End User distribution

[patrickpaez]

Hello,

I'm trying to find a document/best practices that talks about strategies on how to distribute end users among various switches for work continuum. At work we are trying to build a risk mitigation plan in the event a switch dies. I know you should put split your users evenly among your switches, but I'd like to have something in writing to reference

Thanks in advance

[Dennis Mink]

Patrick,

good question, I dont think there is a cooky cutter approach for your challenge, link below describes the underpinnings of the campus model and what your asking can be based on that, it is a non cisco document, but none the less

http://www.routeralley.com/ra/docs/switching_models.pdf

I guess you will need to be pragmatic, on your distribution taking into account things like:

-end user role/function (so dont put all your HR people on the same switch, same goes for for instance printers).

-predict traffic loads.

If you want to mitigate hardware failures on a switch level, why dont you use stacked switches with port channels back to your distibution layer/collapsed core?!

[Leo Laohoo]

We have a hospital.

Each data panel on the floor has two colors:  blue and a green.  Each panel has two ports.

Each floor has two identical switches running the same configurations and IOS (except IP addresses, of course) and they are running HSRP.  The blue data outlets are connected into one switch and the red data outlet goes to the other.

SO on the floor, all clients and devices (printers, PC/Laptops, phones, etc) are connected to the green data outlet.  Only when there is a failure in the blue do they manually switch-over to the blue patch panel.

[patrickpaez]

Thanks for your guys input. We do have stacked switches, but only to the servers. The users currently have two connections at there desks. One POE and one NON POE. It would be nice if we could get same switches everywhere, then it would minimize down time. I guess I would need to look at where our user base is located at throughout network and spread them out between the switches, because I know some departments are all on one switch.

This may have been a capacity/design issue, but isn't it generally a good idea to run cables from the patch panel to the closest switch? As opposed to running a 20 foot cable to another switch? In some places there are more patches than available switchports, and the next available switch is across the room.  Hope that makes sense.