Cisco Catalyst Switches Reviews

1. Cisco 2960 catalysts switch has lots of security features (Port Security, block DHCP snooping, VLAN).
2. I can create a stack with multiple Cisco 2960 switch which improve availability
3. I can create a port channel by merging multiple port of multiple switches which help me transfer large amounts of data traffic between serveres and it also increases reliability if one switch port becomes damaged.
4. It provides PoE (Power over Ethernet) which helps me easily setup Cisco wireless AP and IP phones at any office location.
5. RSPAN (Remote Switch Port Analyzer) enables me to monitor network traffic flow with of NMS software.
6. VTP (VLAN Trunking Protocol) helps me to transfer VLAN configuration from one switch to multiple switches.

1. It does not provide any expansion slots so I cannot increase the number of ports.
2. If most of the switch ports get damaged than you have to replace the whole switch.

It is a nice product for enterprises and small businesses. It is a small switch with a lot of features.

I use the tool in my company for spine and leaf architectures and to deploy new data centers.

The benefit of the tool is that it is a stable product. You can find enough expertise in the market to hire someone for help if required. Cisco's technical support is great.

Cisco Catalyst Switches offer familiarity with operating systems. The operational knowledge that I have gained after working with Cisco for around ten to twelve years is the sole reason I prefer it. The stability in the operations that I get with Cisco Catalyst Switches, the support it offers to users through the articles available over the internet, and the expertise related to the tool available in the market are good.

There are multiple operating systems across Cisco's portfolio, which is problematic. Cisco's firewall has some different operating systems, while Cisco's routers have a different operating system, so you might need to have people with different expertise, and the learning curve might be a little high as compared to other network providers, which might have common operating systems across different types of devices.

I have been using Cisco Catalyst Switches for ten to twelve years. Currently, I'm not working with Cisco. I have my own startup organization where I provide services related to networking devices.

It is a stable solution. I have no complaints about the tool's stability.

It is a scalable solution.

Around 100 people in my company use the tool.

I have experience with the solution's technical support. I found Cisco's support team to be one of the best in the industry.

I rate the overall tool a seven and a half out of ten.

Neutral

It doesn't take much time to set up any Cisco device, but again, it depends on how comfortable you are with the tool. From my personal viewpoint, Cisco Catalyst Switches are pretty much easy to set up.

The product's deployment phase initially starts with a discovery and a design workshop. After that, our company mostly automates a lot of stuff based on the design and discovery workshop, where we come up with some artifacts with respect to configuration, and then we leverage some automation tools to deploy it.

The solution is deployed on an on-premises model.

Depending on the size of the deployment, around eight to ten people are required from an operation standpoint, and not more than two people are required to manage the deployment process.

The solution can be deployed with help from an in-house team.

The licenses are definitely expensive. There is a need to make annual payments towards the subscription or licensing costs attached to the solution.

Before a user picks up any product or solution, due diligence should be followed. Though Cisco offers many services, features, and functionalities, better solutions might be available in the market. If users need only ten features, it is better to choose a solution that offers only ten features rather than opting for something like Cisco, which offers over a hundred features, making it an expensive product.

I rate the overall tool a seven and a half out of ten.

Cisco offers DNS features over other vendors.

The product could be simpler and cheaper.

I have been using Cisco Catalyst Switches for over 5-10 years. We are using the 9000 series of the solution.

The product is stable.

Switches are scalable in terms of logical configurations at VLAN. It is scalable because it depends on whether it is a manageable or non-manageable suite.

The product is expensive. They charge for support. It comes with many options that are not understandable.

Aruba and Dell are offering switches, too.

Overall, I rate the solution a seven out of ten.