Cisco Catalyst 9400 Series Switches Reviews

Cisco Catalyst 9400 Series Switches are enterprise-class network core switches. They are not meant for small to medium size companies or satellite offices. These switches are useful to provide a highly available network backbone where all of your firewalls, edge routers, top-of-rack switches, and fabric interconnects can terminate on a scalable and secure network.

Very well suited for campus core switches, lots of options for connectivity. Less suited for the access layer. It can be used in a smaller datacenter as well.

Cisco Catalyst 9400 Series Switches are less appropriate for industrial assets connectivity. But we appreciate the Catalyst C2960X, C6500, and other old Catalyst Series because of stability and robustness.

En campus y switchs de acceso son muy buenos, no es apropiado en áreas pequeñas por el tamaño

On campuses and for use as access switches they are very good. They are not appropriate for use in a small area because of their size.

Cisco Catalyst Switches are well suited for those that enjoy software headaches and double-dipping support contracts (SmartNet and DNA Advantage). Cisco introduced the platform without clear documentation on licensing (our involvement was the onus for Cisco to create clear documentation at the cost of our time and frustration), configurations (dropping GLBP yet allowing it to be configured), features (selling us Stack Wise as replacement for GLBP) or intentions (we purchased the 9407 to replace a currently supported 6509 and literally a week or two after purchase, Cisco dropped the 9600 series as the replacement for the 6500-E series). The pains in Cisco licensing, software quality and lack of transparency in regards to hardware and features is disheartening.

They aren't cheap, and I mean that to describe both their price tag and construction quality. These aren't for small businesses, but when your enterprise needs speed and reliability Cat9k switches are for you.

I only work on Cisco products so I have a little bit of a bias. With that being said, I have had to work on Brocade and Juniper a few times, as well as other Firewall products, and I have found them confusing and not user-friendly. I think that the configuration of the Catalyst IOS is very straightforward and easy to teach others. For me, they are great for the access, distribution, and even core of the campus architecture, depending on the amount of traffic necessary, such as a collapsed core.

Not suited for the data center. I love using them in our user focused environments

Cisco Catalyst 9000 switches are well suited for:

• businesses looking to replace their campus switches and need a platform that will be around for a while.
• businesses requiring programmability of the network devices.
• businesses that need newer standard support such as multi-gig ethernet and 802.3bt (POE++).
• businesses that want to use Cisco's Software Defined Access.

Cisco Catalyst 9000 switches are less suited for:

• businesses that want the latest features but aren't willing to run the latest code non-maintenance release code.

If you are looking for a simple and secure solution for an IT infrastructure, you will be able to make great use of the product Cisco Catalyst Switches. The high performance and stability guarantee a good foundation for your business.

I simply don't use any other switches in professional usage. I prefer a homogeneous environment - especially when using other Cisco features like ISE. Deployment of 802.1X with Catalyst switches is rather simple. With a mixed environment with other vendors, it is painful. The scenario in which Catalyst Switches are not suitable is a very simple network with one or two switches - the functionalities simply are not used then.