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Introduction to Cisco Network Devices

Cisco Networking

Cisco has been providing networking equipment since December 1984.

Cisco is going to be the defacto learning for nTRaaS; Cisco provides many different technologies and options when it comes to networking. 
Some of these include:

  • ISR - Integrated Services Routers
  • ASR - Aggregration Services Routers
  • CSR - Cloud Services Routers
  • Virtual Routers
    • CSR1000v
    • ISRv
  • All copper configured switches have the ability to run in either Ethernet (T) and PoE - Power Over Ethernet (P)
  • One other thing to remember is the naming conventions with Cisco as you have to worry about port counts, port types (copper and sfp), port speeds (100 meg, 1 gig, 2.5 gig, 5 gig, 10 gig, 25 gig, 40 gig, 100 gig, 400 gig, etc)

  • Catalyst layer 2 and layer 3 switches
    • Desktop based switching with low throughput, quiet fanless
      • 2960CX - A layer 2 only switch, copper only in 8 or 12 port configuration - I believe this switch is End Of Sale
      • 3560CX - A layer 3 switch, copper only in an 8 or 12 port configuration
      • 1000 - A layer 3 switch that provides many of the next gen network support to desktops and small business
      • Check out the cisco Catalyst 1000 line of switches here
      • Check out the cisco Catalyst 1000 data sheet here
      • The 1000 series is the replacement for the 2960 and 3560CX desktop switches

    • Campus based switching providing higher throughput and stacking capabilities for high availability
      • 9300 - A layer 3 switch (with licensing) that provides access layer campus networking
        • Check out the Cisco Catalyst 9300 data sheet here
        • The Catalyst 9300 series switches come in a 1ru copper or sfp configuration
        • The C9300 series switches have the ability to do both physical stacking of power and networking
          • Having powered and network stacking makes multiple network device appear as if it were a single device, allowing for power and the network to continue functioning even if a switch should fail
          • There is a physical limitation of how many devices can be stacked, as of this writing a maximum of 9 C9300 series switches can be stacked
          • Stacking in the C9300, as well as the older 3650 and 3850 series, is called StackWise

      • 9500 - A layer 3 switch (with licensing) that provides campus core and distribution networking
        • Check out the Cisco Catalyst 9500 data sheet here
        • The Catalyst 9500 series switches come in a 1ru sfp only configuration
        • The C9500 series switches do not have the ability to do physical stacking, they do have the ability to use StackWise Virtual or SWV
        • SWV is a technology that uses an older method of creating a redundant pair of core/distributiong switches: VSS or the Virtual Switching System; SWV allowes 2 larger switches to appear as a single switch giving the ability of the access layer redundant EtherChannel connectivity providing aggregate bandwidth and redundancy between devices

    • Modular Campus LAN Core/Distribution Switches
      • As existing modular chassis are becoming old and obsolete, the Catalyst 6500 and 6800 series are being replaced by the new C9000 series switches:
      • One thing to keep in mind, the modular chassis act like the stackwise connectivity in the 3850 and 9300, you will have multiple redundant supervisor modules that handle the control plane of the chassis
        • The supervisors in a modular chassis allow a system to have one supervisor offline for maintenance or failover if there is a hardware/software failure in the device
        • Just like the 9500 series switches, these modular chassis also have the ability to run StackWise Virtual, SWV, to provide even more hardware rednudancy within the Core/Distribution layer
        • The C9400 and C9600 have all the same software capabilities but where they differ is in the line card compatibility and the throughput. ie. the 9600 has a backplane up to 25.6 Tbps and the 9400 has a backplane up to 9 Tbps. Deciding on which platform you need will depend on the needs of the environment

      • Cisco Catalyst 9400 - Comes in a 4, 7, and 10 slot chassis: 9404, 9407, and 9410

      • Cisco Catalyst 9600 - The high performance 9606 only comes in a 6 slot chassis
  • Cisco has created dedicated Data Center switches that were configured specifically for dual physical supervisor uplinks providing high availability and fault tolerance in an environment that requires a 5 9's uptime, or 99.999% uptime
  • Firewalls
  • Network Management
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