Migrating to Nexus 7000 from Catalyst 6500 and 4500 Switches

Posted by: Carole Warner Reece on Apr 1, 2010 Print 

Carole Warner ReeceNote: This is an older version of my command summary, the updated version is available at Migrating to Nexus 7000 from Catalyst 6500 and 4500 Switches as of NX-OS 6.0.

I've been looking at migrating some customers' Catalyst 4500 and Catalyst 6500 switches to Nexus 7000 switches. I thought I would write up a comparison of common commands as an aid for the networking team.

Overall, the fundamental NX-OS 4.x CLI commands in are pretty similar to the 12.2 IOS CLI on Catalyst 4500 and 6500s. You can also use the "?" to get help and prompts, commands can be abbreviated, and the [Tab] key will auto-fill in unambiguous commands.

Some caveats: NX-OS does not support all the features of IOS, for example, acting as a DHCP server and NTP authentication.

 

IOS Commands (Nexus NX-OS Commands when different)

Function
show version Displays information about the currently running system software image and an overview of the installed hardware.
show module Displays information about the installed modules including module number, module type, number of ports on each module, module MAC addresses, and the module status.
router(config)#do show command


router(config)#show command
! or
router(config)#do show command 		View existing configuration information from the configuration command prompt using show commands.

Note: For NX-OS, the [Tab] key and "?" will work for Exec mode commands inside of configuration mode. The use of "do" in NX-OS is currently working, but is not documented.
router(config)# do Exec-command


router(config)# Exec-command
! or
router(config)#do Exec-command		 View existing configuration information from the configuration command prompt.

Note: For NX-OS, the [Tab] key and "?" will work for Exec mode commands inside of configuration mode. The use of "do" in NX-OS is currently working, but is not documented.
reload Reloads the operating system for the entire device

Note: For the Nexus 7000, this command works only in the default VDC.

! 6500
hw-module module slot reset
! 4500
no hw-module [slot | module] number power
hw-module [slot | module] number power

reload module mod-#

Reloads a module in the device by turning power off then on.

Note: For the Nexus 7000, this command works only in the default VDC
service timestamps [debug | log] [uptime | datetime [msec]] [localtime] [show-timezone] [year]


debug logging
logging timestamp {microseconds | milliseconds | seconds} 		Apply a time stamp to debugging messages or system logging messages.

Note: In NX-OS, to enable debug logging configure 'debug logging' command. NX-OS does not have as many options for timestamps.
service password-encryption


! No equivalent NX-OS command		 Note: By default, NX-OS encrypts plain text passwords and enables password strength checking.

logging buffered [discriminator discr-name] [buffer-size] [severity-level]


logging logfile logfile-name severity-level [size bytes]


Enable system message logging to a local buffer
username name {nopassword | password password | password encryption-type encrypted-password}


username user-id [password [0 | 5] password ] 		Create and configure a user account.

Note: By default, NX-OS encrypts plain text passwords and enables password strength checking.
aaa new-model
aaa authentication login default group tacacs+ local
aaa authentication login console none
aaa authentication enable default none
aaa authentication ppp default local
aaa accounting exec default start-stop group tacacs+
aaa accounting commands 0 -15 start-stop group tacacs+
aaa accounting commands 15 default start-stop group tacacs+
aaa session-id common


aaa authentication login default group tacacs+ local
aaa authentication login console none
 aaa user default-role
aaa accounting default group tacacs+		 Configuring AAA. Note: Not all commands are supported on the NX-OS.

clock timezone zone hours-offset [minutes-offset]
clock summer-time zone recurring [week day month hh:mm week day month hh:mm [offset]]

clock timezone zone-name offset-hours offset-minutes
clock summer-time zone-name start-week start-day start-month start-time end-week end-day end-month end-time offset-minutes

Configure the time zone offset from Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) as well as daylight savings time.
ip subnet-zero
no ip source-route
no ip bootp server

! No equivalent NX-OS command		 These commands are not available in NX-OS.
no ip domain-lookup
ip domain-name [vrf vrf-name] name


 no ip domain-lookup
ip domain-name domain-name [use-vrf name]
 		Disable DNS lookup feature and configure a domain name.
ip ssh time-out seconds
ip ssh authentication-retries tries
ip ssh version 2ip

feature ssh
ssh key {dsa [force] | rsa [length [force]]}		 Enable an SSH server.

Note: The Cisco NX-OS commands for SSH are different from the Cisco IOS commands. NX-OS software supports only SSHv2.
power redundancy-mode {redundant | combined}


power redundancy-mode {combined | insrc-redundant | ps-redundant | redundant} 		Configure the power supply redundancy mode

! 6500
no power enable module mod-#
! 4500
no hw-module [slot | module] number power

poweroff module mod-#

 Powers off a module from configuration mode.
redundancy
mode sso
main-cpu
auto-sync standard


! No equivalent NX-OS command
 Configure CPU redundancy.

Note: : The Nexus 7000 supports dual supervisor modules to provide 1+1 redundancy for the control and management plane. Only one of the supervisor modules is active at any given time, while the other acts as a standby backup. No configuration commands are needed.
spanning-tree mode [pvst | mst | rapid-pvst]


spanning-tree mode [rapid-pvst | mst] 		Default mode for IOS is PVST; default mode for NX-OS is RPVST.

Note: When you enter the command, all STP instances are stopped for the previous mode and are restarted in the new mode.
spanning-tree extend system-id


! No equivalent NX-OS command		 Enable the extended system ID feature on a chassis that supports 1024 MAC addresses.

Note: NX-OS does not use this command, the extended system ID is always automatically enabled in NX-OS devices.
spanning-tree vlan vlan-id priority value Set the STP bridge priority
vlan internal allocation policy ascending


! No equivalent NX-OS command		 Configure the internal VLAN allocation scheme.

Note: NX-OS does not support this command.

interface type slot/number
switchport
switchport mode access
switchport access vlan vlan-id
spanning-tree portfast
[speed {10 | 100 | 1000 | auto [10 | 100 | 1000] | nonegotiate}]


interface type slot/number
switchport
switchport host
switchport access vlan vlan-id
[speed {10 | 100 | 1000 | auto [10 | 100 | 1000] | 10000 | auto}]
vlan vlan-id

 Configure a Layer 2 access port.

Note: NX-OS uses "Ethernet" as the type for all FastEthernet / GigabitEthernet / Ten Gigabit Ethernet interfaces.
The VLAN in the vlan-id needs to be created so that the interface will come up.
interface type slot/number
switchport
switchport mode trunk
[switchport trunk allowed vlan vlan-id]
switchport trunk encapsulation [isl | dot1 | negotiate]
[switchport trunk allowed vlan add vlan-id]
[speed {10 | 100 | 1000 | auto [10 | 100 | 1000] | nonegotiate}]


interface type slot/number
switchport
switchport mode trunk
[switchport trunk allowed vlan vlan-id]
[switchport trunk allowed vlan add vlan-id]
[speed {10 | 100 | 1000 | auto [10 | 100 | 1000 ] | 10000 | auto}]
 		Configure a Layer 2 trunk port.

Note: NX-OS only supports 802.1Q encapsulation.
vlan vlan-#
interface vlan-#
no shutdown


vlan vlan-#
feature interface-vlan
interface vlan-#
no shutdown		 Configure a VLAN interface

Note: In NX-OS, the interface-vlan feature needs to be enabled before an interface VLAN can be configured. The VLAN needs to be defined as well for the interface to come up.


interface port-channel channel-#
switchport
switchport mode . . .
interface type slot/number
switchport
channel-group group_number mode {active | auto | desirable | on | passive}


feature LACP
interface port-channel channel-#
switchport
switchport mode . . .
interface type slot/number
switchport
channel-group channel- number [force] [mode {on | active | passive}]

Configure a Layer 2 LACP port channel.

Note: In NX-OS, the LACP feature needs to be enabled before it can be used.
vtp domain domain-name Configure the VTP domain name
vtp {server | client | transparent}


vtp mode transparent		 Configure the VTP mode.

Note: NX-OS only support VTP transparent mode.
udld {enable | aggressive}


feature udld		 Enable UDLD globally on a device.
ip route prefix mask next-hop-address


ip route ip-prefix/length next-hop-address
 Configure static routes.
ip access-list extended access-list-name
[sequence-number] {permit | deny} protocol source source-wildcard destination destination-wildcard . . .


 ip access-list access-list-name
[sequence-number] {permit | deny} protocol source destination . . .
Create or configure an IPv4 ACL


Note: NX-OS supports one type of IPv4 ACL which is similar to the named extended ACL in IOS.

ip access-list resequence access-list-name starting-sequence-number increment

 

resequence access-list-type access-list access-list-name starting-sequence-number increment

 Resequence an ACL.
router eigrp as-number


feature EIGRP
router eigrp instance-tag
 [autonomous-system as-number]		 Configure EIGRP routing.

Note: In NX-OS, the EIGRP feature needs to be enabled before it can be used. You can use any case-sensitive alphanumeric string up to 20 characters as an instance tag. If you configure an instance-tag that does not qualify as an AS number, you must use the autonomous-system command to configure the AS number explicitly or this EIGRP instance will remain in the shutdown state
router(config-router)#
network ip-address [wildcard-mask]


interface type slot/number
ip address ip-prefix/length
ip router eigrp instance-tag

Configure a network in EIGRP.

Note: For NX-OS, a network is configured in EIGRP by associating it through an interface the router uses to connect to the area. NX-OS uses CIDR notation for IP addresses, but can accept the ip-address mask format as well.
router ospf process-id


feature OSPF
router ospf instance-tag		 Configure OSPF routing.

Note: In NX-OS, the OSPF feature needs to be enabled before it can be used. The instance-tag is locally assigned and can be any alphanumeric string or positive integer.
router(config-router)#
network ip-address wildcard-mask area area-id


interface type slot/number
ip address ip-prefix/length
ip router ospf instance-tag area area-id
Configure a network in OSPF.

Note: For NX-OS, a network is configured in OSPF by associating it through an interface the router uses to connect to the area.
interface type slot/number
ip address ip-address mask
ip helper-address ip-address
standby [group-number] ip ip-address
standby [group-number] timers hellotime holdtime
standby [group-number] priority priority
standby [group-number] prempt


feature hsrp
ip dhcp relay
interface type slot/number
ip address ip-prefix/length
ip dhcp relay address ip-address
hsrp group-number
ip ip-address
timers hellotime holdtime
priority priority
prempt
 Configure HSRP with an IP helper address to a DHCP server. Different command syntax is used. NX-OS also uses 'hsrp' as keyword, while IOS uses 'standby'.

Note: In NX-OS, the HSRP feature needs to be enabled before it can be used. To use the DHCP relay, DHCP services also has to be enabled. The HSRP holdtime needs to be at least 3x the hello time. NX-OS uses CIDR notation for IP addresses, but can accept the ip-address mask format as well.
Prior to NX-OS 4.2(1), the service dhcp command enabled the DHCP Relay feature. In NX-OS 4.2(1) the command was changed to ip dhcp relay.
ip dhcp pool name


! No equivalent NX-OS command		 Configure a Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) address pool on a DHCP server.

Note: The NX-OS supports DHCP snooping, and DHCP relay, but does not support acting as a DHCP server.
ip multicast-routing


feature PIM		 Enable IP multicast routing
ipv6 unicast-routing
interface type slot/number
ipv6 address ipv6-prefix/prefix-length eui-64

interface type slot/number
ipv6 address ipv6-prefix/prefix-length eui-64
 Enable IPv6 traffic forwarding on an interface.

Note: NX-OS does NOT need to enable IPv6 routing globally.
ntp server ip-address


ntp enable
ntp server host [prefer] 		Configure NTP.

ntp authenticate
ntp authentication-key md5 value
ntp trusted-key key-number
ntp update-calendar
ntp server ip-address key key-id


! No equivalent NX-OS command

 Configure NTP authentication options.

Note: NX-OS does not currently support NTP authentication keys.

monitor session session-# source interface type slot/number
monitor session session-# destination interface type slot/number


interface type slot/number
 switchport
switchport monitor [ingress | learning]
monitor session session-number
 description description
source interface type slot/number
 destination interface type slot/number
 Enable SPAN sessions on interfaces or VLANs
snmp-server community RW-string RW acl-#
snmp-server community RO-string RO acl-#
snmp-server enable traps snmp authentication linkdown linkup coldstart warmstart
snmp-server enable traps tty
snmp-server enable traps entity
snmp-server enable traps port-security
snmp-server enable traps config
snmp-server host ip-address string
snmp ifmib ifindex persist


snmp-server community RW-string RW
snmp-server community RO-string RO
snmp-server community RW-string use-acl acl-name
snmp-server community RO-string use-acl acl-name
snmp-server enable traps snmp authentication
snmp-server enable traps link
snmp-server enable traps entity
snmp-server host ip-address string
 Enable common SNMP options.

Note: NX-OS syntax differs.
tacacs-server host ip-address
tacacs-server directed-request
tacacs-server key [0 | 7] key


feature tacacs+
tacacs-server host ip-address
tacacs-server directed-request
tacacs-server key [0 | 7] key
 Configure TACACS+ server

I hope this gives you a useful overview of some common configuration and verification commands you may need when migrating.

Three useful Cisco documentation links for further information:

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/docs/switches/datacenter/sw/4_1/nx-os/master/index/master_index.html

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/ps9402/products_installation_and_configuration_guides_list.html

http://docwiki.cisco.com/wiki/Cisco_Nexus_7000_NX-OS/IOS_Comparison_Tech_Notes <-- just found this, includes multiple articles comparing Cisco NX-OS and Cisco IOS features.

-- cwr

ps - Some earlier articles that might also be helpful:

Feature Comparison of the Nexus 7000 and Catalyst 6500 Series Switches

Comparing the Nexus 5000 and Nexus 7000 Series Switches

Comments (16)Add Comment
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0
Sr. Network Design Engineer
written by David Davidoff, June 22, 2010
Hello Carole,

I just want to take a moment, not only to acknowledge the fantastic work that you have done with the Cat6k to Nexus migrating summary, but what a huge resource you are, to me at least.
I am the lead (team of 1) getting ready for an upgrade replacing the Cat6k. I have been rewriting the configuration, but what I have not seen thus far anywhere is static routing conversion. For example, I have the following in the Cat6k and wanted to check with you whether there are no changes in the Nexus world. Please let me know your thoughts on the below. Thanks much, Carole.

ip classless
no ip forward-protocol udp netbios-dgm
ip route 2.2.2.1 255.255.255.255 10.36.4.253

-David
Carole Warner Reece
Response to David
written by Carole Warner Reece, June 26, 2010
Hi David -

Thanks for the nice follow-up!
Some quick comments on your additional commands:

ip classless
! this command is not needed, and is not supported in NX-OS

no ip forward-protocol udp netbios-dgm
! This command is not supported in NX-OS. I think the closest match is with the operation of the NX-OS DHCP-Relay command
ip dchp relay address which maps to the ip helper-address command in Cisco IOS Software. However, in NX-OS, only packets destined to User Datagram (UDP) port 67 (Bootps) and 68 (Bootpc) are forwarded by the relay, as compared to Cisco IOS which forwards additional protocols (Trivial File Transfer Protocol [TFTP], Domain Name System [DNS], Time, NetBios, and Neighbor Discovery).


ip route 2.2.2.1 255.255.255.255 10.36.4.253
! you can enter this command, but the NX-OS format will be
ip route 2.2.2.1/32 10.36.4.253

I hope this helps!

Carole
0
ios to nxos conversion
written by Babu, August 23, 2010
Hi,
planning to migrate 6513 to nexus 7000, is there any possibility of converting the ios config to nxos .
it is manually done or is there any conversion tool
0
HSRP between 4500/6500 IOS and NX-OS
written by Run2dmoon, September 04, 2010
Hi Carole,

I am still waiting to get my hands on a Nexus. But would you know if HSRP would work between Cat 4500/6500 and a Nexus 7k NX-OS? They seem to have different set of commands.

Regards.
Carole Warner Reece
HSRP between 4500/6500 IOS and NX-OS
written by Carole Warner Reece, September 04, 2010
It's been some time, but I recall having tested that HSRP does indeed work between 4500/6500 IOS and NX-OS. To align the default standby group (which is 0) on Cisco IOS w/ NX-OS, you need to configure the group-number as 0, as in HSRP 0.
Carole Warner Reece
Re: ios to nxos conversion
written by Carole Warner Reece, September 04, 2010
I have not seen any published tools. For various customers, we've done some custom scripting w/ Perl and Excel to map from one type of config to another.
0
SSO
written by Curious Yellow, June 13, 2011
Could be worth adding the equivalent for redundancy force switchover (system switchover) on the Nexus and the show redundancy (sh redundancy status or show system redundancy status on the Nexus). Spent some time trying to find this info on Google/Cisco!
0
Thank you
written by JohnT, June 28, 2011
Your document and links are very help, this is very gracious and kind of you.
JT
0
hsrp between a 6500 and Nexus 7000
written by John Marshall, June 29, 2011
I can get basic hsrp between a svi on my nexus and 6500. However I can't seem to use md5 authentication. Is the hashing different between the two?. If so is there a way to use MD5 for hsrp authetication?.
0
port channel
written by abuemran, October 03, 2011
we are in the middle of upgrading our core 4507r to either nx 7k or cat 6506e..
does nx7 k have equivalent command for port-channel?..
Carole Warner Reece
yes, port-channel is supported on NX-OS.
written by Carole Warner Reece, October 12, 2011
Abuemran -
Sure, port-channel is even listed in the table.
After you enable feature LACP you can configure interface port-channel channel-#

Carole
0
Spanning tree disable on per interface basis
written by Networkingfolks, November 16, 2011
Hi,

I am looking for an equivalent command in NX-OS. In IOS command is "spanning-tree portfast disable" at interface level to disable STP on that particular interface. Any ideas ?

Thanks,
Amit
Carole Warner Reece
reply to Amit
written by Carole Warner Reece, November 16, 2011
The command "spanning-tree portfast disable" is used to explicitly disable PortFast mode for a given port, which is definitely not the same as disabling STP on the port. The command is used to disable for an interface the global command "spanning-tree portfast default". PortFast mode immediately places an interface into the forwarding state upon link up.

To remove the PortFast behavior in NX-OS you would use the "spanning-tree port type normal" command.
0
NTP on 7Ks
written by Daren Fulwell, November 23, 2011
Hi Carole

Thanks for the resource, v useful.

V5.2.1 of the 7K NX-OS now supports NTP serving and authentication keys: have you any experience with it? We only seem able to serve NTP from the 7Ks to connected subnets and not routed ones and are wondering if it's just us?!

Rgds, Daren.
Carole Warner Reece
Reply to Daren
written by Carole Warner Reece, November 27, 2011
Reading the docs says 'Beginning with Cisco NX-OS Release 5.2, the Cisco NX-OS device can use NTP to distribute time. Other devices can configure it as a time server.'
I see that the guidelines and restrictions mention 'If you configure NTP in a VRF, ensure that the NTP server and peers can reach each other through the configured VRFs.'
If your clients can reach the NTP server IP address, they should be able to be use the N7K as their ntp server. So unless there is an ACL in the way, if the NTP config is correct, it sounds like a bug.
(I will test this in the lab when I get a chance...)

Carole
0
Product Manager, Cisco
written by Srini Kannayan, March 08, 2012
Hi,

You can use the IOS to NXOS configuration converter located here :

https://tools.cisco.com/nxmt

It is available for users with a CCO id.

Thanks,
Srini.

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