LAN design

[mfruvous]

HI,

We are going to be deploying a VOIP system within the 1st quarter of next year. During the 2nd or 3rd quarter we will be deploying WAP's for barcoding.

All of our LAN switches will be upgraded. Yes, we will be hiring a consultant to help with the equipment purchasing/selection and install. In fact, we already have one proposal. They proposed we use 3560?s.

I have no experience with LAN design but have begun reading about the various types of Cisco switches and I am trying to get an idea of what it should look like and why they chose the 3560?s (I cannot contact this consultant to ask why). From my brief reading I think the minimum we should be purchasing is the 3750?s and maybe should even be looking at the 4500?s. All of our LAN/WAN equipment, except one 24 port switch (other side of building), is in one room.

We will need:

100 ports for data/voip (PoE)

40 ports for WAP (PoE)

40 ports for servers

With the systems we are looking deploy and the money they are willing to spend I need to make sure that I agree with the selected equipment. My boss is all about performance.

Thanks,

[gpulos]

the 3500/3700 series switches would have to be 'stacked' to provide the port capacity you require.

here is a quick comparison between the 3500/3700 & 4500 series L3 switches:

the 3500/3700 series:

* maximum of 32GB switch fabric

* maximum 38.7 million packets per second (mpps)

* stackable to accomodate more than 48 ports

* optional redundant power supply connection

* fixed configuration device (non upgradeable chassis)

* 128MB RAM & 16MB or 32MB Flash

the 4500 series:

* maximum of 136GB switching fabric (with proper chassis & supervisor engine)

* maximum 102 million packets per second (mpps)

* chassis from 3 slots to 10 slots available

* redundant power supplies available

* upgradable hardware (switching blades, supervisor engines)

* upgradeable RAM and Flash

the 4500 series clearly has benefits of capacity, speed and administration that the 3500/3700 series do not.

do a little comparison yourself with the links below and see what you think.

(if you can purchase a 4500 vs multiple 3500/3700s, i'd say it's a GOOD choice and will provide easy futher growth and support for additional network resource heavy applications)

please see the following links for the respective switch platform data sheets:

3560 data sheet:

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/hw/switches/ps5528/products_data_sheet09186a00801f3d7d.html

3750 data sheet:

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/hw/switches/ps5023/products_data_sheet0900aecd80371991.html

4500 data sheet:

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/hw/switches/ps4324/products_data_sheet0900aecd801792b1.html

[k.links]

that's definitely good information, but there are reasons that I choose 3750 over 4500. and they are:

cost - self explanitory

expandability - you'll have to overbuy on slots in the 4500 for future expansion. with 3750, you just add another switch to the stack.

closet configuration - I find the 4500 too dense to manage cables effectively. I separate each 3750 with a 2u wire manager to keeps things in their place.

managability - stackwise let's you manage the IOS for the whole stack as if it were a single switch, so you don't lose that advantage to 4500.

performance - you'll likely not use more than 1 or 2Gbs in your config. at 32Gbs the 3750 is more than adequate for today and tomorrow. why overpay for 136Gbs that you can't use.

redundancy - lose a 3750 and you lose 48 ports of ethernet which is quick and simple to replace. lose your only 4500 and you lose all your clients and your staring at a complex recovery - from SUPs to chassis.

that's my take.

rate if helpful.

Thanks