Product Overview

The Cisco Nexus N9K-SUP-B+ is a supervisor module engineered for Cisco Nexus 9500 Series modular switches. It serves as a central control-plane component, providing the processing resources required for switch management, operating-system functions, control protocols, configuration, monitoring, and overall chassis operation.

With six processor cores, twelve executable threads, a 1.9 GHz x86 processor, 32GB of memory, and a 256GB SSD, the N9K-SUP-B+ provides the processing and storage resources required for large-scale data center networking environments. Cisco documentation identifies the module as the Supervisor B+ option for the Nexus 9500 platform.

The supervisor is installed inside a compatible Cisco Nexus 9500 modular chassis and is not intended to operate as a standalone Ethernet switch. Its functionality works together with the chassis, fabric modules, line cards, system controllers, fan trays, and power supplies to create a complete modular data center switching platform.

High-Performance Supervisor Architecture

The N9K-SUP-B+ is designed to provide the control-plane processing required by high-density Cisco Nexus 9500 modular platforms. Its six-core, twelve-thread architecture provides substantial processing capacity for operating-system services, network control functions, management operations, and data center automation workflows.

256GB SSD Storage

The N9K-SUP-B+ includes a 256GB SSD for system software, persistent system data, logs, configuration-related information, and other supervisor storage requirements. The integrated solid-state storage provides the capacity required by the Nexus 9500 supervisor environment.

• 256GB solid-state storage
• Designed for Cisco Nexus 9500 supervisor operation
• Supports persistent system and software storage requirements
• Suitable for enterprise and data center switching environments

High Availability and Supervisor Redundancy

Cisco Nexus 9500 platforms can use two supervisor modules to provide supervisor redundancy. When two supervisors are installed, one operates as the active supervisor while the second operates in standby mode. If the active supervisor becomes unavailable, the standby supervisor can become active, improving system availability.

Cisco specifies that when two supervisors are installed, they must be the same supervisor type. The N9K-SUP-B+ therefore provides an effective option for deployments requiring redundant Supervisor B+ modules within supported Nexus 9500 configurations.

Cisco Nexus 9500 Platform Integration

The N9K-SUP-B+ is designed specifically for the Cisco Nexus 9500 modular data center platform. It works as part of the chassis architecture together with compatible line cards and fabric modules to deliver scalable data center switching.

The supervisor provides the control and management intelligence while the installed line cards provide the network interfaces and the fabric modules provide the internal switching fabric. This modular architecture allows organizations to scale network capacity according to application and infrastructure requirements.

• Designed for Cisco Nexus 9500 Series modular platforms
• Integrates with compatible Nexus 9500 line cards
• Works with supported Nexus 9500 fabric modules
• Supports redundant supervisor configurations
• Designed for enterprise-scale data center architectures

Cisco NX-OS and ACI Environments

The Cisco Nexus 9500 platform supports Cisco NX-OS and Cisco Application Centric Infrastructure (ACI) deployments. The N9K-SUP-B+ provides the supervisor processing environment used by the supported Nexus 9500 platform architecture.

Cisco NX-OS provides a comprehensive data center operating environment with Layer 2 and Layer 3 networking capabilities, automation, telemetry, security, virtualization, and other enterprise networking functions. In ACI environments, the Nexus 9500 platform can operate as part of Cisco's policy-driven data center architecture.

Ideal Data Center Applications

Key Features

• 6-core x86 processor architecture
• 12 executable threads
• 1.9 GHz processor speed
• 32GB system memory
• 256GB SSD storage
• Designed for Cisco Nexus 9500 modular switches
• Supports active/standby supervisor redundancy
• Two supervisors can be installed in supported configurations
• Integrates with Cisco NX-OS and supported ACI deployments
• Designed for enterprise-scale data center environments

Compatibility and Installation

The Cisco N9K-SUP-B+ is a modular component and requires a compatible Cisco Nexus 9500 chassis. It should not be treated as a standalone network switch. Compatibility should be confirmed against the specific Nexus 9500 chassis, line-card generation, fabric modules, and software release before installation.

For redundant configurations, Cisco specifies that both installed supervisor modules must be of the same type. The N9K-SUP-B+ can therefore be deployed as a matched pair when supervisor redundancy is required.