Comparison
The HP Procurve 2510G-24 and Cisco Catalyst 2960G-24TC can be used for small
setups where no inter-VLAN routing is needed.
On larger setups, both GigE ports of the XS servers or/and several ports on the XF2 are
often used to increase the bandwidth or to allow redundancy. Since both GigE ports of an
XS server server cannot be used on the same sub-network, virtual LANs need to be
created. To allow the transfer of packets between the virtual LANs, layer 3 switches are
required. You need to select a layer 3 switch that is able to route jumbo frames.
A switch of the Cisco Catalyst 3750E series should be used on larger setups as they
support jumbo frames, allow traffic to be routed between different VLANs and provide
stacking capabilities.
The following table gives an overview on the supported switches:
Model RU Layer
Gb
ports
SFP
10Gb
(X2)
JF
switching
JF
routing
Stacking
HP Procurve
2510G-24
1 2 20(+4) 4 0 Y N N
Cisco Catalyst
2960G-24TC
1 2 20 4 0 Y N N
Cisco Catalyst
3750E-24TD
1 3 24 (up to 4) 2 Y Y Y
Cisco Catalyst
3750E-48TD
1 3 48 (up to 4) 2 Y Y Y
A layer 2 device can be used when all machines are configured to be on the same LAN,
when another layer 3 device is present to do the routing if needed, or when no routing
between VLANs is needed.
Additional Information
HP switches have a lifetime guarantee with next-business-day advance replacement with
no additional contract purchase.
HP switches are not compatible with Cisco's proprietary protocols (ISL, PagP, PVST,
etc.) which could be a problem for integration in some legacy Cisco environment.
However, such a case is quite unlikely to arise and most of the time workarounds can be
found.
The stacking possibilities of the Cisco 3750E series permit to have fully active LACP
teams for redundancy to the hosts.
58 5. Hardware Installation and Cabling
EVS Broadcast Equipment S.A. -November 2011 Issue 11.00.A