3560 or 3750?

[NettableWalker]

Hi Everyone,

I'm getting the chance to rebuild the network at work, chuck out the old 3Coms switches and fill my comms rack with Cisco kit.

What's the difference in functional terms between the 3560 series and 3750 series switches?

Is a 3560G a good enough switch for a distribution layer, or would the 3750 provide something that the other can't do?

I'm grateful for any advice on this.

Cheers



MCP,CCA, Net+, 1 quarter CCNP...

 

[KiscoKid]

In my opinion, there isn't a lot to distinguish between the 3560 and the 3750. Both have comparable chassis configutations, both support PoE, both have similar MLS capabilities, both have similar backplanes and throughput performance.

The only thing that really comes to mind is that multiple 3750's can be stacked.

Cisco pitch both these switches as medium/enterprise level access switches. In my opinion though, they are perfectly adequate as a distribution switch in the right environment.

 

[NettableWalker]

Hi KiscoKid,

Thanks for that. I couldn't see any real diff between them.

I'll get the 3560's..

What's a good access switch these days that'll support QoS etc, are 2950's still worth buying or have these been relegated to cisco history?

MCP,CCA, Net+, 1 quarter CCNP...

 

[jdeisenm]

My 3560 has the "sfp" interfaces and the 2950 has the gbic. You'll have the get a "hybrid" fibre patch cable for one end. I don't think any 2950 has 10/100/1000 switchports, only 10/100. Beside that, I've got about 50 that have worked great for 3 years.

 

[jneiberger]

The 2950s are being replaced by the 2960s. There are 24- and 48-port versions of the 2960 that are 10/100/1000.

 

[wabob]

I myself prefer the 3750s. They are very flexible, and a stack (two to nine 3750s) forms one logical entity that only requires one IP address. Can do Layer 3 routing, too.

Just my two cents...

Experience is a tough teacher.
The test comes first, the lesson comes later...

 

[NettableWalker]

What's the story with SFP connections etc.

Currently I have fibre SC connectors that i'll need to connect the uplink ports of the swtiches to.

Is this just a matter of getting a SC to SFP fibre cable or does this require some kind of transducer thingy to plug in to the SFP ports?

MCP,CCA, Net+, 1 quarter CCNP...

 

[wabob]

All the SFP modules I have used have a duplex LC connector. This is for both singlemode and 62.5 multimode. The singlemode SFP works at 1 Gig and costs about $1000, the 62.5 multimode works at 100Mb and costs about $400.

You will need SC-to-duplex LC patch cords to uplink a 3750 or 3560 switch via an SFP module.

Experience is a tough teacher.
The test comes first, the lesson comes later...