Switch Choices

mfruvous · ‎10-20-2006

Hi,

We are in the process of upgrading our infrastructure. We are going to be deploying a Cisco VOIP system in our home office for about 110 people. We are going to replace all of our switches. We will be hiring a consultant to aid in the implementation and design. We have prelimanary designs from 2 different consultants and neither like the 3750's (did not think they were very good for VOIP, they both said they had lots of problems) as a choice. They have suggested we use the 3560's a 4500 or if we have the money, the 6500.

In one room we need 36GB ports for our servers and about 100 ports for our users. We will need 2 remote switches. One remote switch has 2 Cat6 cables to uplink (20 ports) and the other has a fiber uplink (2 users, 3 WAPs)

About 15-20 users will need GB connections.

If we use the 3560's if think there will be a very large oversubscription in the uplinks.

If we use the 4500 series I think there will be a large oversubscription on the server blade (8:1?).

I don't think I will ever be able to get the 6500 series ($$).

I am a novice. Am I right about the oversubscription and will it be as much of a problem as I think? Is there a way around it? Any suggestions on how to solve?

Thanks in advance.

ybajpai · ‎10-20-2006

3560 and 3750 have the same architecture internally except the addition of stack cables on the 3750. So a 3750 might be a better choice if you want 'scalable' solution by stacking 'em up. i cannot see how 3750 is 'bad' and 3560 is 'good' for the same design consideration.

As for the switch option, if you think you really need that much bandwidth, then you would have to pay a premium for it (ofcourse). work with you consultant to see if your applications really are that BW hogging.

yash

cliu · ‎10-24-2006

Only you can answer your question on the uplinks. There isn't enough information (specifically, what is your traffic like) to be able to answer that question.

What I can tell you is that I have rebuilt my infrastructure on 3750's due to their stacking capabilities. I believe the stacking cables are a 32 GB shared bus. We rarely go over 20% utilization of the links, but that number is meaningless since your environment is probably very different.

I would be concerned about any consultant that says the 3750's are good for VOIP. These were specifically recommended by our consultant (Berbee) for VOIP implementation. If you take a look at Berbee's Cisco credentials, they are about as good as they get. One thing you will need to pay attention to, is that you may need to get the EI on your core stacks to be able route the multicast that the VOIP will need.

Hope this helps.