switch comparison

[pimpcatccna]

Hi folks

I currently have a network for a client that needs re design. the customer are currently using unmanaged Netgear switches. their current network topology consists of two leased lines both being routed by two cisco routers (1 1800 & 1 800). the client would like to upgrade their network which contains 3 switches in different buildings linked by fibre. due to the business only having 40 employees i am thinking of going with a SB switch but im not sure which one. what are the differences between the 500 series and the 300 series and how much impact am i going to have with running SB switches with enterprise equipment.

the reason i ask this is that i have not used the small business products before and want to know they can work successfully with enterprise products to carry voice, video and data

Regards P Lawrence

[zbenko]

Hi P.,

In this case I'd definitely consider the SB switches, but only the new series of course (SF/SG 200, 300, 500).

For basic needs, like VLAN, L2 QoS, basic security (like 802.1x), IGMP snooping, RSTP, etc. you can go with the 200 series.

If you need advanced L3 functions like static routing, L3 packet filtering, L3 QoS, advanced security, etc. than your bet would be the 300 series.

As per the 500 series it is not yet available and its major advance over the 300 series is the dedicated hardware stack port, and MVR feature.

As per management they all support IPv6, SNMP R/W, all have a very good web GUI, text based configuration files, TFTP provisioning. The 300 and 500 series will have full CLI.

Hope this helps sheding some light on it, let me know if you have further question.

Cheers,

Zsolt

[pimpcatccna]

Zsolt

would you interchange the 300 with the 200 like you would usually (3560 distribution and 2960 access) or are the features different making you stick to just the 300. i know this is how the enterprise world works but i wanted to check with the small business series. also is the 300 series able to static route to two gateways as we have two different leased lines which traffic on one vlan will need to be sent to one gateway out on the internet and the other vlan would need to route to another internet gateway. i assume the static routes you could create on the switch would accomplish this

regards P