Sunday, September 29, 2013

Tips for Power Supply for Cisco 3750-X and Catalyst 3560-X Switch

The Cisco Catalyst 3750-X and 3560-X Series Switches are an enterprise-class lines of stackable and standalone switches, respectively. These switches provide high availability, scalability, security, energy efficiency, and ease of operation with innovative features such as Cisco StackPower (available only on the Catalyst 3750-X), IEEE 802.3at Power over Ethernet Plus (PoE+) configurations, optional network modules, redundant power supplies, and Media Access Control Security (MACsec) features. 

Combining 10/100/1000 and Power over Ethernet Plus (PoE+) or GE SFP configurations with four optional uplinks, the Cisco Catalyst 3750-X and 3560-X Series Switches enhance worker productivity by enabling applications such as encryption, IP telephony, wireless, and video.

The Cisco Catalyst 3750-X and 3560-X Series Switches are built on the existing Cisco Catalyst 3750-E and 3560-E Series Switches, using the same port application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), switch fabric, and Cisco IOS Software feature sets.

About Power Supply for Cisco Catalyst 3750-X & 3560-X Series Switches, you know that the Catalyst 3750-X Series and Cisco 3560-X Series Switches support dual redundant power supplies. The switch ships with one power supply by default and the second power supply can be purchased at the time of ordering the switch or at a later time. If only one power supply is installed, it should always be in the power supply bay 1. 


Table shows the different power supplies available in these switches and available PoE power.
Power Supply Models
Models
Default Power Supply
Available PoE Power
24 Port Data Switch
C3KX-PWR-350WAC
-
48 Port Data Switch
24 Port PoE Switch
435W
48 Port PoE Switch
48 Port Full PoE Switch
800W

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Sunday, September 22, 2013

Cisco Catalyst 2960-X and Catalyst 2960-XR Review

The Catalyst 2960 got stacking via the2960-S model a couple of years ago. It also got the ability to do static routes which was a nice feature. Cisco 2960-X series debut at Cisco Partner Summit 2013. Cisco released the new Catalyst 2960-X series by doubling its stacked port density, stacking bandwidth, buffers and CPU performance. It is the next generation of its wildly successful Catalyst 2K switches. The Cisco 2960-X and -XR are available in 24 or 48 port configurations. Uplinks are either 2x 10 Gbit SPF+ or 4x 1 Gbit SFP. The PoE models can support 370W or 740W of power.

The 2960-X Series provides up to 80 Gbps of stack bandwidth which is 2x more compared to the 2960-S. It is now also possible to stack up to 8 switches compared to the earlier maximum of 4. The 2960-S model uses FlexStack while the newer -X and -XR models uses FlexStack-Plus. FlexStack-Plus supports detecting stack port operational state in hardware and change the forwarding according to it. This takes 100 ms or less. The older model does it in CPU which can take 1 or 2 seconds.

Here are some notable differences between 2960-X and -XR compared to 2960-S.
  • Dual core CPU @ 600 MHz. 2960-S has single core
  • 2960-XR has support for dual power supplies
  • 256 MB of flash for -XR, 128 MB for -X. The S model has 64 MB
  • 512 MB of DRAM compared to 256 for 2960-S
  • 1k active VLANs compared to 255 for 2960-S
  • 48 Etherchannel groups for -XR, 24 for -X and 6 for -S
  • 4 MB of egress buffers instead of 2 MB
  • 4 SPAN sessions instead of 2
  • 32k MACs for -XR, 16k for -X and 8k for -S
  • 24k unicast routes for -XR, 16 static routes for -X and -S
The newer models also support Netflow lite, hibernation mode and EEE. The 2960-XR does support dynamic routing. It has support for RIP, OSPF stub, OSPFv3 stub, EIGRP stub, HSRP, VRRP and PIM.

Here are some performance numbers:
Cisco 2960-X Lan Lite has 100 Gbps of switching bandwidth and 64 active VLANS. The Catalyst 2960-X Lan Base has 216 Gbps of switching bandwidth and 1023 active VLANs. The same holds true for 2960-XR with IP Lite feature set. The 2960-S had a maximum of 255 VLANs and 176 Gbps switching bandwidth. Depending on model the 2960-X tops out at 130.9 Mpps compared to 101.2 for 2960-S.

The switches also have added support for IPv6. Notable features are:
  • IPv6 MLDv1 and v2 snooping
  • IPv6 First Hop Security (RA guard, source guard, and binding integrity guard
  • IPv6 ACLs
  • IPv6 QoS
  • HTTP/HTTPs over IPv6
  • SNMP over IPv6
  • Syslog over IPv6
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Tuesday, September 17, 2013

Cisco Catalyst 2960-S Model Comparison

Introducing Catalyst 2960-S

l  24/48 10/100/1000 ports with fixed uplinks
l  Fixed Uplink Options: 4x1G or 2x10G SFP+
l  FlexStack Technology
Brings stackable ease-of-use features to the 2960 family, features 20G stacking links
l  Power over Ethernet
Full standards-based PoE on every port
PoE+ support for next-generation high-power devices
l  Sustainability-GREEN
Very low power for Gigabit Ethernet Switch
New EnergyWise functionality to control PHY power
Half the power of Catalyst 2960G
l  E-LLW, NBD and 90 day TAC support
LAN Lite and LAN Base Software Options
LAN Lite option provides entry-level Gig-E platform

Catalyst2960-S Characteristics

ü  10/100 Ethernet for Out Of Band (OOB) network mgmt new for C2960-S series
ü  USB Flash - type A, external Flash storage
ü  USB console (type B) and RJ45 console supported
ü  DRAM: 128MB
ü  On board Flash: 64MB
ü  Low Latency
ü  RPS support: CAB-E type cable. (CAB-RPS2300-E=)

Catalyst 2960-S FlexStack

n  FlexStack available with optional Module
Hot Swappable with two wire-speed 10G ports
n  Up to 4 switches in a stack
n  Unified management, control, and data plane (similar look and feel as StackWise)
n  3 FlexStack Cable lengths supported
0.5 meters, 1.0 meter, 3.0 meter

Catalyst 2960-S FlexStack Stacking

u  Cross-stack EtherChannel, SPAN, and FlexLink supported
EtherChannel physical links across stack members
u  Pre-Provisioning of stack members supported
u  Easy member addition and replacement
u  Configurable Stack Master
Following same Master election rules as StackWise Plus
u  Support same CISCO-STACKWISE-MIB
u  Single Spanning tree node: No spanning-tree across stack
u  Stack link topology change is handled in SW, not HW

Data flow recovery needs SW involvement

Catalyst 2960-S Key Differentiations
²  Catalyst 2960-S–Gigabit Ethernet Switch
LAN Base & LAN Lite models available
²  Stacking with FlexStack technology
²  10 Gigabit UpLinks with SFP+ form factor
²  802.3at POE+; Full POE power with 740W or 370W budgets
²  Low power consumption–Lowest in industry (Fixed Gig Switches)
²  Very Low Latency
²  Line rate all interfaces
²  Enhanced LLW

Catalyst 2960-S Model comparison

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