Cisco Catalyst 2912MF XL, Catalyst 2924M XL Datasheet

Catalyst 2924M XL

10/100 Autosensing Fast Ethernet Switch

Catalyst 2912MF XL

100BaseFX Fast Ethernet Aggregator Switch

DATA SHEET

The Cisco Catalyst® 2924M XL 10/100
autosensing Fast Ethernet switch combines
outstanding performance, ease of use, and
from the leader in networking, integrated

®

Cisco IOS
is a flexible, scalable, and affordable solution,
ideal for aggregating Ethernet and Fast Ethernet
workgroups and delivering dedicated 10 or
100 Mbps connectivity for individual users
and servers with high-speed uplink modules,
including Gigabit Ethernet and ATM, to connect
to servers and LAN backbones.

The Catalyst 2924M XL switch, a member of
the Catalyst 2900 Series XL family, contains 24
10Base-T/100Base-TX ports and two versatile
module slots to provide unmatched expansion
capabilities and high-speed connectivity. The
modular design allows users to easily add
10Base-T/100Base-T, 100Base-FX, Gigabit
Ethernet,orAsynchronousTransferMode(ATM)
(OC-3) ports to increase port density and deliver
high-speed uplinks. With the Gigabit Ethernet
module, Catalyst 2924M XL switches can be
stacked (up to nine switches) with the low-cost
Cisco GigaStack
(GBIC). The advanced Cisco architecture
incorporates a switch fabric of 3.2 Gbps and
a forwarding rate of 3.0 million packets per
second (pps) to deliver wire-speed performance
across all ports.

software. The Catalyst 2924M XL

™

gigabit interface controller

The Cisco Catalyst 2912MF XL Fast Ethernet
switch combines outstanding performance, ease
of use, and integrated Cisco IOS software from
the leader in networking. The Catalyst 2912MF
XL is a flexible, scalable, and affordable solution,
ideal for aggregating Fast Ethernet workgroups
over 100Base-FX connections in small and
midsized campus environments.

The Catalyst 2912MF XL switch, a member of
the Catalyst 2900 Series XL family, contains 12
100Base-FX ports and two versatile module slots
to provide unmatched expansion capabilities and
high-speed connectivity. The modular design
allows users to easily add 10Base-T/100Base-T,
100Base-FX, Gigabit Ethernet, or ATM (OC-3)
ports to increase port density and deliver
high-speed uplinks. With the Gigabit Ethernet
module, Catalyst 2912MF XL switches (as well
as the Catalyst 2924M XL switch) can be stacked
(up to nine switches) with the low-cost Cisco
GigaStack GBIC. The advanced Cisco architecture
incorporates a switch fabric of 3.2 Gbps and a
forwarding rate of 3.0 million pps to deliver
wire-speed performance across all ports.

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Flexible Stacking with the GigaStack GBIC

Gigabit Ethernet-enabled Catalyst 2900 Series XL
switches and Catalyst 3500 Series XL can be stacked
using the low-cost two-port Cisco GigaStack GBIC,
which offers a range of highly flexible stacking and
performance options. Customers can deploy a 1-Gbps
independent stack backplane in a cascade configuration,
orscaleup to 5-Gbps of bandwidth inastarconfiguration
using the Catalyst 3508G XL Gigabit Ethernet
aggregation switch. Network managers may use one or
both of the available GBIC ports on a Gigabit
Ethernet-enabledCatalyst2900SeriesXLswitchtocreate
high-speed uplinks to the network core, using standard
Gigabit Ethernet or Gigabit EtherChannel technology.
High resiliency can also be implemented by deploying
dual Gigabit Ethernet uplinks, a redundant GigaStack
loopback cable, Cisco Uplink Fast and Cross-stack
Uplink Fast technologies for high-speed uplink and stack
interconnection failover, and PVST+ (Per VLAN
Spanning Tree) for uplink load balancing.

Cisco Switch Clustering

Breakthrough Cisco Switch Clustering technology
enables up to 16 interconnected Catalyst 3500 XL,
2900 XL, and Catalyst 1900 switches, regardless of
geographic proximity, to form a single IP management
domain. Switch Clustering supports a broad range of
standards-based connectivity options and configurations
to deliver levels of performance that are scalable to meet
customer requirements. Switch Clustering connectivity
options for the Catalyst 2900 Series XL include Ethernet,
Fast Ethernet, Fast EtherChannel ports, low-cost
Cisco GigaStack GBIC, Gigabit Ethernet, and Gigabit
EtherChannelports. Because the technology isnotlimited
by proprietary stacking modules and stacking cables,
Cisco Switch Clustering expands the traditional stacking
domain beyond a single wiring closet and lets users mix
andmatch interconnections to meet specificmanagement,
performance, and cost requirements.

primary command switch fails, the backup or secondary
command switch seamlessly takes over the management
of the cluster while a user still accesses the cluster via the
virtual IP address.

Cisco Switch Clusteringcan be accessed via CiscoCluster
Management Suite (CMS), a Web-based management
interface, which allows network administrators to
configure, monitor, and manage a switch from anywhere
on the network through a standard browser such as
Microsoft Internet Explorer or Netscape Navigator.
Networkadministrators simply point their Web-browsers
to the IP address of the cluster Command switch and
access all management capabilities. The CMS interface
is launched from the switch itself and delivers simple,
cluster-wide, device-level management, including port
configuration, VLAN setup, network views, and port
monitoring—all from a single graphical interface.
Web-based management is an integral part of the Cisco
Switch Clustering architecture, allowing users to easily
configure and manage stacks and switch clusters, and
administer software upgrades across multiple switches.
Command switch and cluster management redundancy
are ensured via an automatic failover scheme in the rare
event of a command switch failure.

Figure 1 Catalyst 2924M XL 10/100 Autosensing Fast

Ethernet Switch

Figure 2 Catalyst 2912MF XL 100Base-FX Fast Ethernet

Aggregation Switch

A command switch, either a Catalyst 2900 XL or 3500
XL, provides the proxy and redirection services for single
IP address management for each cluster. All cluster
management commands are targeted to the command
switch IP address. For redundancy, a second switch can
be assigned an IP address, and the overall cluster can
then be managed using a single virtual IP address. If the

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