[Buying decision] 10x 6200yl <=> 1x 8212zl

[MullT]

Hi,

Currently we want to upgrade our network equipment with upgraded switches. Well I am already doing it switch by switch. Well, I decided to go with the 3500yl and 6200yl on the edges.

Our core exists of some foundry BigIron 15000 switches. I personally don´t like those big powerhorses. So I thought instead of using one 8212zl I´d use 10 meshed 6200yl.

The basic idea behind this is to replace a defective component as fast as possible myself.

The question is, does it make sense? What would you prefer?

[Matt Hobbs]

8212 for sure. It has a completely passive backplane so the odds of that ever failing are next to zero. You get redundant fans, redudant power supplies and the option for redundant management. If you were to have any failures they'd be easily removable parts (power supplies, fans or modules).

You also get higher interconnect speeds from each module to the fabric, meaning better performance. Further to that, if you were to enable routing, the 8212 would be much better suited than having all your routing performed on one 6200 which would be a further bottleneck.

You've also got the option of using different types of modules to suit your environment and future upgradability, rather than being stuck with the SFP ports only. You also have the option for PoE on the 8212zl.

Manageability would also be a lot easier, it's just the one device versus ten.

[David E. Perry]

Meshing is great for up to six or seven switches, but the performance starts to fall off after connecting 8 or more switches in a mesh domain. Also, you cannot currently route in a mesh domain; it is layer-2 only. I would recommend going with the 8212 because of the dual management cards, dual fabric cards, and passive backplane. All of the I/O modules are hot-swappable as well.