[c-nsp] Cisco recommendation for distribution layer campus network

[Jared Mauch]

I would say avoid Cisco.

The IOS-XE based switches take *forever* to boot and can easily last 5-10 minutes during the entire process.

We have tried for nearly a decade now to educate Cisco on why this is important and they have often missed the boat in what is feasible or otherwise.

(boot time should be under 120 seconds as most people are just doing OEM of a Broadcom box anyways).  If it takes too long for them to program the BCM sub-system, they are doing something majorly wrong and there’s unlikely any hope of them understanding what.

- Jared

> On Sep 28, 2014, at 3:11 PM, Pete Templin <petelists at templin.org> wrote:
> 
> 
> On 9/28/14 11:53 AM, Randy Manning wrote:
>> Chassis vs 1u layer 3 switches for distribution layer on campus network
>> 
>> This is my first post. I have used stack switches for access layer and nexus vpc in data center. Why is cisco proposing nexus for distribution layer?
>> To eliminate spanning tree
>> Vpc still needs hsrp, why not a stack solution?
>> 
>> I am used to chassis and was wanting pro cons
>> 
> Stack switches leaves you vulnerable to a single-typo outage, or even a single software crash outage.  VPC has its risks, but at least leaves one device up while the other recovers.
> 
> Software upgrades can be real tricky on the stack devices too. Doing it by the book on a 3750X often means 35+ minutes of no-packet-forwarding. The missed heartbeats while you hope the stack returns are potentially reason enough to go with VPC. ;)
> 
> pt
> 
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