Cisco 3700 Series

[MysticLlama]

Hey guys,

I'm looking at getting one of the new 3750 series switches when they are released in a few months, as long as I can get it past the budget review here in a few days.

Should I be okay with getting a brand new series switch from Cisco to run the core of our network with? Normally I wouldn't buy something the moment it comes out, but in some cases the reputation overcomes the concerns.

Here is a link on their site, no real info here though, just a couple of pics... http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/hw/switches/ps5023/index.html

I though maybe someone here may have seen one at a preview or something...

I'll probably be getting the 3750G-24TS, 24 port 10/100/1000, + 4 SFP uplinks.

I'll probably do just the core switch this year, and the edge switches next year. Right now it's all composed of 24 port unmanaged 10/100s without any real structure (they are all just plugged in wherever they will work), and there is no structured cabling at all yet (that's this year's other project)

In the end it will hopefully be the 3750 at the core, plus two 24 ports or one 48 port via copper for this building, plus two 24 ports connected via fiber for the other building. Not really a very big network, there are probably around 100 ports or so that will be in use when it's done.

Any thoughts?

(And yes, I know there are cheaper solutions, but this company can afford it, and I want to build something that won't have to be messed with for 5-7 years)

 

[spidey07]

Mystic,

The 3750s look pretty good. I have had some troubles with first generation hardware from cisco before. Also networks usually don't last more than 3-5 years. 🙂

Can I make a suggestion? Design your network first and then pick a product that does the job you want. You can really limit your options if you design a network around a product first.

 

[MysticLlama]

Well, that's what I've been doing.

I want it to be a single 24 port 10/100/1000 for core/servers, and then 4 24 ports (or 2x24s and 1x48) on the edge for workstations/network devices. I originally wasn't going to go Cisco because they didn't have anything in the right price range for 24 port gig-e.

I was thinking that I could probably squeeze at least 5 years and maybe more out of it simply because I got this place migrated off of all 10BT hubs without even a single switch only 2 years ago. Even now the users aren't experiencing many problems, but I notice stuff not working right, losing packets here and there, more delay than there should be in places, etc. Its also just a mess the way everything is wired, the cabling alone will probably make it 10x better.

The main reason that I'm going for the 3750 is that is was recommended to me by one of my reps, as the 3550 just isn't cost effective, being nearly the same price for only 10 10/100/1000 ports.

And I watched the little video and there is something I'm not quite clear about.

What's the main difference between layer 2-4 switching and layer 3 routing? I thought if you were looking at layer 3 you were essentially doing routing?

 

[spidey07]

Seems like a good little switch. Maybe try to use the 3750 line throughout the network, it will help keep features and software consistent.

Use two or more gigabit ports to switches in other closets with etherchannel - high performance and resillency.

Do you know the MSRP and the first customer ship dates? I've got a message in to our rep so I'll post if I get the info.

 

[MysticLlama]

What I was tentatively quoted was that they'd be available around the 1st to middle of July and the 3750G-24TS should land at less than $6250 (he said he was going for a conservative guess)

He wasn't sure about the cost of the Smartnet for it yet.

I'll look into doing the double fiber runs for the switches in the other building, that sounds like a good idea, and it shouldn't add too much to the cost of pulling it in the first place since it's all going the same direction.

As far as on this side, I was looking at the new stacking stuff and I will probably do that for the main building vs. doing the copper links. Maybe I could also split the fiber to different switches for the redundancy factor as well (as long as I can figure out the stuff to do to avoid loops)

So something like this:

3750-24TS*2*
-fiber-
3750G-24TS -fiber- 3750-24TS*1*
-stacklink-
3750-48TS -fiber- 3750-24TS*2*
-fiber-
3750-24TS*1*

(I realize that I have the 3750s on the edge in there twice, but I didn't want to try to get all crazy with the ASCII drawings)

 

[spidey07]

MysticLama,

I just got this week's price list from Cisco. The catalyst 6500 is very cost effective now as a high density layer2 switch. For example a 6503 with sup1a retails for 9000 (you can take about 40% off of that). Coupled with a 48 port 10/100/1000 blade for retail 7000 your all set.