What Switch for This application

[kalyanccie]

Dear Members

I want a switch with the following features and requirments, can someone help me out.

GigaBit Ethernet Ports = 4

10/100 Ports = 12

MM Fiber GBIC Modules = 2

Waiting for a solution

regards

[konigl]

The smallest Cisco switch that most closely meets your required features is probably one of the following two.

Cisco Catalyst 3750G-24TS-E (WS-C3750G-24TS-E)

* 24 Ethernet 10/100/1000 ports and 4 small form-factor pluggable (SFP) transceiver-based Gigabit Ethernet ports

* 32-Gbps, high-speed stacking bus

* Innovative stacking technology

* 1.5 rack unit (RU) stackable, multilayer switch

* Enterprise-class intelligent services delivered to the network edge

* Enhanced Multilayer Image Software (EMI) installed with

* Full dynamic IP routing

or

Cisco Catalyst 3750G-24-TS-S (WS-C3750G-24TS-S)

* 24 Ethernet 10/100/1000 ports and 4 SFP-based Gigabit Ethernet ports

* 32-Gbps, high-speed stacking bus

* Innovative stacking technology

* 1.5 RU stackable, multilayer switch

* Enterprise-class intelligent services delivered to the network edge

* Standard Multilayer Software Image (SMI) installed

* Basic RIP and static routing, upgradeable to full dynamic IP routing

The 24 Ethernet 10/100/1000 ports cover your need for 12 10/100 ports, plus 4 Gigabit Ethernet ports (and you have an extra 8 more to use in either role).

The 4 small SFP Gigabit Ethernet ports take modular fiber optic transceivers, so this satisfies the need for 2 MM fiber optic Gigabit ports (and you have an extra 2 of these).

SFPs are slightly smaller than GBICs, but they also come in SX (MMF only), LX/LH (MMF/SMF), or ZX (SMF only) flavors. List prices of these are identical to Cisco's GBICs. The only practical difference is the connectors you will need at one end of your fiber patch cables: the SFPs take LC, whereas the GBICs take SC.

If this single unit does not meet your needs specifically because it does not take GBICs (which would be a problem if you already had lots of GBICs that you would like to re-use), then what you are looking for involves either a combination of stackables which take GBICs (such as the 2950 or 3550 series), or a chassis switch with several different line cards/modules. Both of which will be more expensive solutions.

Hope this helps.

[kalyanccie]

That helped greatly

thanks a lot for taking some time for me.

i have one doubt now, can i have GBIC on one side and SFP on another side ?

regards

[konigl]

A GBIC on one side and an SFP on the other side of a link is fine, as long as they are of the same type: SX, LX/LH, or ZX.

Each type transmits and receives at a specific wavelength, so the two ends of a link need to match. SX is 850-nanometer, LX/LH is 1300nm, and ZX is 1550nm wavelength.

850nm and 1300nm work on multimode fiber (MMF); 1300nm and 1550nm work on single-mode fiber (SMF).

At distances over 250 meters and up to 550 meters on MMF, the 1300nm wavelength GBICs/SFPs need to use a special kind of patch cable called a mode conditioning patch cable. This patch cable launches the LX/LH optical signal into the MMF in such a way that the signal makes it to the other end reliably. This lets you use MMF for distances over 220-275m, where the SX optics just just don't work. (Many networks have MMF left over from previous Ethernet, FDDI, Fast Ethernet, or ATM OC-3c installations, where those technologies could carry signals out to 2km. In many cases, re-using existing MMF is less expensive than installing new SMF cable for Gigabit.)

1550nm is used for extra-long distance applications. Often, the laser transmission signal is so strong on 1550nm light sources that it overwhelms the the receiving optics at "short to medium" long distances. In these cases, in-line optical attenuators (think of them as sunglasses for your GBIC/SFP) must be used on the RX port to reduce the intensity of the incoming signal to a level it can handle.