Cisco Catalyst Switches vs. Cisco Nexus Series Switches

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Cisco Catalyst Switches
Score 9.1 out of 10
N/A
Cisco's Catalyst is one of that company's brand of network switches.N/A
Cisco Nexus Series Switches
Score 9.3 out of 10
N/A
Cisco Nexus is a series of network switches.N/A
Pricing
Cisco Catalyst SwitchesCisco Nexus Series Switches
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Cisco Catalyst SwitchesCisco Nexus Series Switches
Free Trial
NoNo
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional Details——
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
Cisco Catalyst SwitchesCisco Nexus Series Switches
Considered Both Products
Cisco Catalyst Switches
Chose Cisco Catalyst Switches
More features than Cisco Nexus Series Switches
Cisco Catalyst Switches are suited for Enterprise networks compared to Cisco Nexus switches that are better suited for data center environments
Chose Cisco Catalyst Switches
Our engineers are more familiar with Cisco IOS. Cisco Catalyst switches are number one in the Campus network environment and they just work out of the box. We known that we won't go wrong with Cisco Catalyst switches if we use then in our network. Another thing we consider is …
Chose Cisco Catalyst Switches
The monitoring of Cisco devices is easy and have various monitoring tools available. The products offered for the Cisco Catalyst Switches work well hand in hand.
Chose Cisco Catalyst Switches
NEXUS OS has better CLI commands to navigate and configure with.
Chose Cisco Catalyst Switches
Using Cisco Catalyst Switches we get a homegenous network for easy central administration and integration with our tool set. We also know that replacing a product series with another from Cisco always provide roughly the same form factor and physical requirements so we don't …
Chose Cisco Catalyst Switches
Cisco Catalyst switches they are the bedrock of all Cisco switching equipment especially layer 2 or 3 campus switching. They are very interoperable with all other types of cisco switches. One example is the C9500-48Y4C they can be used for core switching or aggregation …
Chose Cisco Catalyst Switches
We currently use Nexus, Meraki, and Catalyst gear in our operations. All [these products] are very successful for every need they fill. In the case of Catalyst switches, we use them for more unique situations where diverse products need to connect together as this brand has …
Chose Cisco Catalyst Switches
Once you understand the syntax it is easier to manage a Cisco switch than many others.
Chose Cisco Catalyst Switches
They are better at access, while nexus good at data center.
Chose Cisco Catalyst Switches
we use cisco catalyst switches when we dont need advanced functionnalities like mpbgp, vxlan, macsec ...
Chose Cisco Catalyst Switches
Cisco catalys switches are for better price than nexus series, but Nexus is really what data center due to high utilization, speed and latency requirements.
Chose Cisco Catalyst Switches
The Catalyst line is far more feature rich than Aruba or Meraki. The main question will be if any of those additional features provide value to the organization. There are plenty of environments where the ease of use that Meraki has far outweighed the expanded feature set of …
Chose Cisco Catalyst Switches
Cisco Catalyst Switches are easy to configure, troubleshoot and manage. They are much faster compared to HP ProCurve, Aruba, and Huawei network switches. Cisco provides the best customer support and insights to their customers relating features and services the Cisco Catalyst …
Chose Cisco Catalyst Switches
Cisco Catalyst switches stack up against them because of their simplicity of using IOS-XE syntax.
Chose Cisco Catalyst Switches
We've used/evaluated Juniper EX series switches that stack up against Cisco Catalyst. However, Juniper did not offer as many features, especially around cloud compatibility and customization.
Chose Cisco Catalyst Switches
Cisco have the most popular interface in the market. Any networking technician have experience working with them in some way, that makes them the easiest to troubleshoot, mantain and administer. The Catalyst series particularily allows a depth of configuration that exceeds our …
Chose Cisco Catalyst Switches
I love them for end-user switches, however, I have also started replacing some of them in branch offices with Meraki switches for the easy GUI to train service desk members to configure ports and apply VLANs really easy with almost no training needed. BUT Meraki's are AWFUL if …
Chose Cisco Catalyst Switches
Nexus is better for the datacentre in my opinion
Cisco Nexus Series Switches
Chose Cisco Nexus Series Switches
It's different requirement where Catalyst Switches are designed for Campus Network while Cisco Nexus Series Switches are well builded for DCN. Cisco Nexus Series Switches are made for servers that handle large amounts of data traffic, vm compute, virtual network and storage. …
Chose Cisco Nexus Series Switches
Easier configuration, no need for special stack cables when using multi-chassis ether channel and extremely high speed interfaces (1/10/25/40/50/100/400/800 Gbit/s).
Cisco Nexus Series Switches is capable of both being a L2 switch and L3 switch at the same time. Possibility to …
Chose Cisco Nexus Series Switches
Cisco Nexus Series Switches are designed for data center environments, which provide high performance, reliability and DC required features.
Chose Cisco Nexus Series Switches
I like Cisco Nexus and the CLI is very similar to Cisco Catalyst so the majority of this is interchangeable but with the Dell networking, it is a totally different world and requires a lot of searching and assistance to learn, and even then some issues are caused by the …
Top Pros
Top Cons
Best Alternatives
Cisco Catalyst SwitchesCisco Nexus Series Switches
Small Businesses

No answers on this topic

No answers on this topic

Medium-sized Companies
Extreme Networks Wired Access - Switches
Extreme Networks Wired Access - Switches
Score 9.2 out of 10
Dell PowerConnect Switches
Dell PowerConnect Switches
Score 8.3 out of 10
Enterprises
Cisco Nexus Series Switches
Cisco Nexus Series Switches
Score 9.3 out of 10
Cisco Nexus Dashboard
Cisco Nexus Dashboard
Score 8.3 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
Cisco Catalyst SwitchesCisco Nexus Series Switches
Likelihood to Recommend
9.1
(637 ratings)
9.2
(109 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
9.2
(37 ratings)
9.6
(10 ratings)
Usability
8.3
(39 ratings)
9.2
(39 ratings)
Availability
9.4
(14 ratings)
8.2
(2 ratings)
Performance
9.2
(14 ratings)
7.5
(4 ratings)
Support Rating
8.3
(37 ratings)
8.5
(12 ratings)
In-Person Training
8.6
(5 ratings)
8.0
(1 ratings)
Online Training
9.0
(2 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Implementation Rating
7.7
(11 ratings)
8.2
(4 ratings)
Configurability
9.1
(10 ratings)
7.0
(3 ratings)
Contract Terms and Pricing Model
-
(0 ratings)
7.5
(2 ratings)
Ease of integration
8.3
(9 ratings)
8.2
(2 ratings)
Product Scalability
8.9
(14 ratings)
7.5
(4 ratings)
Professional Services
-
(0 ratings)
7.5
(2 ratings)
Vendor post-sale
7.6
(35 ratings)
7.5
(3 ratings)
Vendor pre-sale
8.2
(36 ratings)
7.5
(3 ratings)
User Testimonials
Cisco Catalyst SwitchesCisco Nexus Series Switches
Likelihood to Recommend
Cisco
Our access infrastructure. If you want to bring many devices into your infrastructure and you don't want to bring the devices direct on the core routers, something like that. Or to the routers, the catalyst switches are perfectly suited for that or for top of direct switches.
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Cisco
It fits perfectly in all our data centers where we are using it. For small companies or smaller racks or something. I don't think it fits there because Cisco Nexus Series Switches is a big one. It's the most advanced one.
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Pros
Cisco
  • I think particularly for the 2960-Xs, these are quite sturdy. I believe they don't get, even if there's a power outage out at Cole's, we usually do some electricity work just to do the electricity redundancy. We just power off the, let's say, the transformers and then see if the mains can handle the power supply. So these 2960, these switches are quite sturdy, I believe, and they don't die on us, but I've seen with the 9200s and the other switches, they don't come back usually when there's a power outage or something like that. So we have to replace the power supply units and all those things to get them working again.
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Cisco
  • Continuous system operation:
  • Maintenance, upgrades, and software certification can be performed without service interruptions because of the modular nature of NX-OS and features such as In-Service Software Upgrade (ISSU) and the capability for processes to restart dynamically
  • FabricPath:
  • Enables each device to build an overall view of the topology; this is similar to other link state routing protocols. Each device in the FabricPath topology is identified by a switch-id. The Layer 2 forwarding tables are built based on reachability to each switch-id, not by the MAC address. Eliminates spanning-tree to maximize network bandwidth and flexibility in topological configurations, as well as simplify operational support and configuration. This enables a tremendous amount of flexibility on the topology because you can now build FabricPath topologies for Layer 2-based networks the same as for Layer 3-based networks
  • Overlay Transport Virtualization (OTV): Enables the Layer 2 extension between distributed data centers over any transport Layer 3 network
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Cons
Cisco
  • I wouldn't fault the product per se. I think it's just more its integration with the SSD access network that there could be room for improvement. I think the 9300 has been a solid device by itself, and I can't think of anything that I could fault on the device itself. It's probably been doing a very good job and we are happy with it.
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Cisco
  • Implementing jumbo frames on interfaces of its fabric extender series (N2k, etc.) by editing the network QoS does not have to be a global configuration that would affect all its interfaces. It can be improved to become just an interface configuration.
  • Licensing on the NXOS is a bit complicated and expensive. I understand that the Nexus is made for core data center switching but it does not have to break the bank.
  • OTV technology is for Nexus only. Based on the advantage of the technology, it should be made vendor-neutral to accommodate other vendor devices.
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Likelihood to Renew
Cisco
They are consistently reliable and this switch in particular is a very affordable solution. We can place the Cisco Catalyst 1000 Series Switches gear in areas that we normally would not place a switch because it is affordable enough to make it justifiable. And because it is a reliable solution, we are confident it will continue to provide service over the long haul.
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Cisco
Actually if we need to implement or develop our actual DC we will use Cisco Nexus Series Switches again. The solution is well known and we will be able to interconnect easily the switches, as we're not using all the possibilities of features we know what is solution is a long term solution.
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Usability
Cisco
Cisco by and far does a great job with the Catalyst line. From a layer 2 dumb switch all the way up to ISP carrier grade switching within the Catalyst portfolio. The best part about it is command parity among the various tiers of product. The only differences are going to lie in what features are available per switch.
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Cisco
The platform has a good performance. The major issue is all the bugs you can discover across the operations, and it can be a big challenge depending on the number of Cisco Nexus Series Switches you have deployed. In our case, we own more than 200 Cisco Nexus Series Switches 9k, and we face an upgrade process, it could be a long time project to grant a new software deployment in all our switches platform.
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Reliability and Availability
Cisco
As per our experience, the turn around time for switches after PO is raised varies from 1 - 3 months.
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Cisco
it is reliable and we seldom encounter outages for the switches
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Performance
Cisco
No, the packets flow. Sometimes you will see collisions and broadcast storms can happen which will slow performance but that can be fixed and the packets will flow.
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Cisco
These switches are very fast. They've been designed to work within the data center. We connect them to Cisco UCS-B Mini servers with the storage being directly attached. They are able to handle the data traffic pretty easily. We can also move servers pretty fast from data center to data center without overloading them. This has allowed our company to stay running during any kind of conditional outage. We have come to really rely on them for business continuity.
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Support Rating
Cisco
We rarely have issues with the product. I have only had to contact support one time since we put it in and that was to see if another vendor was giving me accurate information on an issue I was having.
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Cisco
Overall, Cisco has great products and I believe that they believe in the philosophy of a great customer experience. Although there have been a few technical support issues that caused a lot of company anxiety, in most cases, Cisco has gone above and beyond in making a valiant effort to help the customer solve any issues.
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In-Person Training
Cisco
Cisco Networking Academy partners with many local Colleges and High Schools to provide great hands-on training. You do need to drive to learn the topic. The in-class session only go so far. You really need to apply this to the real world. Cisco makes it easy for business to connect via CLC or Cisco Learning Credits.
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Cisco
Trainer didn't has good handon experience.. he was bookish trainer.
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Online Training
Cisco
My own personal research to get the information I want is very handy and helped me many times
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Cisco
Never had it
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Implementation Rating
Cisco
The implementation of the Cisco Catalyst 1000 Series Switches is fairly seamless, especially if you are familiar with Cisco products. We have had Brocade switch gear in place too, and the differences between the manufacturers [are] not a major issue.
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Cisco
Since we already have exposure to other Cisco switching products, the implementation of these switches is very seamless;
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Alternatives Considered
Cisco
We do have other vendors. For example, Juniper, Fortinet, and there are quite a few others. And Cisco is pretty good because we know the workflow, we know how the operating system works. We are much more familiar with Cisco products and we know the support system behind it. So in terms of comparing with others, I think it stands out. It's one of our top products to go to
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Cisco
The Cisco 9000 stacks up quite well against the Cisco Catalyst 3850 switches. The additional features available in the Nexus 9000, such as VPN, FCoE, 40 gigabits, give us the ability to support the future needs of the company in our data center. The Nexus 9000 allowed us to condense our core and aggregation environment that comprised of 2 Catalyst 6504 and 2 Catalyst 6509 to a port of Nexus 9000. Although the Catalyst 3850 would be sufficient to handle routing, those features in the Nexus 9000 made it the clear choice for us.
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Contract Terms and Pricing Model
Cisco
No answers on this topic
Cisco
No, all good
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Scalability
Cisco
We are exclusive Cisco at our organization. In truth part of the reason is, with one type of switch and one manufacturer, it is easier to support. It is also easier to give consistent training to our staff in our tech department
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Cisco
The Nexus 3000 series switches are data center switches, so I would say they have similar security ability to other switches in this segment. I don't have a lot of experience doing more than basic ACL security on switches, but I know these can be integrated into other security solutions like Cisco ISE and 802.1x authentication. It could also be integrated into an ACI solution to add micro segmentation, which would bring in other security functions.
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Professional Services
Cisco
No answers on this topic
Cisco
their professional services is ok and support provided is good
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Return on Investment
Cisco
  • energy costs dropped by around 11 per cent on the access layer
  • management has become easier with DNA Center
  • ISSU software upgrades and fabric deployments have significantly reduced "planned" down times
  • network speed has increased, latency is at an all-time best within our own LAN
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Cisco
  • We expected the switches to provide ROI and they did as advertised.
  • NX-OS was pretty similar to IOS so the learning curve was pretty low.
  • Being a Non-Profit we need to be extremely cost conscience and buy gear that has a long shelf life. Nexus line of switches met this objective.
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ScreenShots

Cisco Catalyst Switches Screenshots

Screenshot of Screenshot of Catalyst 9200 SeriesScreenshot of Catalyst 9300 SeriesScreenshot of Catalyst 9400 SeriesScreenshot of Catalyst 9400 Series Additional ViewScreenshot of Catalyst 9500 Series