What to replace our 6509 core switch with?

[ashbyschool]

Hello,

I work in a large secondary school and need to replace our current 6509 core switch. I have been looking at the 9400 with the following specs.

• 1 x Cisco Catalyst 9400 Series 24-Port 1 Gigabit Ethernet (SFP) Line Card (C9400-LC-24S)
• 2 x Cisco Catalyst 9400 Series 24-Port 10 Gigabit Ethernet (SFP+) Line Card (C9400-LC-24XS)
  • We could possibly install 1x 10gb blade as we won’t have the infrastructure to install more than 24 in the first wave of upgrades anyway).
• 5 x Cisco Catalyst 9400 Series 48-Port 10/100/1000 (RJ-45) Line Card (C9400-LC-48T)
• (Supervisor Engine I’m not sure which one to choose from, I will need some professional advice)
  • I’m guessing the 9400 Supervisor Engine – 1XL (C9400-SUP-1XL)

I will need advice on which PSU units to choose from

Is the 9400 getting old now and should i look at a different switch. I'm a little bit overwhelmed with the options on offer. Any advise will be greatly appreciated.

[liviu.gheorghe]

Hello @ashbyschool ,

from the number of line cards you are planning to purchase, I presume you are looking at the Cisco 9410R - the 10 slot chassis.

For the supervisor cards I would go with the C9400X-SUP-2 - based on the type of line cards you described, it seems the optimal choice.

For the PSU, I would go with 2 x 3200W which leaves some power for POE. If all RJ45 ports need POE, then add 1 or 2 more PSU depending on the POE requirements.

And no, in my opinion the 9400 switch is not old.

Hope it helps.

[Reza Sharifi]

Hi,

The 9400 is about 5 years old and is usually used for the access layer. For core, you should look at the 9600 series. See link:

https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/products/collateral/switches/catalyst-9600-series-switches/nb-06-cat9600-series-data-sheet-cte-en.html

HTH

[liviu.gheorghe]

The 9400 is around for some time now, but compare it to the 6500 that was announced EOL I think 5 years ago. I haven't heard any rumour about the 9400 being announced EOS/EOL anytime soon.

The 9400 is targeted at the access and distribution layers and there was no indication in the description that would suggest the need for a core layer like distributed buildings in a campus for example. Given the fact that the customer is a school, I think the 9400 is a good replacement for the 6509.

[MHM Cisco World]

 

[ashbyschool]

I really appreciate the feedback from all of your answers/suggestions. My only slight dilemma now is whether to go 9400 or 9600  as it's a core switch i'm replacing. As it stands we get no where near maxing out the bandwidth on our 6509 but it is 15 years old and want to replace it before modules start failing. Just for the record we have 1800 students and around 1500 PC's / laptops as well as printers, IP phones etc. We are slowly moving to 10 gig to each distribution switch. Any more suggestions will be welcomed. Thanks again.

[liviu.gheorghe]

Can you share with us a topology of your current network in order to make an educated recommendation?

[ashbyschool]

Yes so basically we have a Star Topology with the Core at the centre and roughly 50 x Cisco 2960/ 3750X etc running from this. Most of our switches have a 1Gb fibre uplink but we have roughly 15 x 10Gb switches with uplinks to our distribution switches. We are slowly moving forward with the intention for every distribution switch to have a 10Gb uplink as funds allow. We are also upgrading our WiFi with around 12 10Gb distribution switches to the AP's not installed yet.

[liviu.gheorghe]

The 50 x Cisco 2960/ 3750X - you are naming them distribution switches - what do they have connected in them? Other access switches or just PC's/laptops/servers?

Same question for the 12 10Gb distribution switches - do those switches connect only AP's or there is a mix between AP's and PC's/laptops?

[ashbyschool]

So yes basically they support PC's Laptops, IPhones and printers, the same for 3 of the 10 gb switches. The remaining 7 10gb switches are purely for WiFi access points and have 12 x 2.5Gb ports, they are Cisco 350 series

[Leo Laohoo · Accepted solution]

9400/9600 is a chassis and either of them are not old.  What is "old" is the Sup1 card which has now been superseded by the Sup2 card.

Do the math:  Look at the cost of a 9400 vs 9600.  There is a remarkable difference with savings to go with 9600 vs 9400 in the core.  Let me try to spell this out for you: 

9400 has 8 line card slots.  With a Sup 1, each slot has 80 Gbps/slot bandwidth (240 Gbps/slot for Sup1XL, 240 Gbps/slot for Sup 2 and 480 Gbps/slot for Sup2XL).  

9600 has 4 line card slots.  WIth Sup 1, each slot can support up to 2.4 Tbps (6.4 Tbps per slot for Sup 2). 

The most "recent" line card for the 9600 is C9600-LC-40YL4CD.  Pair this with a Sup 2 (up to 6.4 Tbps per slot) and the C9600-LC-40YL4CD can do 40 ports of 50 Gbps plus 2 x 200 Gbps plus 2 x 400 Gbps and this brings a grand total of 3.2 Tbps non-blocking.  Take note:  3.2 Tbps non-blocking.

A fully populated 9600, with Sup 2 of course, will cost less than a fully populated 9400, however, the 9600 will have excessive amount of non-blocking performance per slot compared to 9400.  

[liviu.gheorghe]

I don't quite follow your math. It's obvious the the 9600 has greater switching capacity than the 9400, the former being positioned at the core and the later at the distribution/access layer.

The 9600 has a maximum of 4 slots per chassis for line cards, so in order to accommodate 8 LC they need 2 chassis - which is not a bad thing considering that they can setup the 2 chassis in Stackwise virtual and benefit from the added redundancy.

The GPL price for a C9410R chassis is around 18K USD and a pair of C9606 chassis's is 59K USD. The LC and supervisors is the same for both scenarios and adds up to the cost of the chassis.

By my calculations, the C9410 is by far cheaper and performance wise I think it's enough for their needs 5-10 years from now.

[ashbyschool]

That is really helpful. I think i may go 6 slot 9400 as i don't need 3.2Tb bandwidth. I've discussed with the Netowrk manager and we're thinking we'll go with a mixture of 1 and 10Gb fibre and a blade of multi gigabit copper ports. As we usually buy our switched 2nd hand I can populate the 180 further 1Gb ports with 3750X or similar which i can usually get for around £300. I will replace the core with a new switch though. Many thanks for your help from everyone.

[MHM Cisco World]

Friend 

I am not sales engineer so I can't help you alot 

There are many factors effect your decision 

1- port multi gig or even Ten

2- PoE if need 

3- virtual stack later 

4- dual sup or single sup

And etc.

So best then is you check by yourself 

There is something useful like 

Ciscolive 9000 family 

Cisco switch selector 

Cisco switch  9xxx datasheet 

Make table and put your requirements and then give each model grades 

Then in end contact cisco sales and give him this detail.

Thanks 

Goodluck in your task 

MHM

[Joseph W. Doherty]

Joining discussion late, but although replacing an existing 6509 with another Cisco chassis, currently holding the same Cisco portfolio sales spot, might not be your optimal choice.

As your reply that has ". . . i don't need 3.2Tb bandwidth." possibly is very likely true, I would suggest rather than replacing the 6509 with a currently "like" device, you dig a bit deeper into your network needs and supporting network topology.

For example, rather than worrying about a 5% utilized gig link "needing" upgrade to 10g (or 25, 40, 100 gig), I'll ask is there redundancy?  Or, I'll ask, and if the line card fails, etc.?  Or, with redundancy, is its capacity used in normal operations?

In other words, when replacing a huge and/or important portion of you network, consider has the advancement of network technology allow another "better" approach.