WS-C3850-48T-S Capacity sizing

[hmc250000]

Can a single WS-C3850-48T-S support routing for 250 users + 250 voice Phones (assume avg load user and phone)? I know it is not recommended to have a single core switch but this was already decided upon. Just want to make sure it can handle the load. What is the best way to size the capacity of a switch? Is there a Cisco tool for this? 

[Leo Laohoo]

Frankly, if the matter has already been decided then there's nothing to discuss.
With such limited information of "250 users + 250 voice Phones" ... sure -- "might work".

[balaji.bandi]

As @Leo Laohoo mentioned if it decided nothing can be discussed here.

Adding other note to be safe, you may experience poor performance and maintenance required like an upgrade (this will have to challenge) - since you adding all in one basket.

Cisco produces many CVD ( Cisco VaLid designs ) for best practice and they all over website for reference.

Before deciding the equipment always consult local Cisco partner and SE to take the second opinion for the bill of material is correct? ( so the business can up and running as expected).

[Joseph W. Doherty]

The 3850 can route all 48 of its ports at wire-speed. However, note I stated "can".

The first, somewhat common, "gotcha" with a Catalyst 3K switch, bursty traffic often encounters interface drops due to limited (compared to "better" Catalyst switches) buffer resources. The second, not too common, "gotcha" is running out of TCAM resources. The third, also not very common, "gotcha" is something "strange" about your traffic which forces it to be routed by the CPU.

Only knowing you have 250 users and 250 VoIP phones really doesn't tell us what your network traffic will look like. However, it's likely the odds are in you favor that your 3850 will handle the load.

The biggest issue you might be risking is failure of the one core switch will take down your 250 users and 250 VoIP phones.