N5K-C5596UP-FA with 48 fixed unified ports, Front to Back airflow

Cisco N5K-C5596UP-FA – Nexus 5596UP 48‑Port Unified Switch, 3 Expansion Slots, Front‑to‑Back Airflow

The Cisco Nexus N5K‑C5596UP‑FA is a 2RU data‑center access switch delivering 48 fixed unified ports with support for 1/10 Gigabit Ethernet and Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE). Designed for high‑density server aggregation, low‑latency fabrics, and converged I/O deployments, it offers 1920 Gbps switching capacity and up to 1428 mpps Layer 2 forwarding, with front‑to‑back airflow for hot‑aisle/cold‑aisle alignment.

🔧 Key Specifications

• Ports: 48 unified ports (1/10GE + FCoE capable)
• Performance: 1920 Gbps Layer 2 throughput; 1428 mpps L2 forwarding
• Layer 3 Performance: Up to 160 Gbps or 240 mpps
• Expansion: 3 module slots for additional 10GE, 40GE, or L3 modules
• Cooling: Front‑to‑Back airflow (FA model)
• Power: 2 × 1100W AC power supplies (hot‑swappable)
• Fans: 4 hot‑swappable fan modules
• Form Factor: 2RU rack‑mountable
• Dimensions: 3.47 × 17.3 × 29.5 in (8.8 × 43.9 × 74.9 cm)
• Weight: 47.5 lb (21.55 kg) fully loaded

🧩 Ideal Use Cases

• High‑density server access requiring unified Ethernet + FCoE connectivity
• Converged I/O environments consolidating LAN and SAN traffic
• Virtualized data centers needing predictable low latency and high throughput
• Leaf‑spine fabrics in enterprise or service‑provider deployments
• Scalable aggregation layers with modular expansion for 10/40GE growth

⚙️ Licensing & Expansion

• Supports Cisco NX‑OS with advanced automation and programmability
• Compatible with Layer 3 GEM modules for routing expansion
• Unified Port (UP) design allows dynamic Ethernet/FCoE configuration
• Flexible transceiver support: SFP+, Twinax, and fiber modules
• Redundant, hot‑swappable PSUs and fans for continuous operation