[c-nsp] 3550 Switches

[Howard C. Berkowitz]

At 1:30 PM -0400 8/5/04, Paul Stewart wrote:
>We are in need of a router/switch at a remote POP site.  Originally we were
>looking at a 2950 switch and a 3640 router for our needs.... Then I came
>across the 3550 switch.
>
>Any feedback on these?  If I understand the literature, they are a IOS
>driven switch with full routing and switching?  Are they basically a
>downsized 6509 switch in most ways?  If they are, this is exactly what we're
>looking for...

One annoying gotcha that can be worked around: always be sure that 
you have a copy of the configuration _as written_ saved on a server 
or workstation.  Show running on a 3550 has an annoying habit of not 
displaying various commands that aren't truly defaults, but, if you 
just try to reload with the saved output of a show running, you may 
not get a working configuration. The problems I've most often 
encountered are in trunking.

Also, be aware that the defaults are for most things to come up for 
dynamic autoconfiguration. Unfortunately, this can lead to the 3550 
taking a different initial state if, for example, a device plugged 
into a port is or is not active when the 3550 initializes.