Max 3750's in a stack in the real world

[lee.messenger]

Hi,

Could anyone give me some of their experiences with using 3750 stacks on production networks. I realise that the max switches per stack is 9, but what I'm interested in is whether this number is realistic, or whether for the purpose of reliability, I should be looking to only have 5 or 6 switches per stack. Any thoughts and experiences would be most appreciated.

[sachinraja]

I guess the stack technology works really fine on the core.. The biggest advantage being the 32 Gbps backplane between the switches... practically the stacked switches (5 o 6 nos) will look like a one BIG 6509 switch , say with SUP 32.. what is the basic requirement here?? if there are too many ports on the core, i guess u can look at a dual 6500's, which will reduce the complexity on your network. If there are too many 3750's on the core, there are multiple points of failures on ur network. Keep the number of passive devices as low as possible on ur network, which can reduce the complexity on ur network..

also with 6500's u have options of services modules like fwsm, idsm etc being introduced on ur network.. 6500's can easily be upgraded from 32 Gbps to a future 720 Gbps, by just replacing a card. This is not possible with the 3750 stacks...

consider all these points.. hope this helps.. rate replies if found useful..

Raj

[mark.hodge]

This is partialy a cost / feature analysis. Depending upon the models of 3750 in the stack, it may be more cost efficient and a more feature ritch solution to go for 4510 or 6509 devices.

[Wilson Samuel]

Hi,

The StackWise technology used by the 3750 is quite salient, which makes multiple units behave like single unit.

On my personal evaluation, one should go ahead with the 3750s if the requirement is of Collapsed Core/Distribution Layer environment, with no or less scope of adding any services i.e. no requirements for any specialized services (FWSM / FlexWAN etc hence replacing 6500) or any specialized L-2 protocols (ie. no requirements for Fiber ports etc. hence replacing the 4500s).

Moreover the requirement for higher port-desnsity is desiered.

Then the 3750s along with the StackWise Technology does an excellent job, and it does provide even Fault-Tolerance by enabling us to use the Ether-Channel across 2 different units!

I hope this helps.

Also please write back to us if you requoire more granular information about the product.

Regards,

Wilson Samuel

PS: Please rate if it helps.

[whilenski]

We've got stacks of 3750's that currently go as high as 6 or 7 members in a stack, and they appear to work fine. These stacks are usually setup (in the network here, anyway) as mainly access switches, some with a combined ability of a core switch for the campus with end user ports as well.

The only issue that I'll bring up that I've noticed with these stacks, is occasionally we will get a copper 10/100 port that will fail to work until that single switch is reloaded, and then it works fine. But, as far as reliability goes, they definitely do a good job and are stable.