Cisco Switches are a Must for any Enterprise
Updated December 05, 2018
Cisco Switches are a Must for any Enterprise
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Modules Used
- Cisco Catalyst 9300 Series Switches
Overall Satisfaction with Cisco Catalyst Switches
- Catalyst 2960 X/XR Series
- Catalyst 3560-CX Series
- Catalyst 3650 Series
- Catalyst 3850 Series
- Catalyst 6800 Series
- Catalyst 9300 Series
- Catalyst 9400 Series
- Catalyst 9500 Series
- Other
We utilize Cisco exclusively for our routing, switching, and WiFi. We have limited use of 2960-series, but have a large deployment of 3560, 3650, 3750, 3850, 4500/E, 6500/E - and are now installing the 9300, 9400, and 9500 series switches. The 9000-series come in so many different varieties they can fill any need for access, distribution, core; from small sites to large hospitals. In addition, the mGig switches provide the 5Gig connection to the Cisco 3800 APs for increased throughput. These 9000-series are so physically advanced, the software is still catching up to what all they do!
Pros
- Access
- Distribution
- Core
- High throughout, low latency
Cons
- N/A
- They're necessary!
- Long-life: we removed the last ancient 5500 about 4 years ago...and it had been running (without reboot) for 12+ years!
The 9000-series integrates with DNA-C. We are just delving into this now and it looks AMAZING!
As these scale from small deployment to large enterprise, it is very beneficial in having the same base platform and provider when it comes to central management and monitoring.
They just don't compare to anyone else. I don't think it's right to compare amateurs to professionals.
Cisco Catalyst Addtional Questions
- Small-to-Medium access switches (using the 1U size switches)
- Medium-to-Large access switches (using the chassis size switches)
- Distribution (or even Core) switches with some of the higher-end catalyst with 10G (or higher) connections
Using Cisco Catalyst Switches
70000 - These are the access switches for all users from small deployments to large. Catalyst is usually the distribution as well. This ranges from small business "pizza box" style switches to the full 10+ slot modular chassis for larger offices and hospitals.
15 - A minorly skilled help desk tech can check port statuses, change VLANs, etc. Some entry level (associate) would likely be needed for adding new subnets or features (unless you had automation/DNA), while a more intermediate level would be required for initial configuration of the larger chassis (routed).
Cisco Catalyst Switches Support
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
Quick Resolution Good followup Knowledgeable team Problems get solved Kept well informed No escalation required Immediate help available Support cares about my success Quick Initial Response | Need to explain problems multiple times |
Not Sure
Some hardware we pay for the Smart Licensing, for others (like APs and the smaller 1U access switches) we just accept Limited Lifetime Warranty as we deploy so many it is actually cheaper to buy extra break/fix stock than to purchase contracts on each item.
Yes - Yes. We have had to patch a few things over the years because of bugs we've been the first to find.
We had a remote data center (hospital) that was performing corrupted backups to the main data center. EVERYTHING checked out. We worked with Cisco and other vendors for nearly a month with no resolution. Eventually, we found that if we performed backups over one circuit va the original primary, the backups were good. Cisco high-level experts worked magic on the specific module that one circuit was coming into and found that - for unknown reasons - that module was corrupting random packet payloads WITHOUT corrupting the checksums. We don't know how it did it or how Cisco discovered it, but they sent us a replacement and everything started working again. Magic!
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