ERS5600 vs ERS4800

[Dominik]

Hi,

if you need a top of rack 48 Port switch for 1000BaseT connectivity would you prefer a
ERS5600 or a ERS4800 for the job ?

I am not sure wich one is better, the ERS4800 has the better pricing and the newer asic inside, SFP+ support and the possibility to be upgraded to a VSP4k.

The ERS5600 is the older model but from the fact sheets the DataCenter model from the two switch familys.

Wich one of the two would you choose and why do you prefer one over the other ?

[Paul L]

i would go 4800, but with the assurance it was hw version 10 or higher.

the 5650 is however a faster switch with 10ge, 

[Telair]

For me the difference was in the stacking throughput between the ERS 5600's and the ERS 4800's.  In a stack the 5600's will kick the 4800's to the curb with a maximum stacking throughput of 1.152 Tb/sec.  Unlike the 5600 which had much improved stacking throughput over the 5500's, the 4800's keep the same stacking speed as the 4500's.

5600 Stack Throughput: 144 Gb/sec x 8 units = 1152 Gb/sec
5500 Stack Throughput: 80 Gb/sec x 8 units =  640 Gb/sec
4x00 Stack Throughput: 48 Gb/sec x 8 units = 384 Gb/sec

So if it is a single switch you need, a 5600 or 4800, it really doesn't matter as both are non-blocking.  But if this is going to be a stack in a server rack the 5600's win hands down.  This is why I see the 4800's still as edge devices for users where maximum throughput isn't as critical as in a network core.

[Dominik]

The fact sheets do not provide all the informations that are interesting for me.

Latency, Buffers, Flow Exporter capabilities (IPFIX), ASIC capabilitys....

You get the information on the ERS4800 datasheet:
System CPU operates at 533 MHz
Switch is configured with 256MB RAM

At the ERS5600 I havenīt found anything particulr about what is inside of the switch.

[TankII]

You can run the 5600 series in lossless mode if L-2/top-of-rack to support iSCSI.  4000 series can't do that last time I checked.

TankII

[Telair]

I know the 5600's have 256MB of RAM where as the 5500's had 128MB.  If I get a chance to reboot one of my 5632's I'll be able to tell you the clock rate of the CPU as it scrolls by when the switch is booting up.  And as TankII pointed out, they are designed to be able to do iSCSI in lossless mode which is great for those of us who need iSCSI VLAN's.  Of course 5600's can do IST clustering and now BGP and VRF's.  Admittedly the VRF functionality is pretty new so I would expect a number of enhancements over time for that still.