Part 8: Picking a Switch Based on History

Two big things here today as I get close to wrapping up the CCNA practice lab discussion. 1) why I think the 1900, 1900XL, and 2950 (versus other switch models) are your best compromises for a CCNA lab, and 2) some comments comparing those three models.

Cisco uses the 2960's as the basis for labs in their authorized ICND1 and ICND2 courses. However, don't overemphasize the model per my comments last Tuesday. But I'll treat the 2960 as the best option for CCNA, and compare from there. (2960's are probably too expensive for most home CCNA labs today - around $600 on EBay.)

A bit of history can help sift through some of the options. Briefly, 1900's are old and were no longer a currently-pushed switch from Cisco almost 10 years ago. Then, around the same time, Cisco introduced the 2900 XL and 3500 XL series switches. The 3500's are more powerful that 2900's, but they run the same software, with the same command syntax, so for CCNA exam prep, there's no real benefit to the 3500 over the 2900.

Next in the progression are the 2950 and 3550 series - totally different from the 2900/3500 XL series. 2950's essentially replaced the 2900 XL series in the product line, and 3550's replaced the 3500 XL series. (That may be oversimplified, but it's enough for our purposes here.) Both the 2950 and 3550 switches run two major IOS options - a standard image and enhanced image. The 2950 series switches cannot be upgraded to the enhanced image, so that choice is a buy-time decision. The 3550's can be field upgraded - and yes, standard disclaimer here, I'm stating what can be done, and it's up to you to figure out your legal rights based on your company's relationship with Cisco.

Finally, Cisco came out with the 2960 and 3560 series switches, essentially replacing the 2950/3550 product series. The 2960 and 3560's have the same 2 options for software, the same field upgrade capabilities (no on the 2960's, yes on the 3560's). And the prices haven't fallen significantly in the used market yet.

Enough history then - what does this mean if I'm thinking CCNA, and CCNA only? Well, in my opinion - and feel free to chime in with yours, I think it's helpful - you can do the following:

• Ignore 3500 XLs in deference to the very similar but less expensive 2900 XLs
• Ignore the 3550's and 3560's, because the much cheaper 2950's/2960's work just as well for CCNA prep
• Ignore 2960's, because 2950's are very similar, and much cheaper

Going with those assumptions, next let's look at 1900's, 2900 XL's, and 2950's. That's basically where I left off on last Tuesday's post.

Catalyst 1900 switches have been around since dirt - so old that I don't even have any sitting around any more. Most of the early CCNA exams showed output from 1900 series models, if at all - but frankly the CCNA exam mostly ignored switch commands way back then. (Man, I'm gettin old - CCNA's 10 years old in April?!?!) 1900's are cheap - really cheap. If $$ is your #1 factor, 1900's it is.

On the con side, several 1900's either didn't support 100M, or if so, it wasn't 10/100 autonegotiating - just 100M. Also, the commands differ between the 1900 IOS and the IOS used by more current models, like the 2960. (eg, there's no "switchport access" interface command on the 1900.) In fact, the whole process of saving config files differs. So, if saving $100-$150 per switch matters to you, think 1900.

The 2900 XL series has some significant benefits for CCNA exam prep compared to 1900's. The commands match up better with 2960 command syntax compared to 1900s - generally, the same base command is used on the 2900XLs as on the 2960's. It supports trunking (both types), so it can trunk using 802.1Q with 2960's or 2950's in case you get one of the more recent switches. (2950's and 2960's only support 802.1Q, which is fine for real life.) On the con side for 2900 XL's, the parameters on commands supported on the 2900's and 2960's differ, in part due to the different features supported. So, you can learn the concepts behind the commands, but with differences in the syntax.

Finally, the 2950's match the 2960's almost exactly, at least for the use for CCNA exam preparation. But why not get a 2960? Well, EBay buy it now at $750 (cheapest today), versus $200 for 2950. When I was writing the most recent edition of the exam cert guides, I compared the two switch models a lot - and the only difference I found that could possibly matter for CCNA was that the 2960 defaults to "switchport mode dynamic auto", whereas 2950's default to "dynamic desirable" - meaning that two 2960's won't automatically trunk by default when connected, whereas 2950's would. Nit picky, and no big deal in regards to choosing a switch for CCNA lab preparation.

OK, quick summary table on all that:

Next post - which should be the last post in the CCNA lab series for now - will wrap up the discussion of switches for the CCNA lab. Until then, tell me what I'm missing! Thanks...