Cisco SF300 Small business

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brokenarrow03

[H]ard|Gawd
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Nov 20, 2007
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Hello,

Has anyone used the SF300 series PoE switches for implementing a Shortel VOIP phone system? Here at our main office we have 50 users and we have 3 48-ports SF300-48P switches. Some people tell us they will work just fine for VOIP and other people say we need to step up to the 2960 catalyst series. Any thoughts would be helpful. Link to Cisco page for reference...

LINK
 
I use the SG300-50P (GbE version of the SF300-48P) and I really like it for small business installs. The SG300 supplies power to only 24 of the 50 ports (1-12, 25-36) and has a default VoIP VLAN where it will move VoIP traffic to a separate VLAN (unless re-configured). I don't remember which of these features are specific to the SG series, my recollection is that the newer SG and SF switches have software feature parity. No reason springs to mind as to why they won't work; I have them powering Avaya phones without issue.
 
brokenarrow03 said:
Wow! Is that documented somewhere? Did you get a defective model?
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There's nothing wrong with his switch, many switches are like that. In that they only have so much power and can only provide poe on certain ports. This is to keep the cost down when you don't need 48poe ports. Full power poe switches add A LOT to the price.
 
So if I need all of the ports PoE I need to look into the Catalyst series is what I'm getting?
 
6 phones presently on each switch; yes it is documented. Cisco documents the heck out of these specifications-wise. The info is in the Data Sheet as well as the Admin guide.I would say any PoE GbE switch under $1000 is not likely to have full power avaialable on all ports. Some switches have a limited power budget, but all ports are capable of delivering power. Others, like the Cisco, will deliver full power but only on certain ports. A really easy way to check is to look at the max power of the switch- multiply 15.4 x number of ports- if the watts listed on max power is less than the number you calculated, the switch has a limited power budget or limited power delivery ports. If you want an inexpensive PoE full-power switch, I recommend looking at Dell PowerConnect 3448P or 3424P on eBay.
If the cost of a quality PoE switch is making you hesitate, just multiply the cost of individual phone power supplies + any additional wiring by the number of phones. $20 per power supply x 48 ports is $960- you'd be money ahead if bought a used PowerConnect 3448P and new 1500VA UPS, forgetting about savings in admin, UPS, support, etc.
The SG and SF series switches are aimed at mixed environments- Desktop computers and VoIP for instance. If you have a limited number of drops and need to take advantage of every single one for VoIP and use the phone as a switch for desktop, the Cisco Small-Business switches will not work. It could actually be cheaper to get 2 SF or SG series to get the required 48 PoE ports than the single 29xx series, it all depends on your environment.
 
RocketTech said:
I use the SG300-50P (GbE version of the SF300-48P) and I really like it for small business installs. The SG300 supplies power to only 24 of the 50 ports (1-12, 25-36) and has a default VoIP VLAN where it will move VoIP traffic to a separate VLAN (unless re-configured). I don't remember which of these features are specific to the SG series, my recollection is that the newer SG and SF switches have software feature parity. No reason springs to mind as to why they won't work; I have them powering Avaya phones without issue.
Click to expand...

Odd I have the SG300-28P version and it provides power to any of the first 26 of 28 ports. I know it does not provide POE to the 2 ports shared with the combo SFP. That said any of the 26 can be powered however the switch has a total power capacity limit so only can support a subset of devices at 15W, but can support more devices if negotiate at lower power requirements which is part of the POE spec. You can even give certain devices a priority such that if the power requirement is exceeded then provide these ports power over these.
 
RocketTech said:
If you have a limited number of drops and need to take advantage of every single one for VoIP and use the phone as a switch for desktop, the Cisco Small-Business switches will not work. It could actually be cheaper to get 2 SF or SG series to get the required 48 PoE ports than the single 29xx series, it all depends on your environment.
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OK now I am just confused, maybe its the way I read your post, but the SF300-48P is in the "Small Business" Class. We are going to need 48 ports of PoE. So they will work or they won't?
 
m1abram said:
Odd I have the SG300-28P version and it provides power to any of the first 26 of 28 ports. I know it does not provide POE to the 2 ports shared with the combo SFP. That said any of the 26 can be powered however the switch has a total power capacity limit so only can support a subset of devices at 15W, but can support more devices if negotiate at lower power requirements which is part of the POE spec. You can even give certain devices a priority such that if the power requirement is exceeded then provide these ports power over these.
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Cisco documents only 24 ports on the SG300-28P:
http://www.cisco.com/en/US/prod/collateral/switches/ps5718/ps10898/data_sheet_c78-610061.html
about 2/3 of the way down. Search "Power over Ethernet (PoE)"
The -28P's power budget of 180 watts allows only 12 full-power PoE devices, or as you mentioned, more with reduced power useage or negotiation.
the SG300-50P is rated at 375W for PoE which allows full power for 24 devices.

The real lesson here is generate a requirements document, then make sure your product meets requirements. Switches that will not deliver full PoE power on all non-uplink ports are quite common at Small Business price points.
 
brokenarrow03 said:
OK now I am just confused, maybe its the way I read your post, but the SF300-48P is in the "Small Business" Class. We are going to need 48 ports of PoE. So they will work or they won't?
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You would need 2 SF300-48P switches to supply full PoE (Class 3 or 4) power to 48 devices, or 1 SF300-48P to supply 48 devices with half-power (Class 2)

The SF300-48P has a total power budget of 375W deliverable on any of the 48 ports. 375/48= 7.8W/port (Class 2). Full power of 15.4W can be delivered to a maximum of 24 devices (375/15.4)

Do you happen to know your power budget, or PoE class of consumers?
 
RocketTech said:
You would need 2 SF300-48P switches to supply full PoE (Class 3 or 4) power to 48 devices, or 1 SF300-48P to supply 48 devices with half-power (Class 2)

The SF300-48P has a total power budget of 375W deliverable on any of the 48 ports. 375/48= 7.8W/port (Class 2). Full power of 15.4W can be delivered to a maximum of 24 devices (375/15.4)

Do you happen to know your power budget, or PoE class of consumers?
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Excellent explanation! We are going to deploying the Shortel IP230 for the majority of our users. Our concern is that with such a large and high profile deployment we want to make sure we have all our ducks in a row and we do this right. We are not opposed to to going to a higher catalyst model, we just were curious if anyone has done Shortel phones on these 300 series of switches. Why pay the extra money if you arent going to see a benefit? Like I said earlier we are not opposed to going with the catalyst, we just need to make sure we do this deployment correctly.
 
RocketTech said:
Cisco documents only 24 ports on the SG300-28P:
http://www.cisco.com/en/US/prod/collateral/switches/ps5718/ps10898/data_sheet_c78-610061.html
about 2/3 of the way down. Search "Power over Ethernet (PoE)"
The -28P's power budget of 180 watts allows only 12 full-power PoE devices, or as you mentioned, more with reduced power useage or negotiation.
the SG300-50P is rated at 375W for PoE which allows full power for 24 devices.

The real lesson here is generate a requirements document, then make sure your product meets requirements. Switches that will not deliver full PoE power on all non-uplink ports are quite common at Small Business price points.
Click to expand...

My point was that it does not limit it to a specific 12 ports. I could not remember if it was 24 or 26 ports that supportted POE.
 
Don't forget the SF and SG300 series has Cisco's upgrade garantee, where they will give you credit for the value of the switch. If you want to be the guinea pig, your investment will be safe.
"•You can trade up to a Cisco or Cisco Small Business switch at any time and receive full credit for the value of the switch"
http://www.cisco.com/cisco/web/solu...uters_switches/300_series_switches/index.html
I'm really not a Cisco shill lol.
 
RocketTech said:
Don't forget the SF and SG300 series has Cisco's upgrade garantee, where they will give you credit for the value of the switch. If you want to be the guinea pig, your investment will be safe.
"•You can trade up to a Cisco or Cisco Small Business switch at any time and receive full credit for the value of the switch"
http://www.cisco.com/cisco/web/solu...uters_switches/300_series_switches/index.html
I'm really not a Cisco shill lol.
Click to expand...

Do you off hand know any more about that mr shill? ;) I tried cisco's live chat but they were beyond useless and only seemed to care about how much I was looking to spend.
 
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