Voip Switch Compatibility

evian

A few basic questions:

What features does a cisco switch need to run voip? Will it work over the following:

Catalyst 3548XL
Catalyst 2950
3560E-48-PD-S
Cisco Catalyst 1900

Will I need additional cards for a 6500 core switch to enable voip? And am i right in saying that voip will work over non POE switches but will just need additional power to the phone?

Any help Appreciated.

pitviper

What are you looking to accomplish? Lab or production environment?

You can technically run voice over any of the switches listed (well, fist 3 for sure - never seen a 1900) but if given the option of the 4 above, the only one that I would consider for a real world, sizable deployment would be the 3560.

If this is for production, the switches are a lesser component of worry

For power you have 3 options: PoE, mid-span (powered patch panels - Too $$), or power bricks.

peanutnoggin

Like pitviper said... It really depends on what you are trying to do. You will first need either a router running Call manager express or a unified communications manager server... HTH

-peanut

evian

Thanks for your replies. It would be for production, to replace an existing traditional phone system. Approx 250 phones.

Are there are any ios requirements, for example is the standard base image of a 3560 is ok? What about QOS?

Thanks

pitviper

Base image covers QoS on the 3560s.

Fun with QoS:

Enterprise QoS Solution Reference Network Design Guide [Design Zone for WAN/MAN] - Cisco Systems


The Cisco Press QoS book by Odom is also really good.