Cisco Switch Selector Tool

132 switches, 60 routing platforms, 47 uplink modules, supervisors and line cards, and 199 transceivers, DAC and AOC assemblies — all taken from the Cisco data sheets on cisco.com.

Nine use cases, from campus access to service provider core, each setting the role a platform has to fill.

A platform that fails a hard requirement is excluded rather than ranked low, and every surviving model lists the reasons it scored where it did.

Checks role fit, PoE class and whether the budget covers a full load, port count including stacking, access and uplink speeds, copper against fibre, stacking limits, redundant power and supervisors, SD-Access, SD-WAN, cloud management, rated WAN throughput, and industrial or compact environments.

Every link is validated end to end: both cages must share a speed, the pluggable must fit both, and its reach must cover the distance.

The link planner picks the most economical part that satisfies all three — DAC first for short runs, then AOC, then optics — and pushes BiDi, coherent and industrial-temperature parts behind the mainstream equivalent.

Awkward cases are handled rather than fudged: copper-to-copper becomes structured cabling with the 100 m limit enforced, RJ-45 to pluggable gets a copper transceiver, and an impossible pair is rejected with an explanation instead of a silent bad BOM.

Drag devices to lay out the topology, or use auto-layout, and download the diagram as PNG or SVG.

Word, PowerPoint and Excel packs, in Cisco colours, all built from one model so they never disagree — with the live diagram embedded in each.

Platforms covered by an end-of-sale or end-of-life notice are left out, so you are choosing from what you can still order.