SMB Cisco design swithces

[lsoleim]

Hi,

Today our network consist of 3x2960 switches in a flat VLAN domain and it is about 100 users. 50 of these users are heavily accessing a SAN and have 1 Gb access. Does anyone have any suggestion for a design where we want to upgrade to 600 users and 100 of these are heavy SAN "users". I am looking for a access/distribution/core model with Cisco production switch models. Scalability, redundancy and cost is of course an issue. BR, Leif

[Joseph W. Doherty]

You show a green stack cable between the pair of 4900Ms, but these are not stackable switches. You can link them using their normal ports.

It's unclear the role the 3560Es play in the access layer.

Depending on the need for the gig and 10 gig core ports, a pair of 3560E-12Ds or 3560E-12SDs might work. (Believe they would be less expensive than 4900Ms.)

[lsoleim]

The 3560Es in the access layer are switches for the heavy SAN users. So they have 10 Gig uplinks to Core and SAN. The other 2975 switches are used for administrative/office users. The core need for now 6 10 Gig uplinks and the need for scalability in the future. So it might be a good idea to use the 3560s in the Core as well?

[Joseph W. Doherty]

Re: 3560E-12SDs in access

Depends on what you need for downstream ports, for this model it has the 10 gig uplinks and SFP gig ports. If the gig ports were copper, the 2350 (suggested by Leo) would likely be less expensive (and also provide more gig ports).

Re: 3560E-12Ds in core

Here too depends on number, and type, of ports required. The 3560E-12D only provides twelve 10 gig ports, although these ports also support twin gig. The 4900M, because of its dual modules slots, provides you more port options (and also more ports). However, I would expect this unit to be more expensive vs. the 3560E-12D.

BTW, here's a nice little At-A-Glance whitepaper on using a 4900M in a two-tier collapsed core/distribution, although the 3560E, I believe, could do so as well. http://www.cisco.com/en/US/prod/collateral/switches/ps5718/ps6021/ps9310/aag_c45_439359.pdf