soadlink
join:2002-11-17
Kalispell, MT
| [HELP] Why Cisco instead other brands?
Ok probably a very noob question because I dont know a lot about Cisco equipment.. but here goes.
What is the advantage of purchasing a Cisco 10/100 switch (preferably the 2950 series with 24 ports) over a Linksys, Netgear, etc. switch? I notice that the Cisco products are a lot more $... and I could purchase a switch from the other companies for cheaper (half the price in some cases) that still give me 24 ports, 10/100 switching, rackmount, etc. (example here: »www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a···33124043)
When looking at a used cisco 2950 24 port 10/100 on ebay, the price still gets to $300+ while some are $100 - 200
So what are the advantages of getting Cisco over the cheaper brands? I know Linksys is a division of cisco... but why is a Linksys or Netgear brand switch cheaper than the cisco brand.
Didnt mean to make that so long, but just wondering about this  thanks in advance for the help |
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Psychephylax
Purveyor of common sense
Premium,VIP,MVM
join:2000-10-29
Smithtown, NY
clubs: | Probably the major factor is support. Cisco practically gives away their gear to some of my clients but they make it up on service contracts.
Cisco is usually a lot more flexible and has more features too. |
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snarohyans
join:2005-11-10
Indianapolis, IN
| Well, as far as your example is concerned....the 2950 is a managed switch (meaning you can configure just about every parameter of the switch). With the exception of a few, Linksys and Netgear switches are unmanaged (meaning you just plug them in and they go...there is no additional configuration). Also, another factor of note is that Cisco switches can be upgraded with improved Operating Systems (IOS) to add additional features and enhancements. Basically, it all boils down to "you get what you pay for." Hence the reason that you will still find almost 10 year old switches and routers in production environments competing with even the latest technology.
oh and P.S....Cisco owns like 90% of the Routing and Switching market share....I guess when you command the market, you can charge what you want 
just my two cents...
later,
Aaron |
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soadlink
join:2002-11-17
Kalispell, MT | reply to soadlink
Is it pretty easy to manage the 'managed' switches? On the average Cisco switch, how would you go about configuring and managing them? Thanks for the help so far! |
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Psychephylax
Purveyor of common sense
Premium,VIP,MVM
join:2000-10-29
Smithtown, NY
clubs:
| said by soadlink  :Is it pretty easy to manage the 'managed' switches? On the average Cisco switch, how would you go about configuring and managing them? Thanks for the help so far! :D Are they easy to manage? Well, that actually depends on your knowledge of the IOS. There are numerous books on the subject from beginner to advanced. The difficulty is usually not in "managing" the switch/router/firewall but understanding what exactly you are trying to do and the ramifications of using the parameters you are using.
Configuring them is usually done via a console session (always) or telnet if you configure the device that way.
Here's a basic configuration of a Cisco uBR924 cable modem to enable some additional logging:
Router con0 is now available
Press RETURN to get started.
Router>enable
Password: [masked]
Router#configure terminal
Router(config)#int Ethernet 0
Router(config-if)#logging event link-status
Router(config-if)#^Z
Router#
133.CABLEMODEM.CISCO: 1d12h: %SYS-5-CONFIG_I: Configured from console by console
There's LOTS more you can do with switches.
--
Stupidity, like hydrogen, is one of the basic building blocks of the Universe.
I'm re-moo-ing!!!
My Gallery * My Journal |
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codydog
join:2001-11-29
Newport, RI
| I bought an 871 for the speeds and Cisco's rep. I can only say that I had a problem one night at midnight and with-in an hour a Cisco rep was on the phone with me and fixed it.
The extra couple hundred bucks it may cost compared to other brands seems high at purchase, but the cost to run/maintain drops significantly after a cisco rep fixes your problem at 1AM so you can work in the morning.
Cisco's service level is amazing. But you have to make clear to the rep that you're not a techie and hate tech talk - then they calm down and speak in non-tech terms. Otherwise, its like talking to a Martian. But some techies may dig that! |
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aryoba
Premium,MVM
join:2002-08-22
edit:
November 22nd, @11:16AM
| Especially the new Cisco product lines, they have what is called GUI (Graphic User Interface). This feature enables the Cisco product to be configurable easily via Web browser you already have on your computer (i.e. Netscape, Internet Explorer); similar to other brand like Linksys or Netgear.
As codydog mentioned, Cisco products may cost higher than other from SOHO user perspectives. The reason is that Cisco sees reliability as #1 priority. Cisco products are designed for business-class environment where the unreliable product effect cost higher (or much higher) than the equipment buying price itself.
As example, "network down due to questionable product reliability" is not something that business-class environment can tolerate since the effect can be of $1-million loss.
Now for SOHO users such situation may not ever apply since obviously such big businesses use the high-end gears or products. Fortunately Cisco SOHO products also carry the same reliability as the high-end products have. Therefore now SOHO users can have same reliability with SOHO (much lower) cost compared to the high-end gears.
Not only the Cisco representative can work with you in any condition as codydog mentioned, Cisco support also include firmware upgrade with more and more enrichment. In addition, Cisco offer free network support to suit any network design.
For more info, you can check out this forum's FAQ under "Product and Services" and other sections. You can also go directly to Cisco website for more direct info. |
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rolande
Certifiable
Premium,Mod
join:2002-05-24
Powell, OH
clubs:
Host:
Linksys
AT&T Midwest
| reply to soadlink
In addition to the management capabilities, no one mentioned the fact that a Cisco switch will typically have much greater aggregate throughput capability across the switch backplane than a typical SOHO switch. It isn't a big deal in the majority of small networks. But when you start pushing larger amounts of traffic from multiple systems simultaneously, it can make all the difference in the world.
The industry terms associated with backplane capability with respect to port density are "blocking" or non-blocking" architecture. If a switch has 24 10/100 ports but its backplane can only handle 1 Gbps of throughput that is considered to be a blocking switch. If all 24 ports are running at 100Mbps you could potentially have 2.4Gbps of traffic flowing through the switch which is much greater than the 1Gbps of capacity. Frames start getting dropped when you reach the backplane threshold for data transfer.
--
Ignorance is temporary...stupidity lasts forever! |
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Cisco Newb
@69.88.x.x
| Well, I know that I've been using Linksys for years. I got a cisco 871 a few months ago and it is a CHAMP! It never goes down, it never slows down, it never complains, and it does anything I tell it to. I wish I could find a girl like that (minus the "never goes down" part ) It's the best router I've ever seen in action. |
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MrTwister
join:2003-09-27
Hilliard, OH
| reply to soadlink
I totally agree with what snarohyans, PEBKAC an
the others have said. Yeah they price can seem
a bit high, but most of the equipment is enterprise
grade. When treated properly (ie conditioned power,
UPS, etc), these things will last forever (err well
just about). I've lost my screen print, but we
had a few devices that up until a major power outtage
a few months back and our diesel generator ran out
of fuel, had an uptime of 9years 6 months and some
change. These obviously haven't had to be rebooted,
upgraded but still amazing.
Cisco's routers are built to route and move serious packets.
The C3745 router if you look at the clock speed, you'd think
350Mhz is kinda slow, but believe me it's not. The thing
that ends up limiting your options on what you can do,
usually ends up being how much memory (dram) and how much flash you have in your router. There are soo many flavors
of Cisco IOS, that it will make your head spin, but you've
got the option to pick the IOS that best suits your needs.
Which brings me to the switches. Besides being managed
switches, with the ability to have multiple vlans on the same switch, trunk ports, and etherchannel you can group
uplink ports and create a large uplink trunk, and also factor in redundancy. Most of the higher level
IOS based switches (ie c3550,3750, etc) also have the ability to do layer 3 routing. If advance routing features are needed, you just swap out the SMI version of the IOS for a EMI version. The ASIC circuits and other hardware features in these switches allow you to restrict users/
devices, and such to ports, down to the MAC level. You can
also utilize 802.1X security.
Since Cisco bought linksys some time back, I'm really looking forward to what they're doing to do with that
product line. |
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