Replacing Switches

[HCStech]

Hello,

I am the IT Manager at Huntington Catholic School. We currently have two Cisco WS-C2960-48PST-L network switches and we are considering replacing them with two Cisco C9200L-48P-4G-E Catalyst 9200L 48 PoE+ Port Switches. We are seking beter and faster performance on a limited budget. My questions are:

1. How much of an improvement can we expect?
2. Are these managed or unmanaged switches?
3. How are they setup and configured versus what we already have?

Thank you.

Robert

[Leo Laohoo]

Without knowing what the current 2960 is and what it is doing, it is hard to determine if 9200L is appropriate or not.

[HCStech]

The 2960s are unmanaged switches feeding all of our network devices. We have some POE devices connected, some printers, access points, desktops, and the fire alarm system. 

[Leo Laohoo]

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@HCStech wrote:
The 2960s are unmanaged switches feeding all of our network devices. We have some POE devices connected, some printers, access points, desktops, and the fire alarm system. 

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If the current fleet of switches are unmanaged, are all of the wired clients in "one big fat" VLAN?

[Joseph W. Doherty]

"How much of an improvement can we expect?"

Hard to say.  Your 2960s are 10/100 vs. the 9200L being 10/100/1000?  If so, and assuming your hosts are gig capable, in theory, 10x data transmission rate.  However, if your hosts are not doing much large data transfers, for day-to-day user hosts, you might not much, if any, improvement.

The newer switches also support more PoE power, per port, I believe.  Which also might go unnoticed if you don't have PoE devices that need the additional power.  (BTW, some WAPs, though, can run a bit faster if provided more than original PoE wattage.)

"Are these managed or unmanaged switches?"

Believe all should be managed switches.

"How are they setup and configured versus what we already have?"

Likely very similar to what you have now, but with a newer IOS, some feature and/or syntax changes are common.

"We are seking beter and faster performance on a limited budget."

Have you looked at Cisco's SMB switches?

[HCStech]

"If the current fleet of switches are unmanaged, are all of the wired clients in "one big fat" VLAN?" Yes. There is one VLAN for the school.

[MHM Cisco World]

I recommend check 
Compare Cisco Switches - Cisco

this give you some detail about the C9000 series you want