Cisco Switches, can a newbie survive?

[bobcat]

I'm on a really poorly designed network of about 70 users. Basically, it's a 10bt network with a lot of old hubs chaining off one another (ugh). A company we're working with says they'll get us a deal with Cisco so we can trade in all these old hubs for new cisco switches, and at a decent price. I have a feeling they will drop off a bunch of switches at my doorstep and expect me to set them all up.

The problem is, I know absolutely nothing about cisco switches. Shoot, the first Cisco product I ever even touched was a 1600 router we got about a month ago.

I guess what I'm wondering is, is there a lot of setup to them? Will it be hair-pulling-week that week, or what? I know a decent amount about networking, and I learn stuff about the IOS every day on the 1600, so who knows..

Anyway, any suggestions?

 

[webnetwiz]

Dude, you came to the right place. This technical community will provide you with help and guidance. Also, if your company can afford it, get access to the Cisco Connection Online, which will be a priceless tool. You can get access by buying a service contract, which also gives you access to tech support.

Now let's talk about your network. If Cisco drops off the switches at your doorstep, you could just replace all of your hubs with switches, turn on the power, and it will work, giving you 100Mbit switched environment.
The only reason you'd need to get inside the switch is to configure advanced features of the device.

For example, I have a Nortel Baystack 350T switch, and although it's a managed switch, I've never configured it because it replaced a 16 port hub, and that's all I wanted to do. No configuration was necessary, and same applies to Cisco.

 

[wybnormal]

After you turn on the switches.. now this does assume something nicer like 2900s ( not the 1924s).. you need to give each switch an IP address and mask. This is a good idea even if you *have* to so now you can telnet and manage the switches.

installation guide..

http://www.cisco.com/univercd/cc/td/doc/product/lan/c2900xl/29_35wc/2900hig/index.htm

Just a helpful idea

MikeS "Diplomacy; the art of saying 'nice doggie' till you can find a rock" Wynn Catlin

 

[Guest_imported]

first, The trade in credit for Cisco competitive upgrades is very real, and in some cases, a sizeable amount that you will save by trading in otherwise obsolesent gear.

Second, any company worth their salt would not just drop these switches off at your door. Thwy should be proposing implementation services as well, which may include upfront design time, implementation activity, knowledge transfer, and post implementation follow up with documentation on the network, including smartnet numbers, ip addresses, diagrams, copies of the configuration, etc. For a network your size, depending on the amount of services you want, you are looking at a 8 -40 hour project. When I do these types of projects, I like to have the customer drive while I talk them through the configuration, helps with comprehension.

Third, access to the cisco web site can be had even without a SMARTnet contract. You just can't see as much. However, what you can still see is quite a bit.

Finally, while you can certainly just install all these switches without configuration and achieve a functioning network, based on the number of users, and the likely hood that you will only have 1 VLAN, I would highly advise asgainst it. There are a number of configuration elements that will improve the stability and efficiency of your network. This includes such things as PORTFAST, SPEED and DUPLEX settings, TRUNKING, FAST ETHERCHANNEL, ETC.

If you have any further questions, feel free to ask.

Regards,

Gmatteson