HPE FlexNetwork 7500X Switch Series

[parnassus]

Hello!

I noticed a new HPE FlexNetwork 7500X-CMW710-R7624P07 Release Notes (first software release) published on July, 19th 2021 on the HPE Support site and I'm curious about the SKUs that are listed:

1. R8N49A (7503X chassis with 2 MPU slots and 3 LPU slots) - R8N52A HPE 7503X Type A MPU
2. R8N48A (7506X chassis with 2 MPU slots and 6 LPU slots) - R8N51A HPE 7506X Type C Fabric/MPU
3. R8N47A (7510X chassis with 2 MPU slots and 10 LPU slots) - R8N50A HPE 7510X Type C Fabric/MPU

I naively believed that the so much beloved HPE FlexNetwork 7500 Switch Series - I especially liked the compactness of the old 7502 chassis - was over the hill...but that new suffix X looks now promising (a new momentum).

Is the above one a new Switch Series?

I wasn't able to find any reference or document about above SKUs or about the Comware 7 R7624 P07 software version in relationship with the current HPE FlexNetwork 7500 so is should be something really new on HPE FlexNetwork portfolio.

[Rajendra_Jena]

Hi @parnassus 

7500X and 7500 are two different type of the 7500 series. The 7500X is an advance model in 7500 series, which includes 7503X, 7506X and 7510X. I hope the document attached can explains for you.

https://docplayer.net/144198666-H3c-s7500x-series-enterprise-core-switch.html

Basically 7500X can only use 7500X own MPUs. It cannot use the old 7500 MPU, chassis and PSU. Also the software are different with the old 7500 as well. You can treat it as a new generation of 7500 or 7500v2.

Hope this clarifies all of your doubts. 

[parnassus]

Pretty much strange this new HPE FlexNewtork 7500X Switch series refers to the old (but current) H3C S7500X Switch series, the latter was indeed released in 2016/2017 (see, as example, this H3C official presentation).

Another intersting thread is this one about H3C <-> HPE Switch series tentative mapping.

Update: the Release Notes' URL now points to nowhere, the PDF was probably withdrawn.

[Ivan_B]

Hi @parnassus !

At this time there is no official information about these new switches. You already noticed that it has already been withdrawn, so I can't comment if the information in that document was correct or not, but SKUs in R***** numbers (like R8N49A) do not exist in the databases available to me.

[parnassus]

Hi @Ivan_B, yes, it's possible.

At the same time those SKUs could mark a new naming approach (as happened on some Aruba CX switches where, for some series, some SKUs were prefixed with the "R0X" instead of the usual "JL").

Incidentally today I saw an HPE Product Bulletin about a new HPE FlexNetwork 5140 Switch series and some SKUs instead being prefixed with "JL" were prefixed with "R8J" so who can really tell what is going on?

[parnassus]

Here we go: the HPE FlexNetwork 7500X Switch Series QuickSpecs (01-11-2021), don't ask me what's going on, but Rxxxx SKUs do really exist.

What's the 7500 versus 7500X difference I don't know, anyway here the docs.

[Ivan_B]

Hi @parnassus !

These days we've got more information on the new 7500X series. So apart from 7503X where all LPUs are connected directly between themselves as full mesh, all other chassis from the series follow 'classic' crossbar architecture (crossbar chip is on MPUs). Pretty much like an old 7500. However this time crossbar has higher bandwidth, around 480 Gbps (three times faster than on 7500) per slot which allows new LPUs with 40G and 100G ports to work efficiently reaching line-rate speeds for across-board throughput. Also VXLAN support is hardware-based, so VXLAN forwarding is wire-speed.

MPUs have been upgraded as well - more capable CPUs, more flash storage (4 GB).