We are looking to upgrade from our Cisco 6509-E single sup720 at the core

[mateens]

We are looking to upgrade from our Cisco 6509-E single sup720 at the core

[mateens]

Hi,

We are looking to upgrade from our Cisco 6509-E single sup720 at the core to a suitable alternate with redundancy and also keeping in mind future high bandwidth needs IOT etc . It is a university with around 1500 users, collapsed core design. with 20+ switches at access layer.

 Confused between:

. getting another sup720 and achieve some redundancy within sups.

. getting 2 sup2Ts for the same switch.

. replacing current switch with 2 4500s and configure VSS.

. getting one more 6509-E with new Sups

. 2 6800s might be too much for our needs

 or any other options ?

[Joseph W. Doherty]

Access switches are L2 only?

If they are your "best" redundancy is obtained via VSS, supported on 4500s or 6x00s.  However, VSS redundancy isn't that much better than a chassis with dual everything.  Also note, VSS, on a 6500, limits the line cards it supports.

Your least expensive option would be to obtain a 2nd sup like the one you have.  Note, I believe all the sup720s are announced EoL.

Migrating to a sup2T, on a 6509, does support 80 Gbps per card slot and twice the MPPS of a sup720B, but if you believe you should move to them, you might consider migrating to one of the 6800 series platforms.

If you're concerned about having ample bandwidth in the future, the 6807 would be your best choice.  The 6880 or 6840 are less expensive.

[mateens]

No those are Layer 3 capable switches at the access but are not configured to run layer 3 yet... I am too uncertain in investing in new sups for the old switch because of EOLs , Do you think the 6509E could also be Eol anytime soon ?  The 4500s seems a downgrade instead of an upgrade don't you think? So the optimal and the most expensive choice would be 2 6807s at the core with dual SUPs ? 

[Joseph W. Doherty]

Since the 6800 series has been out a while, I suspect the 6500 series EoL announcement cannot be all that far off. Maybe sometime this year.(?)

Yea, the 4500 is a bit of a down grade, especially if your looking for bandwidth (as its limited to 48 Gbps per slot).

If you going to go with two core devices, if you put them in a VSS configuration, or if you access layer moves to L3, so you can connect them to two routed cores, you don't really need dual sups in each, as the dual core devices provide the redundancy.  (Again, dual core devices compared to a redundant everything chassis, doesn't add much to your redundancy, as a chassis doesn't fail often.  Dual core devices, though, of course, can usually provide twice as many ports.)

The 6807 has the best long term growth potential, but depending your point density needs, if you don't see the need to go beyond 10g for a while, the 6840 (two models also provide dual 40g), 6880 and perhaps the 4500-X might also be considered for dual cores.

[mateens]

Anymore suggestions are most welcome....

[Joseph W. Doherty]

I believe the mentioned Catalyst 4x00 and 6x00 series pretty much covers typical campus cores.  Other options include using a stackable Catalyst 3x00 series (perhaps a bit light weight for your size), a Nexus device (more oriented toward DC features) or perhaps an ASR 9K series.