Cisco Cisco Catalyst 6500 Series Supervisor Engine 1A MSFC1 Getting Started Guide

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Why Should I Care About Application Intelligence and Security?
The application landscape of campus networks are changing. The convergence voice, 
video and data over IP networks, application webification; and the increase in applica-
tions for communications, collaboration and peer-to-peer file sharing; have dramatically 
increased the amount of traffic between hosts in the campus network. To deliver a high 
quality user experience, this traffic must be managed in the campus wiring closets and 
distribution layers.
In addition, the campus LAN access has become more open and less controlled due 
the employee mobility, diversified user devices such as wired and wireless PCs, IP 
phones, PDA etc, increased partner and contractor access. The risk of security threats 
such as worms and viruses has dramatically increased. Worms such as Slammer and 
Mydoom demonstrated that such threats could rapidly compromise campus networks. 
It is important for enterprise to apply tight access control and security pervasively at 
the campus wiring closets to stop threats before they enter into the campus network.
What Problems Need to Be Solved?
Gain better visibility of network usage
Mission critical communications including voice, video and corporate instant  
messaging must be prioritized
Recreational application traffic needs to be managed so it does not impact  
critical applications
Differentiated Web application controls using application specific attributes
Organizations need to minimize their exposure to risk and liability. For example, 
block file sharing activities of copy right protected materials
Notable worms and viruses need to be addressed at the access layer and  
WAN edge before they impact the campus network
Catalyst 6500 Supervisor Engine 32 Programmable Intelligent  
Service Accelerator
The embedded hardware-accelerated deep packet inspection technology in Cisco 
Catalyst 6500’s Programmable Intelligent Service Accelerator (PISA) provides stateful 
application intelligence and integrated security that can be pervasively applied right  
at your campus or WAN edge.
The embedded service model of PISA allows pervasive deployment of intelligent 
services in campus networks without adding expensive management and operational 
cost. The programmable hardware architecture provide future proof for quick new 
service adoption without sacrificing the performance.
Supervisor Engine 32 PISA
8x1GE Uplinks + 1x 10/100/1000
Supervisor Engine 32 PISA
2x10GE Uplinks + 1x 10/100/1000
“We’ve always been able 
to be on the cutting edge 
of productivity because we 
have invested wisely in our 
networking infrastructure ... 
The Catalyst Series 6500-E 
is the flagship switching 
platform for Cisco where a 
lot of the innovations begin, 
and when advancements 
like the Supervisor Engine 
32-PISA are introduced,  
we can upgrade easily  
and cost-effectively.” 
—  Network Architect, a 
Biopharma company 
testing Sup32-PISA
Pervasive Embedded Application Intelligence and Security 
Cisco Catalyst 6500 Supervisor Engine 32 PISA
At-A-Glance
Supervisor Engine
32 PISA
PCs
Link Utilization
Citrix 
25%
Netshow  15%
Oracle 
10%
FTP 
30% 
HTTP 
20%
•  Blocks Worm Like Slammer Using Flexible 
  Packet Matching
•  Detect and Rate-Limit 
  Undesired Peer-to-Peer Traffic
•  Mark Business-Critical 
  Applications Real-Time as 
  GOLD Service 
•  Police Non-Priority Applications
Supervisor Engine
32 PISA
My application is too slow!
Full Integration with
IPv4 and IPv6 in hardware
Advanced multicast and MPLS
Enhanced Manageability
HA with NSF/SSO and more
Operational Manageability
Integrated Security
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Application awareness and
intelligent classification
Multigigabit Performance
Flexible Packet Matching
Rapid Security Protection
Multigigabit Performance
Programmable Architecture
Seamless new service
adoption