10-04-2018 05:11 AM - edited 03-08-2019 04:18 PM
Hi,
We are getting a 10Gb SPF+ connection installed in our DC from the ISP, I'm looking for a switch that we can rely on. I was thinking about the 2960-x but looking further it only has 1x PSU. So I'm now looking at a 3850, is this the best option?
If both PSU's were to die or a systemboard failure I would still have not connection is there another solution that doesn't require 2x Connecitons from the ISP into the rack?
Thanks
10-04-2018 06:06 AM
What all will the switch need to do, beyond terminate a 10GE port from the ISP at your DC? Features, such as flow monitoring, SPAN needs, overlay technology, layer-3, or others on your 5-year road map may help in recommendations.
Cheers,
-Pete
10-04-2018 06:30 AM
I agree with Dennis, a Nexus would likely be the logical road map. It has much deeper resource pools, i.e. buffers, CPU, and memory, that are needed server level of traffic burstiness and such. Add to that, these are much more rugged switches, built for higher reliability. A 2960-X is made for low-level enterprise and SMB user access, with the reliability and resources needed to feed that much lower SLA demand. That being said, the use case, SLA requirements, and future plans need to define the recommendation. If nothing beyond layer-2 between your firewalls and ISP, to a single 10GE provider link, I would say a Nexus 3600 would give you the reliability a performance you expect with lots of growth ability over the next 5+ years. Don't forget, when talking data center, extreme buffer depth and IO performance are must haves. I would expect to see significant buffer related drops in a 10GE delivery DC if trying to put a 2960, 3650, or 3850 series user grade switch into these roles that their hardware resources were not designed for.
10-04-2018 07:13 AM
10-04-2018 07:55 AM
If you are going to be connecting servers to this switch than you may want to look at the Nexus series. They are designed for server, storage, VMs, etc..connectivity.
Have a look at the 9ks
HTH
10-04-2018 03:26 PM
@Jason Smyth wrote:
Thanks for the replies. In regards to network behind these switches, there is only going to be 10 servers max of which only 8 of these doing high traffic which is VOIP. 5 years maybe an addition of another 6 VOIP severs max.
I have just come across the 2960-XR which support 2x PSU's. Would this be ok based on the relativley small size of the network?
2960XR is no match for sustained data from servers. You'll end up with more grief.
I agree with Reza, Nexus is better suited for this. Start with a Nexus 3K/5K.
10-05-2018 01:13 AM
The only issue with that switch is its SPF only, and my servers do not have fibre ports.
10-05-2018 02:07 AM
10-05-2018 05:16 AM
Jason,
If you still want to keep a data center grade switch for this, definitely best practice and predictability, you may consider the Nexus 3172TQ-32T. This is a copper switch, with 10/40GE uplinks. You would simply utilize a QSFP to SFP+ adapter to step one of the six QSFPs down for your ISP uplink. You would end up with data center grade buffer depth and build quality, but still accommodate your 1GE copper needs. I don't work for Cisco, so have no interest in up-selling you. I have just lived the pain on dealing with user access grade switches, even the better ones, deployed in data centers. N9Ks are great switches, but the many caveats associated with deploying them can be fun to deal with if your are new to it. They aren't for the faint at heart.... On the other side Cat9300s are great too, but you find that their buffer depth is not data center grade fairly quickly when deploying them in a dense DC environment. The have a ton of resources for other things, i.e. LISP and VXLAN tables, etc, which is what makes them such awesome switches on the user facing side. Being that you seem to have a 1GE centric data center, this may not be an issue.
Cheers,
Pete
10-05-2018 05:24 AM
Thanks for the reply. I think maybe my saying the switches will be in a data centre has confused things. The are going into a co location datacentre and all my servers will be in 2 racks. So the infrastructure is not that big its a very small local lan really. Just that my connectivity to ISP / IPVPN is biggish at 10Gb.
10-04-2018 06:07 AM
Have you considered Nexus 5600 series using vPC and a port channel between them and the ISP gear?
10-04-2018 06:22 AM
Hi,
Look at the 9300 series as it is replacing the 3850 series.
HTH
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