Fabric Extender as a switch?

[Erbu]

Is it possible to use the Cisco Nexus N2K-C2248TP-1GE Fabric Extender as a switch?

I have no idea about the diffrences.

 

I would plug my NAS and 2 PC's to the SFP+ ports to get 10Gbe connection with the NAS and use the rest of the ports for all other devices. Internet connection would come in from an RJ45 port

[Windows7ge]

Based on about 5 minutes of research it is a switch and based on what I can find it should act as a switch independent of any additional equipment. However it seems if you receive it as part of a pre-used order it may come completely wiped and it won't load it's OS by itself. You'd have to enter the Console and setup the Boot-loader, the kick-starter, then the switch image itself. With these if the switch ever loses power it will reload the switch image and power up again.

 

But lets ask someone with a little more CISCO knowledge before you take anything I've said as correct. @Lurick

[Lurick]

Negative, FEX needs a parent switch to operate.

The FEX is a dumb switch that feeds off the parent to tell it what to do.

You'll need a Nexus 3000, 5000, 7000, or 9000 parent switch to use it.

 

 

Edit:

To add some more color, a FEX (fabric extender) is basically a cheap way to add ports to an existing network because of the limited capabilities it has. In the 2100 and 2200 series FEX devices you can't even do local switching of traffic and everything will traverse the uplinks to the parent switch to be told where to go and sent back down. Starting with the 2300 series FEX you can do some local switching on the same VLAN but that's about it and you still need the parent switch to configure it and tell it what port is what.

[Windows7ge]

5 minutes ago, Lurick said:

Negative, FEX needs a parent switch to operate.

The FEX is a dumb switch that feeds off the parent to tell it what to do.

You'll need a Nexus 3000, 5000, 7000, or 9000 parent switch to use it.

Ah crap so that's what I was looking at what the pages were talking about an extension of ports and parent switches.

 

Found a video talking about a switch called the Cisco Nexus C3048TP. I guess that's what you're talking about as being a parent switch. Perhaps the 2248TP could be a daughter to that?

 

Based on the way OP is talking though I get the feeling he just wants something plug'n'play of which the parent switches likely won't be as most sellers will reset the configurations before selling them. Setup doesn't seem that complicated but that depends on how comfortable OP is with CISCO CLI.

[Lurick]

12 minutes ago, Windows7ge said:

Ah crap so that's what I was looking at what the pages were talking about an extension of ports and parent switches.

 

Found a video talking about a switch called the Cisco Nexus C3048TP. I guess that's what you're talking about as being a parent switch. Perhaps the 2248TP could be a daughter to that?

 

Based on the way OP is talking though I get the feeling he just wants something plug'n'play of which the parent switches likely won't be as most sellers will reset the configurations before selling them. Setup doesn't seem that complicated but that depends on how comfortable OP is with CISCO CLI.

Yah, any of those switches in the series listed will act just fine as a parent. Setup is pretty simple but you do have to know the NX-OS CLI a bit and for a plug-n-play I don't think it would be the best. I would suggest OP go with the $130 Mikrotik 5-port switch off Amazon or something instead.