10 Questions About The Cisco Catalyst 3850 Series Switches

Aug 17 , 2022 1220

What is Cisco Catalyst 3850 Series Switches?

The Cisco Catalyst 3850 Series is the latest enterprise-class stackable access-layer switches, it provides full convergence between wired and wireless on a single platform.

Cisco's new Unified Access Data Plane (UADP) Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC) supports switches for unified wired and wireless policy enforcement, application visibility, flexibility and application optimization. This convergence is built on the resiliency of the new and improved Cisco Stack Wise-480.

The Cisco Catalyst 3850 Series Switches support full IEEE 802.3at Power over Ethernet (PoE+), modular and field replaceable network modules, redundant fans and power supplies.

10 Cisco 3850 Series FAQ:

Q1. What are the supported uplink modules in the Cisco Catalyst 3850?
A: The Cisco Catalyst 3850 supports the following uplink modules:

• 4 x 1GE network module

• 2 x 1/10GE network module

• 4 x 1/10GE network module (can be used for the 48-port RJ-45 models and for the 12-port (or higher) 10‑gigabit-capable models)

• 8 x 10GE network module (can be used on the 24-port and 48-port multigigabit switches and also on the 24‑port 10G SFP+ switches)

• 2 x 40GE network module (can be used on the 24-port and 48-port multigigabit switches and also on the 24‑port 10G SFP+ switches)

  
  

Q2. Is the Cisco Catalyst 3850 10G SFP+ 48-port switch support uplink modules?
A: No. It has 4 fixed 40G QSFP ports for uplinks. This is not field-replaceable.

Q3. How can I manage the Cisco Catalyst 3850?
A: You can manage the Cisco Catalyst 3850 using the Cisco IOS Software CLI or using Cisco Prime ™ Infrastructure 2.0.

Q4. Is the Cisco Catalyst 3850 support 802.1ae on downlink ports?
A: The Cisco Catalyst 3850 is hardware capable for 802.1ae on all ports on the switch. Software support will be available later.

Q5. What management ports are available on the Cisco Catalyst 3850?
A: The Cisco Catalyst 3850 comes with a 10/100 Ethernet dedicated management port on the backside of the switch right above the console port. This port is in separate VRF called “Mgmt-vrf.” This is to segment the management traffic from the global routing table of the switch.

Q6. Can both console ports be used at the same time?
A: No. When the USB console is used, the RJ-45 console receives the output of the USB console as well. This design allows the administrator to see when the USB console port is in use. This capability is useful for remote administrators.

Q7. Can the Cisco Catalyst 3850 act as a wired switch?
A: Yes, the Cisco Catalyst 3850 switch can act as a wired switch as well as a converged wired wireless switch.

Q8. What is the SSO technology?
A: The Cisco SSO technology synchronizes the Layer 2/3 and wireless tunnel protocol state machines from Active to Standby stack switch. During Active switch switchover the Standby switch performs graceful-recovery with neighbors without disrupting network topology.

Q9. Difference between types of licenses in the Cisco Catalyst 3850?
A: There are 2 main types of Cisco Catalyst 3850 license: permanent RTU license and evaluation RTU license.
They are available for both image-based licensing (IP Base or IP Services) and AP count licensing. The permanent RTU license is a paid license, with no expiration date. The universal Cisco IOS XE Softwarebased images have all 3 license levels: LAN Base, IP Base, and IP Services.
RTU CLI commands enable the switch license to be moved between different license levels. The evaluation RTU license allows the customers to evaluate image-based and/or AP count license for 90 days at no cost.

Q10. What's the number of Cisco Catalyst 3850 switches can make up a Cisco StackPower stack?
Up to 4 switches can become part of the same Cisco StackPower stack in a ring topology.

Still have questions about the Cisco 3850 switches? Please feel free to contact us.

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