What to replace 6509 E VSS Core With

[dave cooper]

We currently have 3850 switches in our access core. These connect to a 6509 VSS core  by some port channels. Also connected to the VSS core is a pair of 5596 Nexus switches with a 40 GIG port channel to some 10 GIG 6708 cards in the VSS using etherchannels. The 3850 switches do the routing in the closets and the VSS core does all the main routing for our WAN and core.

The 6509 line cards are becoming end of support and we are wondering what other people are replacing the 6509s  with. Are you upgrading to 6800s or do you replace with something else like Nexus 9000?

Thanks

[Philip D'Ath]

If it is more data centre focused people are using the Nexus 9k's.  If it is more access or router orientated people are using 6800's.

It depends on which feature set you want the most.

[Reza Sharifi]

Dave,

The replacement for the 6500 series is the 6800 series. There are different models that support from 1Gig to 40Gig.  That said, it doesn't mean you can't use Nexus instead, but you may not get all the feature sets you need in a campus environment from a data center switch.

HTH