a very flexible operational environment according to individual business requirements. These include dual Command
Line Interface (CLI), a Java-based
Device Manager, Web-based management, SNMP-based management
(SNMPv1, v2 and v3), Enterprise
Switch Manager (ESM), Enterprise
Network Management System (ENMS) and Enterprise Policy Services (EPS).
Summary
The Ethernet Routing Switch 8300 uniquely combines high performance with a set of rich, advanced services for convergence applications to enhance, protect and simplify network service and operations. Enterprises seeking to make strategic investments in their campus LAN infrastructure can now create solutions that will support business growth for years to come. As a leading provider of end-to-end solutions that span voice, data, applications and network management, Nortel has the expertise to help enterprises increase profitability, streamline business operations and enhance productivity.
Nortel is a recognized leader in delivering communications capabilities that make the promise of Business Made Simple a reality for our customers. Our next-generation technologies, for both service provider and enterprise networks, support multimedia and business-critical applications. Nortel’s technologies are designed to help eliminate today’s barriers to efficiency, speed and performance by simplifying networks and connecting people to the information they need, when they need it. Nortel does business in more than 150 countries around the world. For more information, visit Nortel on the Web at
www.nortel.com. For the latest Nortel news, visit www.nortel.com/news.
For more information, contact your Nortel representative, or call 1-800-4 NORTEL or 1-800-466-7835 from anywhere in North America.
Nortel, the Nortel logo, Nortel Business Made Simple and the Globemark are trademarks of Nortel Networks. All other trademarks are the property of their owners.
Copyright © 2007 Nortel Networks. All rights reserved. Information in this document is subject to change without notice. Nortel assumes no responsibility for any errors that may appear in this document.
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