Layer 3 Switches

Mon Jun 29 15:46:53 UTC 2020

On 6/26/20 10:53 PM, Nathaniel Wingard via NANOG wrote:
> I’m looking to replace some access switches (Cisco Catalyst 3750 and 
> 3560G). I really just need L2 features (stacking, PoE+, VLAN). I’ve 
> found a 2960X that I like, but Cisco is pushing their 9200 series. The 
> only downside I see is that the 9200s look to all have Layer 3 features. 
> I’ve always shied away from L3 switches when I don’t need the L3 
> features, but I don’t have any solid reason not to just use the switches 
> and turn off the L3 features I don’t need. I’m looking for thoughts on 
> this approach.

While I can't speak for Cisco, L3 usually comes free (software licenses 
notwithstanding) from most vendors these days.  The off-the-shelf 
silicon generally handles it along with L2 switching.  I'm not sure if 
you can "turn off" the L3 features in IOS XE (which the 9200s run), but 
you can of course just not configure them if you don't need them.

Are you married to Cisco?  The 9200 is not a bad pizza box platform, but 
you can definitely get comparable features and bandwidth cheaper (or 
more bandwidth for the same price) from other folks.
-- 
Brandon Martin