Catalyst Switches
June 15, 2018
Catalyst Switches
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Overall Satisfaction with Cisco Catalyst 9300 Series Switches
- Catalyst 3850 Series
- Catalyst 9300 Series
We use Catalyst Switches for all edge connections on the CU Boulder campus.
- CDP neighbor protocol is convenient
- Cisco IOS is easy to use and consistent between models
- Great for serving numerous 1G connections
- We have had some issues with the 715w power supplies failing
- We sometimes have issues with the switch denying PoE but a reload usually resolves this (c3750x)
- Switches take a long time to boot up, sometimes up to 15mins
- Can only power stack 4 switches
- Reliably serve our clients
- Modular switch is easy to replace individual components rather than whole switches
- Adding switches to a stack is easy and saves install time
We are currently researching programmability options for the 9300 series switches including possibly bringing the Cisco DNA system on board. Currently, most configuration is done manually via the CLI (Calling Line Identity).
We are just starting to deploy the 9300 series and are learning about customizability and management options. Remotely managing the 3850 series is simple using a remote console. We also use SolarWinds for management purposes.
We currently use Arista switches for our research network as they had more 10G capability in the past but they are considerably more expensive and the new 9300 series is being considered to replace them.