Cisco and 3Com switches - Interoperability

[Navneet_singh]

Hi all,

Can you please let me know if it is feasible (from a Networking perspective) to have Cisco and 3Com switches together in a LAN environment. I have a Distribution layer for one of our offices, and we have a mixture Cisco Catalyst 2960 and     3Com-4228G-28P as access switches.

Also, will there be any problems in

1) QoS

2) Implementing RSTP. We currently have PVST+ running across switches.

3) Any other problems?

Appreciate your reply.

Cheers

Navneet

[Shashank Singh · Accepted solution]

Hi Navneet,

1) QoS:

There should not be any problem unless the 3COM switches remark the traffic coming from Cisco and vice versa. However, there can be slight difference in the amount of priority given to the same traffic on different vendor switches depending on the granularity of QoS on each of them. As in, one vendor may provide more flexibility w.r.t the other.

2) Implementing RSTP. We currently have PVST+ running across switches.

There should not be any problem as RSTP is an open standard and RSTP is able to interoperate with legacy STP protocols. However, it is important to note that the inherent fast convergence benefits of 802.1w are lost when it interacts with legacy bridges. So it is important that all the switches in the network support RSTP.

Check on basic specs like switch throughput and oversubscription ratios on both vendors to avoid any bottleneck in future.

Hope this helps,

Shashank

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