Catalyst 2960 MLS?

[zyang]

Really dumb and easy question.

Is the Catalyst 2960 series only layer 2 switches? 

Are the 3560 and 3750s the multilayer switches?

Thanks.

[Reza Sharifi]

Correct the 2960 series is layer 2

3560  and 3750 series can do both layer 2 and layer 3

HTH

[Peter Paluch]

Hello,

This is not a dumb question at all

The 2960 series Catalysts have long been considered to be Layer2 switches only. However, with recent IOSes (somewhere around 12.2(52)SE and newer - not quite sure), these switches also support static IP routing (routing between local VLANs and a limited number of static routes). So with reasonably new IOS, 2960 Catalysts are capable of multilayer switching, supporting static and directly connected routes. There is no support for dynamic routing protocols on these switches.

The 3560, 3750 and 3800 series switches are full multilayer switches indeed.

Best regards,

Peter

[zyang]

Hi Peter,

Does that mean I can create SVIs on the 2960s?  And just configure IP routing and it would automatically route between them??  Or is it more than just that?

[Peter Paluch · Accepted solution]

Hello,

Does that mean I can create SVIs on the 2960s?  And just configure IP  routing and it would automatically route between them??

Yes, absolutely. You need to activate the lanbase-routing SDM template, restart the switch, and afterwards, you just activate the routing using the ip routing command, configure the SVIs and you're flying

Read more here:

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/docs/switches/lan/catalyst2960/software/release/12.2_55_se/configuration/guide/swipstatrout.html

And I am correcting myself - the support for unicast IP routing was first available on Catalyst 2960 in the 12.2(55)SE.

Best regards,

Peter

[zyang]

Thanks, completely answered what I needed.

[Leo Laohoo]

What are you planning to do?

The "smallest" switch that can do limited dynamic routing is the 2960-XR.

[zyang]

They will be connecting to an upstream fw or router (depending on some other factors) to connect to the outside (internet).  There will be several subnets/vlans created and although I do not believe there will be much of any inter traffic between them, I want any routing to be done locally on the access switches.  Which is why I wanted to confirm if the 2960 could do inter-vlan routing.

[Leo Laohoo]

Which is why I wanted to confirm if the 2960 could do inter-vlan routing.

If you change the SDM template on the 2960/2960G/2960-S/2960-X, you can do limited static routes (up to 16).

2960-XR can do some dynamic routing such as RIPv1/v2 and some bits of OSPF (not sure what the data sheet really means).  2960-XR, I believe, won't do enterprise-grade routing such as EIGRP, IGRP, eBGP, BGP, etc.

If you want to do inter-VLAN routing and you plan to use RIPv1/v2 as the routing protocol, then 2960-XR is your choice.

Alternatively, you can get your router and configure router-on-a-stick and still use the lower cost 2960-S.