10Gb Ethernet Connectivity Upgrade Required between 6509s

[davemiddlewick]

Hello All, hope you can offer some advice on how I might progress this. 

We currently have 2 6509s with redundant Sup720-3b's and PFC3B daughter cards which are connected together over dark fibre using the Gb fibre connectivity built into the supervisors.

The requirement is to upgrade this connection to 10Gb as inexpensively as possible.

Do I need to purchase new supervisors in order to do this properly or can I use a separate 10Gbe module (we have a spare slot), i.e. can I get away without using the connectivity built into the supervisors?

The other idea I had was putting a couple of 3750-X switches at each end to sit in front of the 6509s and provide the 10Gb connectivity between sites.  I could then use the existing Gb uplinks on the supervisors whilst also providing connectivity for some devices that currently connect to the 6509s but could just as well connect here.

Any views, thoughts and suggestions would be most gratefully received.

[Edison Ortiz]

Yes, you can purchase additional modules instead of replacing the supervisor.

This URL provides the 10Gbps modules

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/prod/collateral/switches/ps5718/ps708/product_data_sheet09186a00801dce34_ps4835_Products_Data_Sheet.html

[Joseph W. Doherty]

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Posting

The 3750-X should work, but may be more expensive than adding a 10 gig line card.

Another option you might consider, if you want to upgrade bandwidth across your dark fiber link, might be to look at using CWDM/DWDM.

[davemiddlewick]

Thank you both for your responses - I've got quotes and to be honest neither option is that affordable, Joseph are you able to offer me any guidance on what modules / interfaces I would need to implement CWDM/DWDM?  Would it be supported with my current supervisor?

Thanks again. David

[Joseph W. Doherty]

Disclaimer

The Author of this posting offers the information contained within this posting without consideration and with the reader's understanding that there's no implied or expressed suitability or fitness for any purpose. Information provided is for informational purposes only and should not be construed as rendering professional advice of any kind. Usage of this posting's information is solely at reader's own risk.

Liability Disclaimer

In no event shall Author be liable for any damages whatsoever (including, without limitation, damages for loss of use, data or profit) arising out of the use or inability to use the posting's information even if Author has been advised of the possibility of such damage.

Posting

The CWDM/DWDM transceivers should connect to your fiber ports.  Unsure how expensive they are, but they might be comparable to ZX optics, price wise.  Connecting to your 6500 is the easy part.  I believe to use more than one across your dark fiber link, you'll need an optical mux.  (If you want to explore this further, post to the optical forum.).

Perhaps another way to accomplish this would be to use the least expensive L2 switch that supports copper gig, that can be bundled, and at least one 10 gig optics port, e.g. 2960S-24TD-L (?).  Connect your two sites via two such switches using their 10 gig link.  Connect each site to this transit switch using a multi-gig (copper) Etherchannel.