Description

• Security

  The Cisco Catalyst 2960 LAN Lite Switches support security features that can help your business protect important information, keep unauthorized people off the network, guard privacy, and maintain uninterrupted operation. The Cisco Identity-Based Networking Services (IBNS) solution provides authentication, access control, and security policy administration to secure network connectivity and resources. Cisco IBNS in the Cisco Catalyst 2960 LAN Lite series prevents unauthorized access and helps ensure that users get only their designated privileges. With Cisco IBNS you can dynamically administer granular levels of network access. Using the 802.1x standard and the Cisco Secure Access Control Server (ACS), you can assign users a VLAN upon authentication, regardless of where they connect to the network.

• Ease of use: deployment

  The Cisco Catalyst 2960 LAN Lite Switches are equipped with features that allow for network scalability and higher availability through multicast filtering as well as a complete suite of spanning tree protocol enhancements for maximizing availability in a layer 2 network. Enhancements to the standard spanning tree protocol help to maximize network uptime. PVST+ allows for layer 2 load sharing on redundant links to efficiently use the extra capacity inherent in a redundant design. UplinkFast, PortFast, and BackboneFast all greatly reduce the standard 30- to 60-second spanning tree protocol convergence time. The loop-guard and bridge-protocol-data-unit (BPDU) guard enhancements provide spanning tree protocol loop avoidance.

• Quality of Service (QoS)

  The Cisco Catalyst 2960 LAN Lite Switches offer QoS features to help ensure that network traffic is classified and prioritized and that congestion is avoided in the best possible manner. To implement QoS, the Cisco Catalyst 2960 Series Switches first identify traffic flows or packet groups, and then classify or reclassify these groups using the 802.1p Class of Service (CoS) field. The Cisco Catalyst 2960 LAN Lite Switches support four egress queues per port, giving your network administrators more control in assigning priorities for the various applications on the LAN. At egress, the switches perform congestion control and scheduling, the algorithm or process that determines the order in which queues are processed. The Cisco Catalyst 2960 LAN Lite Switches support Shaped Round Robin (SRR) and Strict Priority Queuing (SPQ). The SRR algorithm helps ensure differential prioritization.

• Management

  The Express Setup feature simplifies the initial configuration of a switch. Now you can set up the switch through a web browser, eliminating the need for terminal-emulation programs and the command-line interface (CLI). Express Setup reduces the cost of deployment by helping less-skilled personnel set up switches quickly and easily. Through a user-friendly GUI, you can configure and manage a wide array of switch functions and start the device manager of Cisco routers and Cisco wireless access points. A few mouse clicks enable the Cisco recommended security, availability, and QoS features without the need to consult a detailed design guide. The security wizard automatically restricts unauthorized access to servers with sensitive data. Smartports and wizards save time for network administrators, reduce human errors, and help ensure that the configuration of the switch is optimized for these applications.

Specifications