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Switch Architecture of Cisco Catalyst 2960-X/XR Series FAQ

May 17 2016 , Written by Cisco & Cisco Router, Network Switch Published on #Cisco Switches - Cisco Firewall, #Cisco & Cisco Network

Cisco Catalyst 2960-X/XR switches, the greenest Cisco Catalyst access switches

Cisco Catalyst 2960-X/XR switches, the greenest Cisco Catalyst access switches

Why Select Cisco Catalyst 2960-X? What Benefits will you get from migrating to Cisco Catalyst 2960-X/XR series? We talked about the Cisco Catalyst 2960-X a lot before, such as the added features of Catalyst 2960-X Series, stacking of the Cisco Catalyst 2960-X and 2960-XR, Comparison of Cisco Catalyst 2960 Switches, etc. As the greenest Cisco Catalyst access switches, Cisco Catalyst 2960-X/XR switches are the best replacement for the 2960-S series.

The Cisco Catalyst 2960-X models provide Layer 2 switching and have one fixed power supply with an external redundant power supply. They provide 24 or 48 Gigabit Ethernet wire rate ports, PoE/PoE+ support, and four 1G Small Form-Factor Pluggable (SFP) or two 10G SFP+ uplinks.

With FlexStack-Plus technology, the Cisco Catalyst 2960-X switches can be stacked up to 8 members with up to 80 Gbps stacking capacity for high scalability.

In this article we will continue to talk about the architecture, Energy Efficiency of the Cisco Catalyst 2960-X and 2960-XR Series Switches.

Energy Efficiency

Catalyst 2960-X Series introduced new innovative energy saving modes for the switch.

● The Switch Hibernation Mode puts the switch to sleep when the switch is not in use. This feature enables the switch to save up to 90% of power during non-business hours.

● Downlink Hibernation Mode powers down the PHY and the optics of the downlink port when not in use.

● Energy Efficient Ethernet (EEE) enables dynamic power savings on all switch ports; saves about 15W for a 48port-switch and 8W for a 24 port-switch.

● EnergyWise Puts IP End Points in Energy Saver mode, saving 60%+ power with non-active IP devices.

The collective power savings with different energy efficient technologies will reduce the power consumption by up to 80%.

Downlink Hibernation Mode (DHM) feature enables all 2960-X switches to save power on the downlink ports. The switch supports static downlink port power-down where only the PHY and Optics are powered down when not in use.

When the switch is not in use, switch hibernation mode can be scheduled to save power. When the switch is in hibernation mode, it powers off application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs), and connected PoE devices. Power to most of the components is off. The DRAM is in refresh mode, keeping data intact. The switch hibernation mode is integrated with EnergyWise.

Q. Is a Cisco Catalyst 2960-X Series Switch usable while in hibernation mode?

A. No. All hardware components on the data path are switched off on Cisco Catalyst 2960-X Series Switches during hibernation mode.

The Cisco Catalyst 2960-X Series provides the following wake-up triggers from switch hibernation mode:

● Wake on scheduled real-time clock alarm/trigger

● Wake on mode button trigger

Q. Can Cisco Catalyst 2960-X Series Switches be scheduled to switch hibernation mode using the Cisco EnergyWise management tool?

A. Yes, the switch hibernation mode is integrated with Cisco EnergyWise. Cisco Catalyst 2960-X Series Switches can be put to switch hibernation mode using a Cisco EnergyWise management tool like any other IP devices.

Q. Is it possible to wakeup a Cisco Catalyst 2960-X Series Switch in switch hibernation mode before the scheduled wake-up time?

A. Yes, the mode button trigger will get the Cisco Catalyst 2960-X Series Switch out of switch hibernation mode.

Q. Can we schedule switch hibernation mode for some members only in a stack of Cisco Catalyst 2960-X Series Switches?

A. No. The whole stack of Cisco Catalyst 2960-X Series Switches can only be scheduled to switch hibernation mode.

Q. How long does it take for a Cisco Catalyst 2960-X Series Switch to be operational when it wakes up from switch hibernation mode?

A. A Cisco Catalyst 2960-X Series Switch coming out of switch hibernation mode is similar to a switch booting from reload. If the switches are stacked, master reelection is triggered after wake-up.

Q. Is Energy-Efficient Ethernet (EEE) 802.3az supported on the Cisco Catalyst 2960-X Series?

A. Yes, Energy-Efficient Ethernet (EEE) is supported on all downlink ports of the Cisco Catalyst 2960-X Series.

Q. Do we need to enable EEE on the Cisco Catalyst 2960-X Series?

A. EEE is enabled by default on all the downlink ports of the Cisco Catalyst 2960-X Series. If needed, EEE can be disabled.

Q. How is power saved with EEE on the Cisco Catalyst 2960-X Series?

A. Cisco Catalyst 2960-X downlink ports switch to low-power idle (LPI) mode during gaps in the data stream, saving power.

Q. Do both sides of the Ethernet interface have to support EEE for it to work?

A. Yes. Both endpoints of the Ethernet link must support EEE to get the power-saving advantages.

Q. How do I check if EEE is working?

A. The show eee status interface Gigabit Ethernet xxx” command can be used to check if EEE is agreed between both the endpoints.

The Cisco Catalyst 2960-X Series provides two types of console ports and one out-of-band Ethernet port:

● USB Type B console port

● Standard RJ-45 serial port

● 10/100 Ethernet management port

Q. Can both USB Type B console and RJ-45 console ports be used simultaneously?

A. No. Only one can be used for input, but both can receive output. When the USB console is connected, “it is used for input (by default)”. This design allows the administrator to see when the USB console port is in use. This capability is useful for remote administrators.

Q. Does the switch support auto-baud on the console port?

A. No. This was a tradeoff between console speed sensing and the ability to use the USB console.

Switch Architecture

Q. What management ports are available?

A. The Cisco Catalyst 2960-X Series provides two types of console ports and one out-of-band Ethernet port:

● USB Type B console port

● Standard RJ-45 serial port

● 10/100 Ethernet management port

Q. Can both USB Type B console and RJ-45 console ports be used simultaneously?

A. No. Only one can be used for input, but both can receive output. When the USB console is connected, “it is used for input (by default)”. This design allows the administrator to see when the USB console port is in use. This capability is useful for remote administrators.

Q. Does the switch support auto-baud on the console port?

A. No. This was a tradeoff between console speed sensing and the ability to use the USB console.

Q. Which management port has priority?

A. The RJ-45 console port is always the default management port, but when a PC is connected to the USB console port, the USB console takes over. The RJ-45 port continues to receive the output (a copy) of everything that gets displayed on the USB console port. This capability allows remote administrators to continue monitoring or logging the output showing what is happening at the switch location, sending it to a storage device.

Q. When a PC is left unattended on the USB console port, would remote administrators get locked out from the RJ-45 management port?

A. The USB console port has a default activity timer that can also be programmed by the user. This activity timer will expire and return control to the RJ-45 management port to avoid locking the remote administrator out.

Q. What can I do with the USB Type A port of the Cisco Catalyst 2960-X Series?

A. It is used to connect to an external USB memory drive for additional storage. This USB port can be used to perform software upgrades, store configurations, and even write memory core dumps for troubleshooting purposes. All Cisco USB memory drives can be used. Currently up to 8-GB USB drives are supported.

Q. Can a third-party USB Flash drive be used with the Cisco Catalyst 2960-X Series?

A. Yes, a third-party USB Flash drive can be used with the Cisco Catalyst 2960-X Series. They will work, but are not officially supported.

Q. What is the performance of the Cisco Catalyst 2960-X Series Switches?

A. The Cisco Catalyst 2960-X Series have a nonblocking switching architecture capable of forwarding traffic for all 48 1 Gigabit ports plus 2 10 Gigabit ports at line rate. See the datasheet for the MPPS information for each model.

Q. Do the Cisco Catalyst 2960-X Series Switches consume less power than the Cisco Catalyst 2960-S Series Switches?

A. The Cisco Catalyst 2960-X Series are based on the same building blocks as the 2960-S-Series Switches for most components. However, these switches have a new thermal design, new highly efficient power supplies, and new efficient fans, which use less power.

Q. Do the Cisco Catalyst 2960-X Series Switches support front-to-back airflow?

A. The airflow on the Cisco Catalyst 2960-X Series is “front and sides” to back airflow.

Q. Is the airflow reversible in the Cisco Catalyst 2960-X Series Switches?

A. No. The airflow is not reversible.

Q. Do Cisco Catalyst 2960-X Series Switches support field-replaceable power supplies?

A. Cisco Catalyst 2960-XR switch models have field replaceable power supplies, whereas the 2960-X switch models have fixed power supplies.

Q. Are Cisco Catalyst 2960-XR field-replaceable power supplies hot swappable?

A. Yes. Cisco Catalyst 2960-XR power supplies are hot swappable.

Q. Can a non-PoE Cisco Catalyst 2960-X Series Switch support PoE by replacing its power supply with a PoE-capable power supply?

A. No. A non-PoE Cisco Catalyst 2960-X Series Switch will not support PoE by using a PoE-capable power supply.

Q. Can we increase the PoE budget of Cisco Catalyst 2960-X Series Switch by replacing its power supply with a high-capacity power supply?

A. The available PoE budget is fixed for a given model of Cisco Catalyst 2960-X Series Switch. Replacing the switch power supply will not increase the PoE budget.

…More questions to help you know Cisco 2960-X and 2960-XR series well you can read more information here: http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/products/collateral/switches/catalyst-2960-x-series-switches/qa_c67-728348.html

More Related Cisco 2960-X/XR Topics

Why SELECT Cisco 2960-X Series?

Cisco Catalyst 2960-X vs. 2960-XR Series Switches

How to Install or Replace an AC Power Supply in a Cisco 2960-X Switch?

Cisco Catalyst 2960-X/XR vs. Catalyst 3650 vs. Cisco 3850 Series

WS-C2960X-48TD-L & WS-C2960XR-48TD-I Tested, from Miercom

Catalyst 2960-XR Family Power Supply & Configuration

Catalyst 2960-XR Family Power Supply & Configuration

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