Not all of use can read visios, please post as a .jpg/.png

Jon

here's how it is now.... jpg

Wow.  I've haven't seen a network cabled up like this for a long, long time.  Any reason why the switches are "lollipop-ed" like this?  Are they in different floors?  Different data racks?

If they are all in the same floor/data racks, I'd consider consolidating all the switch uplinks to a pair of 2960S or 3750.  Both the 2960S and the 3750/3750E/3750X can be stacked.

Note:  Your diagram shows your switches to be using "switch cluster" and not stack.

Best Regards/Leo

"If they are all in the same floor/data racks, I'd consider consolidating all the switch uplinks to a pair of 2960S or 3750.  Both the 2960S and the 3750/3750E/3750X can be stacked."

They are all in the same room in 3 racks as shown in the first diagram.

I'm just looking for a yes or a no as to whether I would be able to cable them up like in the 2nd diagram with the 2960S.

If not which switches do I need to do this?

Here's the proposed jpg:

What exactly you want to achieve

1. Resilience - Correct

But couple of questions to answer

1. Do you have estimation of what would be uplink bandwidth requirement - there are no applications requiring high bandwidth - there is WAN traffic, local exchange 2003 and file server.

2. How much would be distance between central switches second switches - all switches are within a few metres of each other.

3. why you want to cascade and making three tier instead you can make it two tier (this will save the ports of intermediate switch and chances of failure) - yes you are correct, I don't need to cascade the switches. Two tier is good.

4. Do you want to dedicate centralized switches for central connectivity - centralised switch(s) will also provide Gbit links for servers using Teamed NIC's across the switch with only one active.

5. can be used etherchannel technology if more bandwidth required...- if I need to use etherchannel to achieve goal then OK.

6. Do you have budget for new switches or constraint to use existing switches - constraint to use existing switches but want to add minimum hardware required to make this work, ie a pair of 2960S in a stacked pair.

7. What would be VLAN requirement for each sw - VLAN's are flat - ie they are not used.

I also do not require the switch to act as router. Reslilience is the only requirement at present.

Kindly consider and respond back so that we can progress on propose topology - thankyou for your time.

Anybody able to answer this relatively simple question?

Thanks

I tried to simplify the topology and provid

ed answer in the diagram attached.. this will provide redundancy and max port availability for you..

Paul,

Of course you can cable up to the way you proposed.  But I'll tell you one thing ... STP is going to be a b1tch!

Using a 2950 or plain 2960 is something I wouldn't use.  I would consider looking for a switch that'll support StackWise like the 2960S and 3750/3750X/3750E.