CBS or Catalyst

[Suppenkasper2025]

Hello,

we need to set up a proper factory network here - coming from flat network with outages and bad wiring/ too long distances on cat6 (only achieving 100mbit in several cases...) with only unmanaged switches cascading... no bandwidth

So analysis of what we actually need to get working again - i come up with central switch with spf+ downlinks and access switches with spf+ uplink and  (in best case) multigig downlink ports.

Usage is CAx (CAD CAM files - usually  1-10 Gb - for factory floor viewer stations and offices - native files used for this purpose hence the size) + CNC machine data feed - Internet access for remote support etc - vpn for home office users - 

minimum 6 Hosts per switch 

1x core switch   24 sfp+ downlinks

3x access switches with sfp+ uplink and multigig downlink 1G-5G rj45 (for basic NIC´s)   - wired with LACP 2x sfp+ to core switch 

1x access switch with 10G rj45  downlinks for connecting  workstations / and in the future a server -now 1 Workstations acts as a server for  everything

wireless are only smart phones and they shall never access my network

VOIP and Video are rarely used but need to be considered (currently Teamviewer and sometimes Cisco/Teams)

Distances to cover here amount to 400m. (simple LED transceivers and MMF fibre?)

NGFW would also need to be integrated - Cisco/Palo/Ftnet 

The core problem is that we have high peak usage on the lines - also concurrent, but only for several minutes - no continous data center-like  packet flow.

Iam not asking for a specific product  - but what "line of products" you see fit    -  the 9200 Catalyst ( C9200CX-8UXG-2X-A  - especially fanless compact models for my dusty shop floor) or the CBS line (would require to install air conditioned encapsulated cabinets at access switch) - they seem pretty affordable - but not fanless

On the HPE Aruba side i was looking at 6100cx 12g 2x sfp+(fanless access switch)    +    "core" 6300M 24x sfp+ 4x sfp56 (rack mounted air conditioned)

Other solution would be to go for Fortigate 200G  and use  FORTISWITCH 110G-FPOE (multigig-sfp+ uplink  fanless)   down the line and have a Fortigate as core switch.

C.

[marce1000]

   - If I already read your requirements in  a summarizing way (factory, core....)
    , that's out of the CBS (small business devices) scope.
     Start with having a look at https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/products/switches/switch-selector.html#~select-switch 
     select topics according to your needs. Of course you can start over, for looking at core or leaf switches for instance

 M.

[Leo Laohoo]

What is the overall budget for this exercise?  The reason why I'm asking is because Catalyst 9k are expensive to own and operate over time.  Granted, download of the firmware is free but things need to be factored in.  Such as: 

1.  Is this a 24x7 site?  Can the site afford a 15 minute outage, say, every 6 months?
2.  Is there a full time IT person to troubleshoot network issues or is this a "plug-n-pray" kind of thing (plug everything in and pray!)?

mGIG switches do not support 10 Mbps.  SCADA and CNC are notorious for "writing their own rules".  I would never recommend anyone connect SCADA/CNC to mGIG switches.  

[Kasun Bandara]

@Suppenkasper2025 hi, as per the requirement you are looking some durable devices with high throughput in dusty environment which is definitely not CBS . all datasheets have mentioned environment limitations such as temperature, vibration, humidity, etc. check if catalyst switches are under your limits or you have second option which is rugged switches but bit expensive than normal catalyst.