Cisco 300 Series Managed Switches

Cisco 300 Series Switches

The Cisco 300 Series, part of the Cisco Small Business line of network solutions, is a portfolio of affordable managed switches that provides a reliable foundation for your business network. These switches deliver the features you need to improve the availability of your critical business applications, protect your sensitive information, and optimize your network bandwidth to deliver information and applications more effectively. Easy to set up and use, the Cisco 300 Series provides the ideal combination of affordability and capabilities for small businesses, and helps you create a more efficient, better-connected workforce.

The Cisco 300 Series is broad portfolio of fixed-configuration managed Ethernet switches. Models are available with 8 to 48 ports of Fast Ethernet and 10 to 52 ports of Gigabit Ethernet connectivity, providing optimal flexibility to create exactly the right network foundation for your business. However, unlike other small business switching solutions that provide managed network capabilities only in the costliest models, all Cisco 300 Series Switches support the advanced security management capabilities and network features you need to support business-class data, voice, security, and wireless technologies. At the same time, these switches are simple to deploy and configure, allowing you to take advantage of the managed network services your business needs.

Business Applications

Whether you need a basic high-performance network to connect employee computers or a solution to deliver data, voice, and video services, the Cisco 300 Series offers a solution to meet your needs. Possible deployment scenarios include:

• Secure desktop connectivity: Cisco 300 Series Switches can simply and securely connect employees working in small offices with each other and with all of the servers, printers, and other devices they use. High performance and reliable connectivity helps speed file transfers and data processing, improves network uptime, and keeps your employees connected and productive.
• Secure Wireless connectivity: With its advanced Security features, Power over Ethernet, Auto Smartports, QoS, VLAN and Access Control features, the Cisco 300 Series Switches are the perfect foundation to add Business Grade wireless to an SMB network.
• Unified communications: As a managed network solution, the Cisco 300 Series provides the performance and advanced traffic-handling intelligence you need to deliver all communications and data over a single network. Cisco offers a complete portfolio of IP telephony and other unified communications products designed for small businesses. Cisco 300 Series Switches have been rigorously tested to help ensure easy integration and full compatibility with these and other products, providing a complete small business solution.
• Highly secure guest connectivity. Cisco 300 Series Switches let you extend highly secure network connectivity to guests in a variety of settings, such as a hotel, an office waiting room, or any other area open to nonemployee users. Using powerful but easy-to-configure security and traffic segmentation capabilities, you can isolate your vital business traffic from guest services and keep guests’ network sessions private from each other.

Features and Benefits

Cisco 300 Series Switches provide security, performance, traffic management, and other capabilities – optimized and customized, and at the right price for small businesses. The Cisco 300 Series provides:

• High performance and reliability: Cisco 300 Series Switches have been rigorously tested to deliver the high availability and performance you expect from a Cisco switch. The solutions speed up file transfer times and improve slow, sluggish networks, while keeping your vital business applications available and preventing costly downtime. As a managed switching solution, the Cisco 300 Series also gives you the flexibility to manage and prioritize high-bandwidth traffic such as voice. That means you can empower your employees with state-of-the-art communication and productivity solutions, without draining the performance of your other business applications.
• Fast, easy setup and configuration: Cisco 300 Series Switches are designed to be easy to use and manage by small businesses and the partners who serve them. The included device manager software provides an intuitive, web-based interface to simplify setup, security, and quality of service (QoS) traffic prioritization, allowing even users without IT expertise to configure the switch in minutes. Cisco also provides a Cisco FindIT Network Discovery Utility. This utility that works through a simple toolbar on the user’s web browser to discover Cisco devices in the network and display basic information, such as serial numbers and IP addresses, to aid in the configuration and deployment of Cisco Small Business products. For more information, and to download the utility, please visit http://www.cisco.com/go/findit. These switches use Cisco Discovery Protocol as well as Link Layer Discovery Protocol (LLDP-MED) to automatically detect all the devices connected to your network, and then automatically configure themselves for the appropriate connectivity and instructs the devices to use appropriate voice VLAN or QoS parameters. For more advanced capabilities and hands-on control, the switches support Smartport roles which configure the ports with specific levels of Security, QoS, and availability according to the type of connected device, based on Cisco best practices and pretested configurations. The Auto Smartports feature applies the intelligence delivered through the Smartport roles and applies it automatically to the port based on the devices discovered over CDP or LLDP-MED. This facilitates zero touch deployments. Although the Cisco 300 Series is designed to be deployed without using a command-line interface (CLI), Cisco Textview is available for those who prefer to use text-based configuration. Together, these features reduce the time your staff must devote to network deployment, management, and troubleshooting.
• Strong security: The Cisco 300 Series Switches provide a high level of security and give you fine- grained control to safeguard your network from unauthorized users. Advanced security features include:

◦    Embedded security to protect management data traveling to and from the switch and encrypt network communications.

◦    Extensive access control lists (ACLs) to restrict sensitive portions of the network from unauthorized users and guard against network attacks.

◦    Guest virtual LANs (VLANs) to let you provide Internet connectivity to nonemployee users while isolating critical business services from guest traffic.

◦    Support for advanced network security applications such as IEEE 802.1X port security to tightly limit access to specific segments of your network. Web based authentication provides a consistent interface to authenticate all types of host devices and operating systems, without the complexity of deploying IEEE 802.1X clients on each endpoint.

◦    Time based ACLs and Port Operation restrict access to the network during predesignated times, such as business hours.

◦    Security mechanisms such as, Bridge Protocol Data Unit (BPDU) Guard and broadcast/multicast/unknown unicast storm control, protect the network from invalid configurations or malicious intent.

◦    Secure Core Technology (SCT) helps ensure that the switch will receive and process management and protocol traffic no matter how much traffic is received.

◦    Advanced defense mechanisms, including Dynamic ARP Inspection (DAI), IP Source Guard, and Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) snooping, detect and block deliberate network attacks. Combinations of these protocols are also referred to as IPMB (IP-MAC-port binding).

◦    IPv6 First Hop Security extends the advanced threat protection to IPv6. This comprehensive security suite includes ND inspection, RA guard, DHCPv6 guard and neighbor binding integrity check, providing unparalleled protection against a vast range of address spoofing and man in the middle attack on IPv6 networks.

◦    DOS (denial-of-service) attack prevention maximizes network uptime in the presence of an attack.

◦    Protection of management sessions using Radius, TACACS+ and local database authentication as well as secure management sessions over SSL, SSH, and SNMPv3.

• Power over Ethernet: Cisco 300 Series Switches are available with up to 48 PoE ports of Fast Ethernet or Gigabit Ethernet connectivity. This capability simplifies advanced technology deployments such as IP telephony, wireless, and IP surveillance by allowing you to connect and power network endpoints over a single Ethernet cable. With no need to install separate power supplies for IP phones or wireless access points, you can take advantage of advanced communications technologies more quickly, and at a lower cost. Some models support both IEEE 802.3af PoE and IEEE 802.3at PoE+ while others support IEEE 802.3af PoE only.
• IP telephony support: Cisco 300 Series Switches include embedded QoS intelligence to prioritize delay-sensitive services such as voice and video, simplify unified communications deployments, and help ensure consistent network performance for all services. For example, automated voice VLAN capabilities let you plug any IP phone (including third-party phones) into your IP telephony network and receive an immediate dial tone. The switch automatically configures the device with the right VLAN and QoS parameters to prioritize voice traffic.
• Networkwide Automatic Voice Deployment: Using a combination of CDP, LLDP-MED, Auto Smartports, and VSDP (Voice Services Discovery Protocol – a unique patent-pending Cisco protocol), customers can deploy an end-to-end voice network dynamically. The switches in the network automatically converge around a single voice VLAN and QoS parameters and then propagate them out to the phones on the ports where they are discovered. For example, automated voice VLAN capabilities let you plug any IP phone (including third-party phones) into your IP telephony network and receive an immediate dial tone. The switch automatically configures the device with the right VLAN and QoS parameters to prioritize voice traffic.
• Advanced network management capabilities: As managed switches, the Cisco 300 Series lets you use a variety of advanced features to control traffic over your network. Features include:

◦    Static routing/Layer 3 switching between VLANs: This capability allows you to segment your network into separate workgroups and communicate across VLANs without degrading application performance. As a result, you can manage internal routing with your switches and dedicate your router to external traffic and security, helping your network run more efficiently.

◦    IPv6 support: As the IP network addressing scheme evolves to accommodate more devices, you can make sure that your network is ready. The Cisco 300 Series provides native support for IPv6, the newest version of the Internet Protocol, as well as the previous IPv4 standard. As a result, you will be able to move up to the next generation of networking applications and operating systems without an extensive equipment upgrade.

◦    Dual image support: With the ability to maintain dual images of your switches, you can perform software upgrades without having to take the network offline and without worrying about an outage during an upgrade.

◦    Dual Configuration files support: Allows configuring the device, validating that it is configured correctly and then saving this configuration to become effective after reboot. Additionally, a mirror configuration file, providing automatic back-up of the latest stable configuration file maximizes network uptime.

◦    Remote management: Using Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP), you can set up and manage all switches and other Cisco devices in your network remotely, instead of having to directly connect to them.

◦    Additional management options: The switches can be fully managed using the Web GUI or using a full command-line interface (CLI).

• Optimal energy efficiency: Cisco 300 Series Switches are designed with a variety of power-saving features across all models, providing the industry’s broadest portfolio of “green” switches. These switches optimize power use to protect the environment and reduce energy costs, without compromising performance. Power-saving features include:

◦    The latest application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs), using low-power 65-nanometer technology (these chipsets allow for lower power consumption and thinner, more efficient designs).

◦    Support for the Energy Efficient Ethernet (IEEE 802.3az) standard, which reduces energy consumption by monitoring the amount of traffic on an active link and putting the link into a sleep state during quiet periods.

◦    Automatic power shutoff on ports when a link is down.

◦    Embedded intelligence to adjust signal strength based on cable length.

◦    Fanless design in most models, which reduces power consumption, increases reliability, and provides quieter operation.

◦    LEDs can be turned off to conserve power.

• Expansion ports: The Cisco 300 Series provides more ports per Gigabit Ethernet switch than traditional switch models, giving you more flexibility to connect and empower your business. Gigabit Ethernet models feature 28- and 52-port switches, versus traditional devices that offer 20 or 44 ports with four shared ports giving you more value. The Cisco 300 Series also offers mini gigabit interface converter (mini-GBIC) expansion slots that give you the option to add fiber-optic or Gigabit Ethernet uplink connectivity to the switch. With the ability to increase the connectivity range of the switches, you have more flexibility to design your network around your unique business environment, and to easily connect switches on different floors or across the business.
• Multiple languages: The Cisco 300 Series is available in seven languages: English, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Japanese, and simplified Chinese. All product user interfaces and documentation are translated, giving you the ability to select your preferred language.
• Peace of mind and investment protection: Cisco 300 Series Switches offer the reliable performance, investment protection, and peace of mind you expect from a Cisco switch. When you invest in the Cisco 300 Series, you gain the benefit of:

◦    Cisco limited lifetime warranty with next business day advance replacement (where available).

◦    Rigorous testing to help ensure easy integration and compatibility with other Cisco networking and communications products, including the complete Cisco Small Business portfolio.

• Service and Support: Cisco 300 Series Switches are backed by the Cisco Small Business Support Service, which provides affordable peace-of-mind coverage. This subscription-based service helps you protect your investment and derive maximum value from Cisco Small Business products. Delivered by Cisco and backed by your trusted partner, this comprehensive service includes software updates, access to the Cisco Small Business Support Center, and extends technical service to three years. Cisco Small Business products are supported by professionals in Cisco Small Business Support Center locations worldwide who are specifically trained to understand your needs. The Cisco Small Business Support Community, an online forum, enables you to collaborate with your peers and reach Cisco technical experts for support information.

• Cisco Limited Lifetime Hardware Warranty: Cisco 300 Series Switches offer a limited lifetime hardware warranty with next business day advance replacement (where available, otherwise same day ship) and a limited lifetime warranty for fans and power supplies. In addition, Cisco offers software application updates for bug fixes for the warranty term, and telephone technical support at no charge for the first 12 months following the date of purchase. To download software updates, go to: www.cisco.com/cisco/web/download/index.html.

Product warranty terms and other information applicable to Cisco products are available at www.cisco.com/go/warranty.