network design help

[fallengod]

I'm working on a network design project and wanted to know what being used in the real world these day in term of router and switches for a 300+ user per location and have 2 locations.

I know mostly cisco but I'm open to other hardware if it justify me learning it, and money is not an issue.

 

[Tacman]

Depends how much your budget is and what the needs are.

For 300 users per site in a Cisco solution, I would grab some Cisco 3750 switches depending on the layout of each site, use stacking where possible, and if need be configure the core for layer 3 operation.

If your looking at router endpoints between sites, get one of the new Generation 2 ISR's
I can personally vouch for the new Cisco 2911's they are priced pretty damn well for the power you get out of them, and leaves the option to use them as voice gateways in the future.

Of course all of this depends on the topology / needs in question.

 

[xphil3]

Of course all of this depends on the topology / needs in question.

+1
More so, you need to accurately know how much traffic and what kinds of traffic will be going across said network and through the edge to build out a decent infrastructure. If budget is not an issue then idd recommend you seek a Cisco partner to help you out if you want to stick with Cisco as a vendor as they will be able to build you a proper solution and TEST it.

if you dont want to go that route, then again... get an accurate read on the current or estimated future traffic patterns. Compare to spec sheets, see where you fall. As far as equipment goes(Cisco), for a 300 person office you will most likely see a mid range ISR(2811/21/51) but again it all depends on bandwidth.

GL.