I am working on a solution for a revamp of small office network that has the following requirement:
- 3 nos 48-port POE Edge switch
- Redundant Core
- All switches reside in the same rack
- All copper connectivity
- They will be using VMWare ESX Cluster (2 servers with 4 NIC cards used for connectivity)
- They have a Fortinet firewall connected to the redundant core
- There will be other servers connected to the core like NVRs, PBX etc.
The competition is proposing Cisco 2960 switches in the edge and 2 nos 3750 swtiches in the core. Since 3750 doesnt support VSS Stacking I guess they will be stacked and all connectivity will use standard etherchannel.
Being more familiar with the ERS and VSP switches my go to design was ERS 3600 series on the edge and 2 nos VSP 4850 in the core. Since the VSPs can't be stacked, it will have to be an SMLT design. I don't see the need for using SPB here. So simple IST and SMLT configuration.
My question is : is this the recommended solution for small setups like this (especially price-competitiveness wise)? Or is there another solution using EXOS switches that might make more sense. Would like to hear your thoughts.
