Cisco Managed Gigabit Ethernet Switch Questions

[zzzzzzzzzz]

I want to acquire a good new Cisco Managed 10/100/1000 Ethernet switch for good office performance. The current switch is leased and is soon to be returned.

Switch should support RJ-45 connectors. (Fiber connectors are not necessary)

Currently the office has a patch panel that supports up to 48 connections, but at present, only about 21 of them are used.

If VoIP phones are used (currently they are not) would their cables take up remaining Ethernet ports?

Assuming same product series/families, would two identical 24-port Cisco Gigabit Ethernet switches with a Category 6 cable connecting the two perform as well or close to as well as a single 48-port Cisco Gigabit Ethernet switch?

What places are recommended to acquire Cisco switches at decent or low prices?

[Drew@PSU]

Switch should support RJ-45 connectors. (Fiber connectors are not necessary)
Don't get the fiber distro switches then, lol. Seriously, most of the Cisco switches are for Ethernet/RJ-45, they should work fine.

If VoIP phones are used (currently they are not) would their cables take up remaining Ethernet ports?
Depends on the VoIP phones, I know the Cisco ones have a passthrough, so you can just plug the PC into the phone and the phone into the switch/walljack. Saves you a port, and PC use is unaffected.

Assuming same product series/families, would two identical 24-port Cisco Gigabit Ethernet switches with a Category 6 cable connecting perform as well or close to as well as a single 48-port Cisco Gigabit Ethernet switch?
Yes, for the most part, although it would probably be a better idea to just get a 48 port if you have a 48 port patch panel. You can set the downstream ( towards the customer ) switch to trunk off of the other one, they should work just fine. Most switches will work with each other regardless of model.

What places are recommended to acquire Cisco switches at decent or low prices?
Uh...nowhere...lol. If you look at Ciscokits (http://www.ciscokits.com), they have used switches for sale, at about 20% of the normal cost. Usually Cisco stuff is ridiculously expensive, but get a few quotes and shop around. Just make sure it's actual Cisco equipment, fakes are all over the place.

[zzzzzzzzzz]

I shall acquire a single 24-port managed Cisco 10/100/1000 Ethernet switch.

I have examined the switch description

Is Power over Ethernet useful for the connection of usual small office network devices (computers, printers, router, etc.)?

I have found a list of Cisco switches families on the following two pages of the Cisco website:

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/hw/switches/products_category_buyers_guide.html
http://www.cisco.com/cisco/web/solutions/small_business/products/routers_switches/index.html


I am uncertain as to which 24-port managed Cisco 10/100/1000 Ethernet (non-fiber) switch to acquire and would appreciate recommendations.

The office has a rack for rack-mounted devices, so it may be good (but not a requirement) to use it.

[Drew@PSU]

PoE is great for powering phones, but other equipment is usually too much. The limit is about 15W per port, and then only about half the ports until you get a pricier switch. What do you want to plug into it? As for which switch, it really depends what you need. If you are just using it to multiply ports really, then a 2950 or something will be more than enough. As you start going up in price, you get more features, such as: Layer 3 and 4 routing/switching, more options for managing the switch, a higher amount of backplane, redundant power supplies, 10Gig E uplinks, etc. Is this for a standard office ( bunch of computers and phones, a printer or two, maybe a scanner/all-in-one )? Where are you managing it from and what do you need out of it? That should give you a better idea of which one can suit your needs. I can tell you right now you probably don't need anything past a Catalyst 3560, as they do pretty much everything a typical deployment needs. If you can get by with the features in the lower end stuff ( the Cisco Small Business series ) and aren't planning to greatly expand your network, they may be worth getting. Basically it comes down to what you want to do with it really.

Sorry, that's kind of a rambling post, but let me know if you have any questions.
-Drew

[zzzzzzzzzz]

The office network devices consists of computers, printers, and a scanner. Most network devices are the computers.

There is transferring of large and many files between computers. The Speedily transfer of data is important.

So it would be unwise to get a switch with Power over Ethernet, unless Power over Ethernet is optional.

In the future it is planned to have a router-to-router VPN tunnel to connect two offices' networks over the Internet.

I am uncertain whether anything greater than Layer 2 switching is necessary. From what I understand Layer 3 switching allows router-like packet functioning. Would this eliminate the need for a router to communicate between LAN and WAN networks?

[zzzzzzzzzz]

I am currently considering three (3) switches:Cisco ESW-540-24
Cisco Catalyst 2960G-24TC-L
Cisco Catalyst 3560G-24TS

From the datasheets of the different products, it seems that Cisco ESW-540-24 should have the best Layer 2 switching performance (48 Gbps switching capacity compared to 32 Gbps for the other two).

Cisco Catalyst 3560G-24TS may fully implement Layer 3 and Layer 4 switching (which the other two may not).

Is Cisco ESW-540-24 superior to Cisco Catalyst 2960G-24TC-L?

I wonder which Cisco switch devices differ only in firmware, if any.

[Drew@PSU]

In the future it is planned to have a router-to-router VPN tunnel to connect two offices' networks over the Internet.

I am uncertain whether anything greater than Layer 2 switching is necessary. From what I understand Layer 3 switching allows router-like packet functioning. Would this eliminate the need for a router to communicate between LAN and WAN networks?


I would stick with just a switch. Terminating a point-to-point VPN shouldn't be difficult for a router, nor will it have difficulty doing the routing thing. The next switch that could do that is far beyond what you need....

The ESW-540-24 should be just fine for your needs, although the others are good switches as well. I wouldn't worry about the switching capacity, unless you are using it for rack aggregation, there should be more than enough backplane for a standard office setup.

I don't know of any Cisco switch that differs in firmware so to speak, but you can get a different IOS ( Internal Operating System ) for a switch to enable different features. On the 3750Es, for example, you have to have the "Advanced IP Services" IOS to do routing ( not to mention the license (sp) ).
Hope that helps,
Drew

[zzzzzzzzzz]

I would stick with just a switch. Terminating a point-to-point VPN shouldn't be difficult for a router, nor will it have difficulty doing the routing thing. The next switch that could do that is far beyond what you need....

The ESW-540-24 should be just fine for your needs, although the others are good switches as well. I wouldn't worry about the switching capacity, unless you are using it for rack aggregation, there should be more than enough backplane for a standard office setup.

I don't know of any Cisco switch that differs in firmware so to speak, but you can get a different IOS ( Internal Operating System ) for a switch to enable different features. On the 3750Es, for example, you have to have the "Advanced IP Services" IOS to do routing ( not to mention the license (sp) ).
Hope that helps,
DrewThank you Drew for your assistence.

I shall choose Cisco ESW-540-24.