[c-nsp] 3750 stack vs 4507R-E?

[Chris Gauthier]

Hi, 

That's where part of my difficulty lies. Our SAN traffic is going to be increasing over time, currently using 4 individual 1GB Copper links, not including the 2x1GB links each server requires. Additionally, we have VoIP phones to consider (ShoreTel) and lots of SMB/HTTP/SQL traffic. Since I work in more of a financial-type organization, multimedia is not really a priority at this time. We also are going "paperless" by using a SQL-based document imaging/management system. Finally, we have a few (<12) office workstations and a printer for the IT Staff in the Data Center. 

So, I'm not exactly sure how to answer your question and Cisco has a dizzying array of switches for a multitude of purposes. Choosing the right one is very difficult. I hope this information helps. 

Thanks, 

Chris 



----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Yann Gauteron" <ygauteron at gmail.com> 
To: "cisco-nsp" <cisco-nsp at puck.nether.net> 
Sent: Thursday, October 23, 2008 3:37:39 PM GMT -08:00 US/Canada Pacific 
Subject: Re: [c-nsp] 3750 stack vs 4507R-E? 

Hi, 

One thing that is missing here is IMO the current (and forecasted) profile 
of your trafic. This would permit to determine the overall bandwidth that is 
needed and to finally make an advised proposal. 

As I read that you're having a SAN, maybe you should also consider the Cisco 
Nexus switches. The Nexus series is the convergence of the LAN and the SAN 
environment (much like the voice and data convergence that happened years 
ago). 

If you prefer to stay in a conservative approach (or your infrastructure is 
not sized enough to need a converged LAN/SAN), you can also include Catalyst 
4900M in your study. 

Have a look at 
http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/ps9441/Products_Sub_Category_Home.html 

However, due to the importance of the data center infrastructure 
(performance, availability, sizing, scalability, ...), I would recommend you 
to 
1) read about the different products and technologies (Cat 3750, 4500, 6500, 
4900M and Nexus) in order to make your own opinion about the features and 
performances. Have a look about switching performance, chassis slots 
performance, ability for the line cards to perform switching with or without 
the need of the supervisor (distributed forwarding vs centralized 
forwarding), ... 
2) determine your current needs and your forecasted needs for the next 3 
years 
3) approach a local integrator that could take these numbers and make you a 
proposal with a shopping list of the boxes he would recommand. Ask him to 
justify his choice. 
4) Analyze his proposal and compare the justifications about the products 
chosen and the information you got in step 1) about the different products. 

Just one advice: Do not just think about your current needs... Think today 
about your future needs (bandwidth / ports / ...) in order to make the best 
investment for the long term. Choosing the smallest boxes that would fit 
your current needs is not necessarily the best choice. Maybe the next 
upgrades needed to face future needs would make the final bill much heavier 
than if the solution was correctly sized from the very beginning. 

Good luck, 
Yann 

2008/10/24 Chris Gauthier <chris at k7sle.com> 

> I have 2 SAN boxes and several servers, in addition to the rest of the data 
> center's servers to plan a network upgrade for. We are currently using a 
> 4006 w/Sup II running CatOS 8.4(11)GLX and several older 2950/3500/3550 
> series switches. 
> 
> All of the equipment is getting older and we are trying to determine what 
> would be better...another chassis switch or a 3750 stack? Why would you 
> choose one over the other? 
> 
> Needs: 
> 
> True Gigabit connectivity for all servers (30-40 of them) and switch 
> uplinks. Some switches are using a fiber backbone. 
> Redundancy 
> Least-cost, best benefit. 
> POE on at least 18-24 ports. 
> 
> 
> Thanks, 
> 
> Chris 
> 
> 
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