Switch Selection 100/1000

[avilt]

We have 4 branch offices connected with 100mbps WAN links. The current bandwidth usage (maximum) is 80mbps.

We are planning to replace all our L2 switches 2950 which supports 10/100mbps ports which are EOL.

Now if I buy new switches with gbps ports, is it going to create any problems as my WAN is 100mbps? Any advice on this is highly appreciated.

Thank You,

[tstamatopoulos]

i dont think so, you can even configure the port to be 100mbs

HTH

[avilt]

I can not (not practical) hard code each and every port on desktops as well as switch's to 100mbps.

[lgijssel]

If need should be this is an option but you do not need to hardcode the speed.

You can also set a port to auto 10 100. Check the link below for more details.

It is about the 3560 but this setting is valid for all modern access switches.

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/docs/switches/lan/catalyst3560/software/release/12.2_37_se/configuration/guide/swint.html#wp1028308

regards,

Leo

[lgijssel · Accepted solution]

Think of it like this:

Currently you have a 24-port 10/100 switch (or perhaps several) connecting to a 100Mb wan link.

This is already a theoretical overbooking of about 1:24. Having gigabit in the acess layer is not going to change much to this situation.

The wan is and remains the bottleneck but a 100Mb wan link can handle a lot of traffic.

As long as you are not using time critical applications, it will more or less sort itself out.

When you want to use voip and/or video you need to configure qos but this also holds true for the current setup.

So basically, I do not see any necessary changes to the wan in order to replace the access layer with newer and faster devices.

regards,

Leo