Cisco Catalyst Switches Review
February 28, 2019
Cisco Catalyst Switches Review
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Modules Used
- Cisco Catalyst 3850 Series
Overall Satisfaction with Cisco Catalyst Switches
- Catalyst 2960 X/XR Series
- Catalyst 2960-L Series
- Catalyst 3850 Series
We use the 2960-L for the use of lots of ports for low cost, with all the benefits of the Cisco IOS software.
The 2960-X, with stacking, we use at locations where they want more redundancy or where we need a lot of ports.
The 3850's are used with stacking and power stacking in our data center for high availability and high bandwidth.
The 2960-X, with stacking, we use at locations where they want more redundancy or where we need a lot of ports.
The 3850's are used with stacking and power stacking in our data center for high availability and high bandwidth.
- The same configuration is available on almost all of the switches.
- We manage all our Cisco switches (14 different models) at over more than 200 location with one tool. This is possible because of the compatibility of the software.
- Best of all, the switch is really good and stable.
- Out of the box central management for multiple versions and lots of locations.
- We have used Cisco Catalyst Switches for more than 10 years and have had very few issues.
- The initial cost of the Cisco Catalyst Switches is higher than some competitors, but over a lifetime of at least 5 years, the ROI is fine.
Not all of these features are available for older models. We have 14 types of switches in production and try to keep them at a baseline for compatibility, so we rarely use this function currently.
All management of the Catalyst is done by four tools:
- PRTG for monitoring.
- Own build PowerShell for updating every month.
- Own build PowerShell for getting or deploying configuration on all the devices.
- Cisco APIC-EM is used for the 2960-L switches to deploy configurations in the field.
Cisco Catalyst Switches have kept compatibility over the years, where HP and Huawei are changing this over time