Difference b/w Catalyst 4006 & 4506

[mnlatif]

Hi,

Can anyone tell me the difference between Catalyst 4006 and 4506 models ?

We are going to replace our old switches with new ones. The port desnity is around 160. I am trying to decide between two approaches (ofcourse considering the price also)

1. Use stack of 3550 switches

2. Use a 4006\4506 switch with 48-Port Line Cards.

Any Pro's and Con's that i should consider ?

We also need Inter-VLAN routing with support for EIGRP. Would this be done in the Supervisory engine ?

Regards \\ Naman

[efrahim]

Both options are good but for 160 port density , you probably need 4 3550 and if this is the case, it is better to go with the 4500/4000 switches rather than 3550 stacking as that will provide the future growth.

4006 is the old model and 4506 is the new model which can support dual supervisor engine in the chassis and few other features..

Hope this helps

[efrahim]

For intervlan routing both 3550 and 4500 supports layer 3 routing,, Make sure to buy sup3 and above for Cat4000 to do intervlan routing.

[mnlatif]

Thanks.

Does that mean 4506 have Supervisor engine redundancy ?

Just to make sure, 4506 can also do Inter-VLAN routing ?

[Prashanth Krishnappa]

Only 4507-R with Supervisor 4 Engines supports Supervisor engine redundancy. 4506 with Sup3/4 can do interVLAN routing

[mnlatif]

Thank you very much.

If the Supervisory engine is responsible for the Inter-VLAN \ Layer-3 routing, then what is the difference between these two Line Card Modules ?

Cisco Catalyst 4000/4500 32-port 10/100 2-port GE Uplinks L3 Line Card

AND

Cisco Catalyst 4000/4500 32-port 10/100 2-port GE Uplinks Line Card

What difference does the L3 Line Card makes instead of normal Card ?

Regards \\ Naman

[jeffrey.zhou]

When the Supervisor Engine is doing the layer-3 routing, such as the sup-III and sup-IV, then the layer 3 line card will not be supported by these supervisor engines.

Regards

Jeffrey

[matthew.scala]

Jeff,

Mind expanding on your original post? I too would be interested in the difference between those 2 cards. What you originally said doesn't make perfect sense to me. Please elaborate..

- Matt

[jeffrey.zhou · Accepted solution]

Dear Matt.

Before the introdution of the supervisor engine III and IV, the layer-3 routing was implemented by the WS-X4232-L3 module. It is the 32-port 10/100 2-port GE Uplinks module with a L3 Line Card. The Layer 3 line card provided the layer-3 routing function such as inter-vlan routing etc. and the Supervisor Engine II provide the controll of the whole chasis and the layer-2 forwarding function. After the introduction of the supervisor engine III and IV, the layer 3 fuction was integrated into the superisor engine and the WS-X4232-L3 was not supported by these supervisor, but the WS-X4232 was still continued to be supported and that is the normal line card you mentioned an it is the 32-port 10/100 2-port GE module.

Regards

Jeffrey

[mnlatif]

Thank you Jeffrey. This was very helpful.

[mnlatif]

I have comeup with another question regarding this subject.

1. After comparing the pricing of getting Cisco 3550s OR 1 4506, the 4506 Option is much expensive.

What are the Basic Advantages of choosing a 4506 Over 3-4 3550s ?

If we are only interested in running basic IP Services (no Voice, Video etc) and only need basic Layer 3 Routing. Does it make sense to choose 4506 ?

Regards \\ Naman