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Cisco Catalyst Switches Review
June 11, 2018

Cisco Catalyst Switches Review

Mark Ciecior | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Reseller

Overall Satisfaction with Cisco Catalyst 9300 Series Switches

  • Catalyst 9300 Series
Financial institutions are very interested in the Encrypted Traffic Analytics feature, specifically the ability to do a crypto audit with StealthWatch to meet their regulatory requirements.
  • 1X integration with ISE
  • API access, with Python bindings
  • The guest shell allows customers to do almost anything they need with these switches.
  • Cost
  • Some of the default settings are ridiculous. I always update the log and debug settings to include the timestamp, and auto secure is a must. Why shouldn't these be defaults?
  • The LAN Lite image is useless, I have no reason to sell such a limited switch.
  • The insight gained into the access layer has finally provided some return on my IT investment.
  • Customers who have used Avaya or Extreme switches for a while, and are ok with the limited feature set, rarely see the ROI in Catalyst switches.
The single most useful feature in the new automation abilities is being able to run packet captures directly on an access switch. This saves minutes if not hours each time a capture needs to be set up.
Most organizations don't have the personnel or drive to build a custom management platform. Despite the open nature of these switches, a Cisco-branded management platform will be looked at first before anything built in-house.
ISE is far better integrated with Catalyst switches than Avaya or HP switches. The URL redirection capabilities in Catalyst switches are unmatched.
Customers that want detailed logging and insight into their environment are well-suited to Catalyst switches. Small businesses that just want PoE have no interest in such expensive gear. The SMB line is very difficult to manage.