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ROUTING AND SWITCHING
Selecting Cisco products
SemSim.com
08.19.2004
Rating: -2.93- (out of 5)
You must understand the business requirements of the network before
buying a product. Based on the requirements, you can select the
appropriate Cisco products.
Today, WAN technologies most often take advantage of high-speed
connections, such as T-1 and E-1. Additional WAN technologies exist,
including Frame Relay, ISDN, and dial-up asynchronous connections. ISDN
or dial-up is used if infrequent connection is made. If a connection is
used for more than two to four hours, you should use a Frame Relay or a
leased line.Based on the different services available through the
service provider, you can select Cisco products that can fulfill your
office requirements.
Selecting hubs
Cisco has various hub products. You can select hubs according to the
type of connection required. Higher-end hubs offer network management
port and console connections, middle-end hubs offer both 10 Mbps and
100 Mbps auto-sensing connections, and the lower-end hubs offer only 10
Mbps connections. Examples of fast hub series of Cisco are Cisco Fh100,
Cisco Fh200, Cisco Fh300, and Cisco Fh400. Examples of micro hub series
are Cisco MH1500 and Cisco MH1528.
Selecting routers
Routers are the most popular Cisco products. To select a router, you
must first know the port density and the interface speed required based
on the LAN or WAN technologies used. In addition, you must identify the
capacity and performance requirements of your business. The cost of the
router varies according to the features you select.
Selecting switches
A switch can be used instead of a hub in newer networks. Most switches
are configured to limit collision domains, which often provides a
limited security feature because users will not be able to sniff
traffic as easily as in a standard hub-based network. This feature can
cause confusion when using a network sniffer to analyze traffic. It is
possible, however, to analyze packets on a switched network by enabling
mirroring on the switch, or by using a dedicated port that allows
authorized users to view all network traffic. It is important to
consider whether you need 10, 100, or 1000 Mbps for each desktop or to
connect between switches. To select a switch, you must consider various
issues, such as business requirements, requirements for inter-switch
links and trunking, port density, and type of user interface.
Product selection criteria
When selecting the right products for any network environment, keep the
following considerations in mind:
- Will the device be used as a core device, distribution device, or
access device?
- Does the device provide the functions that your business requires?
- Does the device have adequate number of ports and the right mix
of interfaces as required by your business?
- Do you have to pay a lot for installing the device or can it be
easily installed?
- Can the device be centrally managed from an SNMP Management
station or do you have to physically access the device to manage it?
- Is the migration path easy?
- How well does the device handle redundancy requirements?
- Do you have to change your existing infrastructure, such as
cabling or existing devices, to install the new device?
You may use the Cisco Web site http://www.cisco.com to gather more information
to select products based on your requirements.
 SemSim.com provides training
resources for Cisco certification exams: CCIE, CCNP, CCNA, CCDP, CCDA.
It offers FREE learning resources to students such as study guides and
router simulation labs at it's online learning center located at http://www.semsim.com/ccna/learn.html.
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