3550 vs 3560

[netchaser]

I am in the middle of deciding a 3550 or 3560.

My main concern is the ability of either switch to handle 802.1x. According to a couple of Cisco Techs, 3550 should be able to do 802.1x just like the 3560.

I am looking at if there's any feature that's new or updated in the 3560 that I should be aware of. I know that the 3560, other than the obvious newer hardware and ASICs, can do hardware IPv6 routing, SRR, Multidomain Authentication and port based private vlans. Does anyone know if there are more features that are new to the 3560?

Thanks,
Thomson

 

[brianinms]

Both do 802.1x ... if you are buying a new switch I would buy the 3560 as the 3550 will be end of sale and then end of life as the 3560 is the 3550's replacement.

 

[netchaser]

Hey Brianinms,

I am working under a budget so it's a bit tough. That's why I am looking to see if there's any "special" or "new" feature sets in 3560 that I should consider over the 3550.

 

[brianinms]

Working under a budget and implementing 802.1x don't seem to go had in had. Seeing that the 3550's are End of sale, were you considering buying them second hand? The main reason for buying 3560's is that you can cover them under smartnet. You could only get a used 3550 covered under smartnet after cisco certifies that it is in working condition, which is going to cost more than the 3560. In addition you could use a 2960 as it supports 802.1x.

 

[netchaser]

Yes, I agree.

I guess my point is to see if there's anything on the 3560 that I should really consider to be "special features" that I can't get from 3550

 

[brianinms]

Well even the fact you can run BGP on a 3560 is a good feature, but if you arent going to use it I wouldnt consider it special.

 

[ADB100]

Just some differences between the 3550 and the 3560:

You can't do egress QoS (serice policies) on the 3560, you can on a 3550..... HSRP 32 instance limitation on the 3560, not on the 3550..... 12.2(25)SEE and earlier on 3560 suffers from pathetic TCP performance when QoS is enabled..... 3750 suffers from the same issues as well.

Personally I prefer the 3550 - far too advanced for it's day. However we are now stuck with the fact the 3550 is EOS (and will be EOL earlier than the 3560/3750) so the way forward has to be the 3560(E). Cisco have addressed (IMO) the main issue with the 3560/3750 (TCP performance with QoS enabled) in recent IOS so as long as you design the network correctly the 3560 fits right in where the 3550 did, plus it's up in the performance stakes....

Andy

 

[burtsbees]

Equipment that goes End Of Sale will have 5 years and 6 months before End Of Life, but only 5 years before you can no longer get SmartNet, and during that 5 years the coverage gets less and less.

Burt

 

[vipergg]

3550 , as you can see they have already stopped development of the IOS model . Obsolete in 3 years and no support after that .

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