Do I need 1 or 2 Smart Switches?

dennypage

You can't just paste the pertinent stuff back. It ends up being more complicated than that. And by the time you have the experience necessary to hand edit the config, you have learned enough to know that you want preserve your options and put the unit in mode 3 from the beginning. Even if you have no immediate need for layer 3 routing, there is no advantage to leaving it in mode 2.

johnpoz

Other than less overhead of something your not using..

I am fairly freaking sure I can past my port configs and what vlans they are in back in.. Not like the syntax of commands change for gosh sake..

I half mind to switch it layer 3 just to prove my point ;)

dennypage

In the for what it's worth category, I installed my first SG350 (replacement for the SG300) yesterday. They have completely done away with the system mode setting. :)

jahonix

You wanna say it's always in L3 mode?

BTW: Can you tell differences between 300 and 350 series? I find them extremely hard to find on Cisco's pages… :(

johnpoz

Huh? What are you looking for on cisco?

http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/products/switches/350-series-managed-switches/index.html
http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/products/switches/small-business-300-series-managed-switches/index.html

jahonix

The differences between SG300 and SG350.
Like compare SG300-10 and SG300-20 features and technical data. I know those tables.

Or any other document which describes what's new in 350 series.
Basically I don't want to campare the complete feature sets myself, only the diffs.

dennypage

@jahonix:

You wanna say it's always in L3 mode?

BTW: Can you tell differences between 300 and 350 series? I find them extremely hard to find on Cisco's pages… :(

I wasn't able to find any meaningful comparison of the two series on Cisco's site either. I'm guessing that is intentional.

Yes, the main unit itself is always L3. The biggest change that I've noticed is that the 350 has true IPv6 support, and actually appears to route IPv6 at "wire speed". Other things of note include double the TCAM entries (includes IPv6), sFlow support, remote SPAN support for interface or vlan mirroring, L2/L3 on a per interface basis, policy based routing, and port flap monitoring. It also purports to be truly stackable.

There is a new UI. Mostly good. The built in help effectively replaces the Admin Guide and is pretty good. Couple of annoying things: it seems to ignore the idle timer settings and logs you out every two minutes (I assume this is a bug); it has a basic/advanced display mode which would be fine except that basic mode hides almost all IPv6 settings. It also has SNA (Smart Network Application) which I do not have a good use for yet.

One thing that I thought was rather nice is that the 10 port version can itself be powered by upstream POE ports with pass power through to downstream ports. It can also be used as a backup power to an AC adapter. Kinda sweet.

The big disappointment (for me) is that gigabit port to port latency has not improved. Still 2450ns for idle, 3200ns under load for the 10 port unit. The 28 port should offer slightly better numbers (200-300ns), but I haven't tested it yet.

johnpoz

"It also purports to be truly stackable."

Huh where are you seeing that you can stack it? The SG500 series is stackable.. Maybe your thinking the 350X ?

dennypage

I'm aware that it's not in the data sheet John. It's in the UI help and in the configs. I don't have a second 350 unit to confirm or deny, hence the term "purports."

Derelict

I thought the stackable (max 4) part was the 350X.

johnpoz

And does it have a stack port on the back of it? How exactly are you suppose to stack it?

Looking online for images of the sg350 and do not see any place that would allow to connect the stack..

dennypage

Perhaps I wasn't clear enough. I only have the 10 port sg350 at this time. Stacking, if it exists on the 350, would be with the 28 or 48 port models, which I have not yet had my hands on. The admin guide directly implies that the 350 series is stackable, and stack information is kicked out in the saved configs, even for the 10 port. Of course, this may be an unintended consequence of Cisco choosing to use the same firmware in the sg350 and sg350x series. I honestly don't know. If the stackable distinction is important to you, I would recommend reaching out to Cisco. Btw, there is no separate physical stack port. According to the admin guide, the standard uplink ports are used for stacking.

NogBadTheBad

Oddly there's no mention on the main page for the sg350 saying it stacks but on the 350x it does :-

http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/products/collateral/switches/350x-series-stackable-managed-switches/datasheet-c78-735986.html?referring_site=RE&pos=3&page=http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/products/collateral/switches/small-business-smart-switches/data-sheet-c78-737359.html

Stacking commands here :-

http://www.cisco.com/c/dam/en/us/td/docs/switches/lan/csbms/350xg/cli_guide/CLI_Switch_350.pdf

jahonix

Gentlemen, have a look yourself:
Cisco Small Business Online Device Emulators

IIRC, you can even get an SG300-10 in a "stacked mode" from CLI. Well…

jahonix

BTW, 300-series switches are not even end-of-sale yet.

300-series_status.png_thumb

johnpoz

dude is there a port to stack it with or not?

As to end of sale.. Pretty sure this looks like end of sale for some of them..

http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/products/collateral/switches/small-business-stackable-managed-switches/eos-eol-notice-c51-733213.pdf

But looks like its just model number of specific sg300's There clearly could of been a misread there.. I thought it funny that I thought mine was end of sw support back in april but one came out in may, and then another just last month.. So that is clearly a good thing.

If you can stack it there has to be a port to stack with.. So can you send picture of yours that has this port..

endoflife.png_thumb

jahonix

@johnpoz:

dude is there a port to stack it with or not?

Don't shoot me, I'm the messanger only…
IIRC, SG500 uses SFP+ ports for stacking with up to 5Gbps, don't they? Is that considered dedicated?

@johnpoz:

As to end of sale.. Pretty sure this looks like end of sale for some of them..
…
But looks like its just model number of specific sg300's

While the headline reads
End-of-Sale and End-of-Life Announcement for the Cisco Small Business Stackable Managed Switches
it is obvious that it should be "some" not "the". Even in that list are lots of SG300 switches and Cisco itself calls them "Small Business Stackable" for whatever reason.

BTW, johnpoz, did you find any documents or other references explainig the diffs between SG300 and SG350 switches?

johnpoz

You are correct, upon looking deeper the 500 series uses specific sfp ports, or specific normal ports, etc..

http://www.cisco.com/c/dam/en/us/td/docs/switches/lan/csbms/Sx500/quick_start/en/500_Series_QSG_En.pdf
The default stack ports on the 500X are XG3/S1 and XG4/S2. If the correct module is plugged into XG3/S1 and XG4/S2, the switch should be able to detect the connection and configure the speed according to the module capability without any manual configuration. The 5G/S1 and 5G/S2 interfaces on the 500X need to be configured manually via the CLI or web-based interface in order to utilize these ports as stack ports

But if you ask me this is not a real stack ;) Isn't the stack bandwidth with like a 3750 and stackwise cables like 64gbps - this seems like nothing more than a fancy daisychain ;) If your going to be limited to say 10ge or 5 or 1gpbs..