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features, such as QoS and security, to be implemented in a scalable yet granular fashion. With a variety
of connectivity interfaces and expanded buffering, the 6600 switches offer excellent investment protection,
flexibility, and scalability, as well as ease of deployment and reduced operational expense.
From a design standpoint, the 6600-24XG model is essentially the equivalent of a 5406zl chassis configured
with six 4 x 10-Gb modules. Each NGX network chip represents a node in the system with high-speed links
(HSLs) connecting to the interconnect fabric—F2 chip. Each HSL provides approximately 14.4 Gbps of data
bandwidth and up to 28.8 Gbps total per NGX interface ASIC. In addition, a management plane dedicates a
CPU to provide communications control between the NGX and F2 fabric chip. Throughput capacities are the
NGX full capacity of 28.8-Gbps full-duplex or 57.6-Gbps switching capacity per NGX ASIC. The datasheet
throughput values reflect this full fabric capacity of 345.6 Gbps of switching capacity. The ProVision ASIC
architecture section that follows covers a few specifics about the NGX ASIC, specifically port mappings to the
HSLs and throughput limitations and caveats.
Enhanced packet buffers
Each 10-Gb set of four ports is sharing an 18-MB packet buffer (compared to the 3500yl and zl modules’
4.5 MB of packet buffers).
Ports
•24 10-GbE SFP+ ports (10-GbE-only speeds)
Management connectivity
•RJ-45 serial console port
•RJ-45 Ethernet out-of-band management port
ProVision ASIC architecture
The ProVision ASIC architecture is the latest-generation HP networking ASIC technology and is used in the
ProCurve 6600 Switch Series, along with the 8200zl, 5400zl, 6200yl, and 3500yl product families. The
ProVision ASIC architecture consists of multiple network chips interconnected by an active crossbar fabric
chip. Depending on the flavor of the ProVision network chip used, the 6600 series product supports either
NG (Gigabit) or NGX (10-Gb) interfaces. Additionally, the 6600-24G/24G-4XG products utilize the F1 fabric
ASIC supporting up to high-speed links (HSLs) of 14.4 Gbps each for a maximum theoretical fabric capacity
of 172.8 Gbps full duplex, while the 6600-48G/48G-4XG and 6600-24XG switches utilize the F2 fabric ASIC
that provides up to 12 HSLs for a maximum theoretical fabric capacity of 345.6 Gbps full duplex.
Inside the ProVision ASIC architecture
Each NG/NGX network chip contains a full, hardware-based Layer 3 routing switch engine as well as Layer
4 filtering and metering capabilities. These latest ProVision ASICs are HP networking’s fourth generation of
internally developed switching platforms. The ProVision network switching engines execute all the packet
processing, including Layer 2 and Layer 3 lookups, Layer 2/Layer 3/Layer 4 filtering and forwarding decisions,
VLAN forwarding and routing, LACP trunking
2
, and priority queuing determinations. The ProVision hardware
capabilities and software implementation are common across ProCurve 6600, 8200zl, 5400zl, 6200yl, and
3500yl series switch families.
Classification and lookup
When an Ethernet packet first arrives, the classifier section determines the packet characteristics, its source
and destination addresses, VLAN affiliation, any priority specification, and so on. The packet is stored in input
memory; lookups into the table memory are done to determine routing information; and a ProVision ASIC-
specific packet header is created for the packet with this information. This header is then forwarded to the
Policy Enforcement Engine.
2
HP networking’s term “trunking” is the aggregation of multiple physical links into one logical link. Other vendors may refer to this as Channels or Link
Aggregated Groups (LAGs).
