Dell PowerSwitch SN-series: who supports what
S1·E5We will just run SONiC on it · NVIDIA briefing room, after the architect says it a second time
Builds on: Choosing the switch: SN2201 through SN6800-LD, The RA row: version pinning across switch, NIC and host
Before you read: what do you already know?
3 quick questions. Wrong answers are fine and expected; trying first makes the lesson stick.
After this lesson you can
- Separate the Dell-owned and NVIDIA-owned halves of a PowerSwitch SN-series support case.
- Analyse why the NVIDIA and Dell SN6000 datasheets list different network operating systems and what that implies.
- Determine from published matrices whether a requested feature is available on the NOS and bundle a customer actually bought.
- Route a live ticket to the correct owner and name the evidence that decided it.
Episode 5 — We will just run SONiC on it
Thirty-two leaves are in the proposal, the purchase order is meant to be signed on Friday, and the customer’s operations team has run one NOS for four years. Their architect repeats the sentence, politely, and the room turns to you. The NVIDIA PM has just finished a roadmap slide on which every interesting row said “not announced”, so the room is in a mood for things that can be checked.
Your first move is a question, not a rebuttal: which SONiC. Community SONiC’s platform list reaches the SN5600 on Spectrum-4 and contains no Spectrum-6 platform.[9] NVIDIA offers its own Pure SONiC distribution with A2P support.[8] Dell’s SN6000 spec sheet substitutes Enterprise SONiC Distribution by Dell Technologies into the slot where NVIDIA’s sheet names Pure SONiC, while Dell’s published 4.4.0 compatibility matrix lists only Broadcom-NPU platforms.[2][3][10] Three different answers wearing one word.
Then the decisive fact, stated as an absence rather than a prohibition: the Spectrum-X Validated Solution Stack lists only Cumulus Linux in its switch-OS column.[11] A fabric on a NOS that appears in no row cannot be judged on-row or off-row at all.
The boundary exists because two contracts overlap on one box. The sale creates the hardware entitlement, and that is Dell’s; the operating system and its release lifetime are written and dated by NVIDIA, which is why Dell’s own Cumulus install KB reproduces the NVIDIA procedure.[1][7][4]
Ask which SONiC before you answer, then answer with a missing row rather than a prohibition.
Segment 1 starts with what Dell actually sells.
1What Dell actually sells
Dell resells the NVIDIA Spectrum switches under the PowerSwitch SN-series name. The AI-switches catalogue lists PowerSwitch SN6800-LD (Spectrum-6, 409.6 Tbps), SN6810-LD (102.4 Tbps), SN6600-LD (102.4 Tbps), SN5610 (Spectrum-4, 51.2 Tbps), SN5600D (51.2 Tbps), SN5400 (25.6 Tbps), SN4700 (Spectrum-3, 12.8 Tbps) and SN2201 (Spectrum, 448 Gbps).[1] The same page carries the alternatives a customer will cross-shop - Z9864F-ON on Broadcom Tomahawk 5 at 51.2 Tbps, Z9664F-ON on Tomahawk 4 at 25.6 Tbps and Z9432F-ON on Trident4-X11 at 12.8 Tbps - and the InfiniBand SKUs Dell also resells, Quantum-X800 Q3401-RD, Q3400-RA and Q3200-RA plus Quantum-2 QM9790, QM9701 and QM9700.[1] Dell wraps all of it in services: “Dell Design Services for AI Networking tailors the fabric to your models, GPU counts, and growth plan”, ProDeploy for rollout, and “ProSupport Infrastructure Suite delivers 24/7 assistance to keep your AI network performing at its best”.[1]
Dell also publishes its own datasheets. The SN5600 sheet is a Dell asset with the Dell “IT Lifecycle Services for Networking” block appended - Plan and Design, Deploy and Integrate, Educate, Manage and Support, Optimize, Retire.[13] The SN6000 sheet goes further and rewrites NVIDIA’s text into Dell’s voice: “The Dell PowerSwitch SN6000 series is the sixth generation of NVIDIA Ethernet switches.”[2]
One design note that a Dell rep will quote back at you: a reference split attributed to Dell’s Info Hub for a PowerEdge XE9680 cluster is a frontend on two SN5600, a backend GPU fabric on one or more SN5600 and out-of-band management on an SN2201.[15] That page was reachable only as a search snippet during research, and the page returns 403 to anonymous readers, so ask the Dell account team for the current architecture guide and present the split as indicative rather than as a specification.[15]
| PowerEdge | BF-3 offering | DPU mode | NIC mode | Aux power | vSphere DSE | Notable KB |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
R660 16G | ||||||
R760 16G | ||||||
R760XA 16G (GPU) | ||||||
XE9680 16G HGX H100/H200 | ||||||
XE9680L 16G liquid | ||||||
R7725 17G (AMD) | ||||||
R770 17G (Intel) | ||||||
XE9780 / XE9785 17G HGX B300 — Dell AI Factory |
✓ yes · ✗ no · ◐ conditional · ? unknown · — n/a. Click a cell for the evidence.
⚠ = not confirmed on a fetched primary source (hover for why). Facts as of DOCA 3.5.0 (Sep 2026). Selections are saved.
2Where the line actually falls
Three statements cover almost every case.
Hardware, RMA and entitlement are Dell’s. Dell sells the switch, publishes the datasheet with its lifecycle-services block, and offers the ProSupport Infrastructure Suite.[1][13] The Dell support catalogue even uses a single product identity, “PowerSwitch SN5600/SN5610/SN5600D”, with separate pages for SN2201 and SN4700.[5]
The network operating system and its lifetime are NVIDIA’s. Cumulus Linux release policy is NVIDIA’s - “x.y.z” versioning, mainline releases with “12 months of NVIDIA support from date of LTS release”, LTS with “3 years from release date of version”, and 5.y.z supporting Spectrum-based switches only.[7] Dell’s own install KB, “Dell Networking Spectrum-X Cumulus Linux: Installing a New Image with ONIE” (KB 000376999), reproduces the NVIDIA ONIE procedure and the NVIDIA default credentials for SN2201, SN5600/SN5610/SN5600D and SN4700.[4] In other words, Dell’s L1 and L2 script for a Cumulus box is the NVIDIA document.
Expect escalation to move. The Dell SN5600 support articles list is mostly generic Dell networking content plus that single Cumulus KB, and part of the product overview is behind a corporate login - “Some resources are permission-based and can only be accessed with a corporate account”.[5][6] Meanwhile NVIDIA attaches its own requirement to direct purchases: “A minimum of one year of Enterprise Business-Standard Support is required when purchasing NVIDIA Spectrum SN6000 switches”, with add-ons for installation, configuration, a technical account manager, a four-hour on-site engineer, expedited RMA and media retention.[3]
Delivery reinforces the split. An SN5000-series switch ships either with Cumulus Linux pre-installed or as “Bare metal including ONIE image, installable with any ONIE-mounted OS”, and SONiC upgrade instructions are not public - they require the NVIDIA Enterprise Support Portal.[12]
3The NOS fork, and why it is the interesting part
The sharpest difference between the two SN6000 datasheets is not a specification, it is the operating-system list. NVIDIA’s sheet offers “NVIDIA Cumulus Linux” and SONiC in the form of “NVIDIA’s Pure SONiC distribution”.[3] Dell’s sheet keeps Cumulus Linux and replaces the SONiC entry with “Enterprise SONiC Distribution by Dell Technologies”, adding that “Dell SONiC on Spectrum-X ensures seamless integration, high-performance, and low-latency networking” and is “Backed by Dell’s enterprise-grade support and NVIDIA’s expertise”.[2] Both sheets keep NVIDIA Air and NVIDIA NetQ as the platform software options.[2][3]
Now analyse that claim against the other published matrices, because this is where a customer conversation is won or lost.
- NVIDIA positions Pure SONiC as “a community-developed, open-source, Linux-based network operating system” supported through an A2P (ASIC to Protocol) model covering “ASIC, firewall (FW), software development kit (SDK), SAI, and SONiC”.[8]
- Community SONiC’s supported-platform list includes NVIDIA switches up to and including SN5600 on Spectrum-4, but no Spectrum-6 platform appears in it.[9]
- The Dell Enterprise SONiC 4.4.0 compatibility matrix lists only Broadcom-NPU PowerSwitch platforms - Tomahawk 5 (Z9864F-ON), Tomahawk 4 (Z9664F-ON), Trident4-X11 (Z9432F-ON) and older. No NVIDIA Spectrum platform is in that release’s list.[10]
- The Spectrum-X Validated Solution Stack lists only Cumulus Linux in the switch-OS column. There is no SONiC row in any RA.[11]
So the honest reading is: Dell’s SN6000 sheet states an intent to offer Dell Enterprise SONiC on Spectrum silicon, the published 4.4.0 platform matrix does not yet reflect it, and no Spectrum-X reference architecture validates any SONiC. Check the current Enterprise SONiC matrix release before repeating either claim - the fetched matrix is 4.4.0 while a lab image may already be 4.5.x.[10][2]
Bundle gating is the second half of the same analysis. In the 4.4.0 matrix RoCEv2 is supported on Cloud Standard, Cloud Premium, Enterprise Standard and Enterprise Premium and not on Lite; VXLAN and VXLAN EVPN are Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Premium and Lite and not the Cloud bundles; in-band flow analytics is Cloud Premium and Enterprise Premium only; packet drop monitoring is Enterprise Premium only.[10] A feature question is therefore never answered by the platform alone.
4Routing a live ticket
The identification sequence that opens every case is short and mechanical. First, which NOS is installed - nv show system version answers on Cumulus Linux, show version answers on SONiC.[14] Second, which version, and which RA row it belongs to, from lesson 4.[11] Third, which entitlement the customer actually holds - Dell ProSupport, NVIDIA Enterprise Business-Standard Support, or both.[1][3] Only then does the symptom decide the owner.
Brief — Customer's R760 with a BlueField-3 B3220 (DPU mode) lost the DPU after a BIOS update. Host sees nothing. They are about to reflash the DPU firmware "to be safe".
Dell L2 support engineer, bridge call with the customer: We are about to reflash the DPU firmware from the host — go ahead?
Build the sheet once, then test it. Two columns: Dell - hardware, RMA, entitlement, ProDeploy and Design Services, Dell part identity.[1][13] NVIDIA - Cumulus Linux behaviour, upgrade and rollback procedure, release lifetime and EOL dates, RA row membership, Enterprise Support for SN6000 purchased from NVIDIA.[7][11][3]
Ticket 1 - dead PSU on an SN5610 purchased from Dell. Evidence: chassis alarm, nv show platform environment showing one PSU absent. Owner: Dell. Reason: hardware and RMA follow the sales channel and the ProSupport entitlement is Dell’s.[1] Action: confirm serial and entitlement, open with Dell, note that an SN5610 has four PSUs in 2+2 so the switch should still be up - a hardware fault, not an outage.[13]
Ticket 2 - nv config apply wiped a hand-edited frr.conf. Evidence: the file’s routing stanzas replaced after an apply. Owner: NVIDIA for the software question, but there is no defect: NVUE commands replace the configuration in files such as /etc/network/interfaces and /etc/frr/frr.conf, and the sanctioned mechanism for unmodelled configuration is a snippet.[14] Action: restore from the customer’s own backup, move the content into a snippet, and record it as an operating-practice finding. Route to NVIDIA only if the snippet mechanism itself misbehaves.
Ticket 3 - “we want VXLAN EVPN on Dell Enterprise SONiC Cloud Standard”. Evidence: the 4.4.0 compatibility matrix. Owner: Dell, and the answer is a bundle answer, not a platform answer: VXLAN and VXLAN EVPN are listed for Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Premium and Lite - not the Cloud bundles.[10] Second finding to raise in the same reply: the 4.4.0 matrix lists only Broadcom-NPU platforms, so if the customer intends to run this on Spectrum hardware they need Dell to confirm the platform on the current matrix release.[10][2] Third: whichever way that goes, a Spectrum-X RA row does not include SONiC at all.[11]
Test the same sheet against three new tickets. Fill each blank with an owner and the evidence that decided it.
- A customer bought SN6600 switches directly from NVIDIA and asks Dell for a four-hour on-site response. Owner: ____. Evidence: ____.[3][1]
- A customer asks which Cumulus Linux release they can stay on until 2028 without losing support. Owner: ____. Evidence: ____ (name the two LTS lines and their EOL dates).[7]
- An SN5600 arrives with no NOS installed and the customer asks whose job it is to put one on. Owner: ____. Evidence: ____ (what does the hardware manual say about how the switch ships, and which document does Dell’s KB reproduce?).[12][4]
A Dell SE writes: “Account wants 32 leaves for an H200 Spectrum-X pod. They already run Dell Enterprise SONiC everywhere and their operations team refuses to learn a second NOS. Can we quote PowerSwitch SN5600s running Dell Enterprise SONiC and still call it Spectrum-X?”
Produce a written answer with: (a) what the two SN6000-class datasheets each list as network operating systems and why they differ; (b) what the Dell Enterprise SONiC 4.4.0 matrix does and does not contain, stated precisely; (c) what the Spectrum-X Validated Solution Stack says about switch OS; (d) a clear statement of what the customer would give up, tied to specific mechanisms from lesson 1 rather than to marketing; (e) the two questions you would put back to the account before the next call; and (f) an explicit note of which of your claims needs re-verification against a newer Enterprise SONiC matrix release.
Acceptance criteria: every factual sentence traceable to one of this lesson’s sources; no claim that SONiC on Spectrum is unsupported in general (NVIDIA supports Pure SONiC on Spectrum silicon); the RA argument stated as an absence of a validated row rather than as a prohibition; and the answer usable as-is in an email.[2][3][8][10][11]
Three sentences, and a purchase order
You leave the SONiC question open on purpose, with a date on it: which distribution, and against which matrix release.[8][9][10] On the 4.4.0 matrix RoCEv2 is gated by bundle and VXLAN EVPN is absent from the Cloud bundles, so a feature question is never answered by the platform alone.[10] The sentence you actually say: “Nobody is telling you SONiC is unsupported. I am telling you no validated Spectrum-X row contains it, so an escalation would have nothing to be compared against.”[11] Friday the order goes out - thirty-two leaves, one out-of-band switch, Cumulus Linux, one row. The night-shift operator labels the first production leaf CUMULUS. ASK THE FAE., and the network lead closes a notebook he now has to index.
Lab
There is no switch half to rehearse in the Dell lab, so rehearse the identification step that opens every escalation - on the hosts you do have. Read-only throughout.
- Pre-flight inventory. For each host record hostname, model, OS release and kernel:
Expected: consistent OS across the lab hosts. Any difference goes on the sheet.hostnamectl cat /etc/os-release | head -3 - Record adapter provenance - this is the host-side equivalent of “which NOS is on the switch”:
Expected: driver, driver version, firmware version, PSID and part number. The PSID tells you whether the card is an NVIDIA-channel part or an OEM-branded one, which is exactly the provenance question the boundary sheet turns on.sudo ethtool -i ens1f0np0 sudo mst start && sudo mst status -v sudo flint -d /dev/mst/mt41692_pciconf0 q - Record the host software stack version:
Expected: a DOCA-Host or OFED version string. Add it to the sheet next to the RA v2.3.1 target from lesson 4.[11]ofed_info -s - Fill in a support-entitlement template per host: serial, purchase channel, firmware provenance, software version, and the owner you would route a fault to. Expected: a table you could attach to a case. If any cell is unknown, write “unknown” - an unknown entitlement is the finding.
- Optional, customer or partner lab with a live SN switch: determine which NOS is installed by trying the Cumulus command first and the SONiC command second, and record whether the account holds Dell ProSupport or NVIDIA Enterprise Business-Standard Support - the SN6000 line requires at least one year of the latter when bought from NVIDIA.[14][3] Read-only; do not change configuration on a customer switch.
Goal: build the boundary sheet and prove you can identify a NOS in one command.
- Write the two-column boundary sheet from segment 2 - Dell owns hardware, RMA, entitlement and services; NVIDIA owns the NOS, its lifecycle and RA membership - with one citation per line.[1][7] Expected: no line without a source.
- Test it against the three tickets in the worked example and then against the three faded ones. Expected: you can name the owner and the deciding evidence in one sentence each. If a ticket needs a paragraph, the sheet is missing a line.
- In
~/containerlab, boot the Dell Enterprise SONiC 4.5.1 node and record the identification commands:
Expected: a SONiC version banner and a JSON-shaped running configuration. Note thatshow version show runningconfiguration all | head -40nv show system versionis not a command here - that difference is the identification test.[14] - In a DSX Air simulation open a Cumulus leaf and run the counterpart:
Expected: an NVUE table with the Cumulus release. Put the two transcripts side by side in your notes and write the one-line rule you would give a Dell L1 engineer.nv show system version - Compare feature gates: from the Enterprise SONiC 4.4.0 matrix, list which bundles carry RoCEv2 and which carry VXLAN EVPN, then write the sentence you would send an account asking for both on one bundle.[10] Expected: RoCEv2 on all four main bundles and not Lite; VXLAN EVPN on Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Premium and Lite and not the Cloud bundles.
- Deliverable: a one-page routing card - identification commands, boundary sheet, and the three questions to ask before promising anything (which NOS, which version and RA row, which entitlement).[11][3]
Retrieval check
10 questions from memory. Answer before looking anything up; misses become flashcards.
Explain it to a Dell SE
Explain to a Dell L2 engineer in five sentences how to decide, in the first two minutes of an SN-series case, whether it is theirs or NVIDIA's.
Sources
Facts in this lesson were checked against Dell AI switches page and Dell PowerSwitch SN6000 spec sheet (re-fetched 2026-09-07), Cumulus Linux Release Versioning and Support Policy, Spectrum-X Validated Solution Stack, Dell Enterprise SONiC 4.4.0 compatibility matrix. Dates are when each page was fetched.
- AI Networking Switches | Dell USA · fetched 2026-09-07
- Dell PowerSwitch SN6000 Ethernet Switch Series spec sheet · fetched 2026-09-07
- NVIDIA Spectrum SN6000 Ethernet Switch Series Datasheet · fetched 2026-09-07
- Dell KB 000376999: Spectrum-X Cumulus Linux - Installing a New Image with ONIE · fetched 2026-09-07
- Support for PowerSwitch SN5600/SN5610/SN5600D | Articles | Dell US · fetched 2026-09-07
- Support for PowerSwitch SN5600/SN5610/SN5600D | Overview | Dell US · fetched 2026-09-07
- Cumulus Linux Release Versioning and Support Policy · fetched 2026-09-07
- NVIDIA and SONiC · fetched 2026-09-07
- Supported Devices and Platforms | SONiC (sonic-net) · fetched 2026-09-07
- Dell Enterprise SONiC Distribution Compatibility Matrix Release 4.4.0 · fetched 2026-09-07
- NVIDIA Spectrum-X Validated Solution Stack · fetched 2026-09-07
- Software Management | NVIDIA Spectrum-4 SN5000 Switch Systems Hardware User Manual · fetched 2026-09-07
- NVIDIA Spectrum SN5600 Series Switches Datasheet (Dell-hosted) · fetched 2026-09-07
- NVUE CLI | Cumulus Linux 5.18 · fetched 2026-09-07
- Network architecture for a PowerEdge XE9680 cluster | Dell Info Hub (HTTP 403 to anonymous readers on 2026-09-07; search snippet only) · fetched 2026-09-07
The same idea elsewhere
Other lessons that cover this ground, sometimes from another course's angle.
- Scenario: sizing, quoting and defending a Dell AI pod fabricElsewhere in this course · Same ground: portfolio, sonic and support
- Who actually ships SRv6: the Dell and NVIDIA support matrixSRv6 course · Same ground: sonic, support and powerswitch
- Who do I call: three support paths, one asset tagRA course · Same ground: support, triage and route