Mixing Catalyst 3750 and 3750X switches in the same stack

[martinward1234]

Hi,

I'm currently planning on deploying a switch stack that would consist of the following switches:

2 x Catalyst 3750 12 SFP port switches

2 x Catalyst 3750X 48 10/100/1000 port switches

Cisco do claim that the 3750X is backwards compatible with the older 3750 platform, however it would seem that they run different software trains and this raises a few concerns.

I would be very grateful if anybody else has had experience mixing switches in the same stack from the two different platforms and more importantly if they have had any issues doing so.

[Ankur Arora]

Yes Vladimir,

I'm sure you will be able to stack them.

This is the evaluation time period left,

Period left: 8 weeks 4 days

And you will be able to check that after stacking both the switches using the show license command.

The minimum requirement to build a mix stack, i.e a 3750x and any other 3750 is that they should have atleast ipbase license in it. And you already have ipbase in the 3750G, so if you downgrade it further you won't be able to stack them together.

So as i said earlier:

If you keep on running the 3750xswitch without any reload after the license expiration period, there shouldn't be any issues, and your stack will keep on running.

Thanks

Ankur

"Please rate the post if found useful"

[ckozub015]

I also have a mixed stack of 3750G's and a 3750X, but my question is more about upgrading them.  I want to use Prime Infrastructure to push images to my infrastructure, but I'm concerned how the stack will handle it.  Any thoughts?

     1 30    WS-C3750X-24P      12.2(55)SE3           C3750E-UNIVERSALK9-M

*    2 28    WS-C3750G-24PS     12.2(55)SE3           C3750-IPBASEK9-M

     3 28    WS-C3750G-24PS     12.2(55)SE3           C3750-IPBASEK9-M

     4 28    WS-C3750G-24PS     12.2(55)SE3           C3750-IPBASEK9-M

     5 28    WS-C3750G-24PS     12.2(55)SE3           C3750-IPBASEK9-M

     6 28    WS-C3750G-24PS     12.2(55)SE3           C3750-IPBASEK9-M

     7 28    WS-C3750G-24PS     12.2(55)SE3           C3750-IPBASEK9-M

[Leo Laohoo]

When it comes to switch stacks, you can't beat CLI over GUI.

My recommendation is to do the upgrade using CLI.  CLI will give you more details what the switch is doing.

[camplingm]

Dear CSC,

Please could you help, I have an existing switch stack with 2x Cisco 3750G-24PS-S switches. I am wanting to add a new Cisco 3750X-24 (WS-C3750X-24P-S)

The existing switches are running:

Switch   Ports  Model              SW Version              SW Image           
------   -----  -----              ----------              ----------         
     1   28     WS-C3750G-24PS     12.2(35)SE5             C3750-IPBASE-M     
*    2   28     WS-C3750G-24PS     12.2(35)SE5             C3750-IPBASE-M 

Please could you confirm I am purchasing the right switch to match the software and routing / switching capabilities?

Thanks MC

[rodrigito]

Hello Everyone,

Is it possible to join this switch:

Switch Ports Model              SW Version            SW Image
------ ----- -----              ----------            ----------
*    1 30    WS-C3750X-24P      12.2(55)SE3           C3750E-UNIVERSALK9-M

with the following stack :

Switch Ports Model              SW Version            SW Image
------ ----- -----              ----------            ----------
     1 52    WS-C3750G-48PS     12.2(53)SE2           C3750-IPBASEK9-M
*    2 52    WS-C3750G-48PS     12.2(53)SE2           C3750-IPBASEK9-M
     3 28    WS-C3750G-24PS     12.2(53)SE2           C3750-IPBASEK9-M
     4 28    WS-C3750G-24PS     12.2(53)SE2           C3750-IPBASEK9-M
     5 28    WS-C3750G-24PS     12.2(53)SE2           C3750-IPBASEK9-M
     6 28    WS-C3750G-24PS     12.2(53)SE2           C3750-IPBASEK9-M

I copied  c3750-ipbasek9-mz.122-53.SE2.bin  to the 3750X but it failed to boot. Apparently this firmware does not support the hardware so I reverted back to c3750e-universalk9-mz.122-55.SE3.bin.

[Joseph W. Doherty]

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Posting

How about the converse, i.e. upgrade the 3750G stack.  (Why not 55SE9 on all?)

Normally you (very much) want to avoid mixing IOS versions between stack members.  Whether different versions will interoperate depends on what version of stack support their IOS version has embedded.

[rodrigito]

Joe, I appreciate your time and response.
We've decided to hold off on the upgrade. First, we're going to renew our lic agreement with Cisco then upgrade all switches to the latest IOS.

Cheers,
/R0d