S6735-S48X6C

The Huawei S6735-S48X6C is a powerful and high-density 10 Gigabit Ethernet (GE) fixed switch, belonging to the CloudEngine S6735-S series. This series is designed for demanding enterprise environments, serving primarily as an aggregation or core switch in campus networks, or as a high-density access/spine switch in data centers.

Let’s break down the model name and its key features:

• S6735-S: Denotes its position within the CloudEngine S6735-S series, indicating an enterprise-grade switch with robust capabilities.
• 48X: Signifies 48 x 10GE SFP+ ports. This is a very high density of 10 Gigabit fiber ports, crucial for connecting a large number of servers, high-performance workstations, or aggregating traffic from many access layer switches. These ports typically support auto-sensing down to 1GE for flexibility.
• 6C: Indicates 6 x 40GE/100GE QSFP28 ports. These six ports are highly versatile and can operate as either:
  • 40 Gigabit Ethernet (using QSFP+ transceivers).
  • 100 Gigabit Ethernet (using QSFP28 transceivers). This provides significant uplink bandwidth to the network core or spine layer. While 40GE ports can often be split into four 10GE ports using breakout cables, 100GE QSFP28 ports typically cannot be split into 10GE ports.
• No suffix (like -A or -DC): This means the switch does not include power modules by default. You would need to purchase these separately, offering flexibility to choose between AC (e.g., PAC600S12-CB) or DC (e.g., PDC1000S12-DB) power modules, or even a mix for redundancy.

Key Features:

• Exceptional Port Density and Flexibility: With 48 x 10GE SFP+ ports and 6 x 40GE/100GE QSFP28 uplink ports, it offers massive capacity for connecting high-bandwidth devices and providing robust uplinks.
• High Performance:
  • Switching Capacity: 2.56 Tbit/s (Terabits per second). This ensures wire-speed, non-blocking forwarding across all ports, even under the heaviest traffic loads.
  • Packet Forwarding Rate: 1260 Mpps (Million packets per second). This indicates its highly efficient processing of a large volume of network packets.
  • Large MAC Address Table: Supports up to 64K MAC address entries, accommodating extensive network deployments.
• Redundant Power Supplies: Features two pluggable power supply slots for 1+1 power redundancy, ensuring continuous operation and high availability. Supports hot-swappable power modules and fans.
• Advanced Networking Capabilities:
  • Comprehensive Layer 2 and Layer 3 Features: Supports a full suite of Layer 2 capabilities (VLANs, GVRP, QinQ) and robust Layer 3 routing protocols (Static, RIP, OSPF, IS-IS, BGP, ECMP, VRRP, IPv6 routing) for building complex and scalable networks.
  • VXLAN Support: Essential for modern data centers and cloud deployments, it supports Virtual Extensible LAN (VXLAN) to create virtual networks over a single physical infrastructure. This includes support for centralized and distributed VXLAN gateways and BGP EVPN for dynamic tunnel establishment.
  • Super Virtual Fabric (SVF) / iStack: Supports network virtualization technologies that allow multiple physical switches to be virtualized into a single logical device. This simplifies management, enhances scalability, and improves network resilience through aggregated bandwidth and redundancy.
• Robust Security: Integrates comprehensive security features:
  • Defense against various attacks (DoS, ARP, ICMP flood).
  • DHCP snooping, IP source guard, strict ARP learning to prevent IP/MAC spoofing.
  • 802.1X, MAC address authentication, and portal authentication for granular user and device access control.
  • Enhanced security with built-in probes: Features like Encrypted Communications Analytics (ECA) for identifying malicious encrypted traffic and Threat Trap for network-wide threat deception.
  • MACsec is typically supported on these advanced models for hardware-based encryption of Ethernet frames.
• Quality of Service (QoS): Provides sophisticated QoS mechanisms to prioritize critical services:
  • Flexible traffic classification, policing, and shaping.
  • Multiple queue scheduling algorithms (WRR, DRR, PQ, WRR+PQ, DRR+PQ) and WRED for congestion avoidance.
  • eMDI (Enhanced Media Delivery Index) for intelligent O&M of audio and video services.
• Intelligent Operations and Maintenance (O&M):
  • Telemetry: Real-time collection of device data to Huawei’s CampusInsight for network analysis, enabling proactive monitoring and problem detection.
  • iPCA (Packet Conservation Algorithm for Internet): Monitors network quality for any service flow, providing real-time data on packet loss and latency for precise fault location without requiring simulated traffic.
• High Reliability: Designed for maximum network uptime:
  • Extensive set of redundancy protocols: STP/RSTP/MSTP, Huawei’s Smart Ethernet Protection (SEP), and G.8032 ERPS (Ethernet Ring Protection Switching) for rapid protection switchover in various network topologies.
  • Smart Link and VRRP for uplink backup and improved access device reliability.
  • BFD (Bidirectional Forwarding Detection) for rapid fault detection.

Typical Applications:

• High-Density Data Center Access Layer: An excellent choice for providing high-speed 10GE access to numerous servers in data center racks, with its 40GE/100GE uplinks connecting to spine or aggregation switches, especially in virtualized environments leveraging VXLAN.
• Large-Scale Enterprise Campus Aggregation Layer: Functions as a powerful aggregation switch in large enterprise or educational campus networks, aggregating traffic from hundreds of access layer switches and providing high-speed 40GE/100GE connectivity to the core.
• Small to Medium-sized Campus Core: Due to its high switching capacity and 100GE uplinks, it can serve as a robust core switch in smaller to medium-sized campus networks.
• High-Speed Wi-Fi 6/7 Access Point Aggregation: Ideal for aggregating the increasing bandwidth requirements from modern Wi-Fi 6 or future Wi-Fi 7 Access Points.

The S6735-S48X6C is a formidable switch for building scalable, high-performance, and resilient enterprise and data center networks that require high 10GE port density and flexible 40GE/100GE uplinks, along with advanced features for virtualization, security, and intelligent operations.