Cisco 3550 SMI vs. EMI

Hey guys, just wanted to find out the difference between a Cisco EMI vs. SMI, I've seen posts on Ebay statying that the SMI has an EMI image, does this means they're both exactly the same, and you can upgrade the IOS image on the SMI models?

Thanks!

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tiersten

BroadcastStorm wrote: »

Hey guys, just wanted to find out the difference between a Cisco EMI vs. SMI, I've seen posts on Ebay statying that the SMI has an EMI image, does this means they're both exactly the same, and you can upgrade the IOS image on the SMI models?

SMI and EMI have been renamed now. SMI is now IP Base and EMI is now IP Services.

Hardwarewise, there isn't actually any difference between a 3550 that came with SMI and a 3550 that came with EMI. There is a flag in the ROM that still points it out but it doesn't affect functionality only and it is just a cosmetic thing.

If you have a 3550 with IP Base then you can software upgrade it to IP Services by installing an IP Services version of the 3550 IOS as the two feature sets are distinct files. This upgrade does actually cost money and requires a paper license from Cisco but in terms of hardware there isn't anything you change.

Newer devices have a unified IOS file which contains everything and the different feature sets are unlocked by typing in a device specific key. If you don't have a key then you're stuck at whatever the lowest feature set is. These keys obviously cost money to get.

BroadcastStorm

I have a full blown access to Cisco download page, through my companies CCO account, so do you recommend just purchase the SMI version to save money and load the new IOS? will that work with my CCO account?

I guess what I'm trying to accomplish is to have the full dynamic routing functionality as well the L3 capabilities/intervlan routing, I am aware that I will not be able to do private vlans which sucks, cause the 3560 series are so darn expensive.

Also I believe I can install the inline power adapter module to support POE? correct me if I am wrong, now it's a custom modified switch :P

ColbyG

You can't make a non-PoE switch into PoE AFAIK. You can use power injectors to prove PoE to devices though.

EMI = more features, mainly more routing capabilities.

BroadcastStorm

ColbyG wrote: »

You can't make a non-PoE switch into PoE AFAIK. You can use power injectors to prove PoE to devices though.

EMI = more features, mainly more routing capabilities.

Thanks for the reply Colby, should I stick with the EMI for my CCNP lab? I am thinking that this will be a more powerful arsenal to practice lab on.

tiersten

BroadcastStorm wrote: »

I have a full blown access to Cisco download page, through my companies CCO account, so do you recommend just purchase the SMI version to save money and load the new IOS? will that work with my CCO account?

Your company may have SMARTnet service contracts attached to their account which allows them download access to CCO but it doesn't mean you're able to legally download the IP Services upgrade for your personal 3550 without the license.

Part of the click through for download mentions that Cisco can track downloads and may charge you for any software that you're not supposed to be downloading. Whether you or your company takes this risk is something you need to decide yourself. Would you be okay if you or your company suddenly got a nasty lawyer letter in the mail along with a bill?

I've never heard of anybody getting invoiced for a download that they weren't entitled to but then again, would you really publicly announce that you'd just been forced to pay up? :P

tiersten

BroadcastStorm wrote: »

should I stick with the EMI for my CCNP lab? I am thinking that this will be a more powerful arsenal to practice lab on.

The whole point of getting a 3550 (or better) for a lab is that you have L3 routing support...

phantasm

tiersten wrote: »

The whole point of getting a 3550 (or better) for a lab is that you have L3 routing support...

Yup. I have a 3550 24port PoE EMI switch, a 2950 and 2960. Need one more L3 switch and I'll be happy. lol.

spartangtr

BroadcastStorm wrote: »

Thanks for the reply Colby, should I stick with the EMI for my CCNP lab? I am thinking that this will be a more powerful arsenal to practice lab on.

I'm not 100% sure on the differences but I bought an SMI and just loaded an ipservices IOS image on it. It has all the routing protocols i'll ever need. Correct me if i'm wrong, but the SMI vs EMI debate is just an image thing isn't it? You could just buy an SMI and throw a different image on it....

tiersten

ColbyG wrote: »

You can't make a non-PoE switch into PoE AFAIK. You can use power injectors to prove PoE to devices though.

Yeah. POE for the fixed configuration switches is built into the unit and you can't upgrade it.

The little HWIC switch cards can be upgraded to POE if you buy the POE daughterboard or just buy the version that is bundled with the POE daughterboard already. No idea if the old WIC versions could be upgraded.

Danielh22185

Sorry to re-birth a dead thread. I am looking to get 2 3550 switches here very soon for my studies. Would an SMI switch be sufficient enough to run everything I would need to lab? I have heard SMI switches don't support EIGRP or OSPF but have not been able to find anything concrete on that.

Thanks!

thenappyone

Q. What features are only supported on the EMI?
A. The following features and functionality are only supported with the EMI:
• Advanced IP routing protocols for load balancing and constructing scalable LANs:
– OSPF
– IGRP and EIGRP
– BGPv4
• WCCP to allow switch interaction with a cache for the purpose of redirecting content requests to a cache and performing basic load balancing across multiple caches
• PBR to allow specific policies to be implemented by causing selective traffic to take different paths
• PIM for IP multicast routing within a network that enables the network to receive the multicast feed requested and for switches not participating in the multicast to be pruned; support for PIM sparse mode (PIM SX), PIM dense mode (PIM DX), and PIM sparse-dense mode
• Distance Vector Multicast Routing Protocol (DVMRP) tunneling for interconnecting two multicast-enabled networks across non-multicast networks

this was taken from the cisco site Cisco Catalyst 3550 Series Switches - Cisco

The only limitation I ran into with the 3550 is these switches do not support Private VLANs

theodoxa

Unlike the 3560/3750, you can download IP Services (EMI Image) for the 3550 with just a regular old CCO (no SmartNet). Though, you may not need to - I have 4 x 3550s I bought on eBay and at least 3 of them came with the EMI image installed despite being labelled as "SMI".

http://software.cisco.com/download/release.html?mdfid=275935237&softwareid=280805680&release=12.2.44-SE6&relind=AVAILABLE&rellifecycle=ED&reltype=latest

Danielh22185

Great! Thanks guys!