SMI vs EMI

jegan537 · ‎10-22-2007

A quick poll if you please.

We are currently in the process of purchasing around 34 48 port POE 3750 stackable switches. One question that has come up is the version of the IOS on the switches.

At first, I was inclined to purchase all of the switches with the EMI version of software because the rest of our network uses OSPF and although we have a layer 2 network topology at the access layer as of right now, we are planning to slowly migrate to a access layer routed topology in the future. After looking at the routing topology, it would be feasible and relatively easy for us to use static routes for the access layer switches in our environment, however, I am concerned as to what other features might be available with the EMI version that we would not have with the SMI.

So, my question for the experts is:

What are the differences between EMI/SMI other than routing protocols?

Also:

Is it true that OSPF is only available in the EMI version or is there a standard version of OSPF available in the SMI and an enhanced in EMI? I have heard both.

Thanks very much for any responsesâ€¦

glen.grant · ‎10-22-2007

Thats true ospf is the ip services image , it is no longer smi or emi , it s ip base or ip services image . Ip services is the equivalent of EMI .If you plan on routing myself i would get the ip services image and just run ospf down to the access layer and forget the static routes . This page gives you some of the info you are looking for .

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/hw/switches/ps5023/products_qanda_item09186a00801b0971.shtml