Would you use Juniper switches if you could afford them?

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Originally Posted by DMcCoy

It's £20,000!

Plus modules.

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It's a core switch, and that's typical core switch pricing. It compares to the Cisco 6500 range, Extreme Networks Blackdiamond 8k range and Brocade NetIron MLX range. Do remember that that price is list and currently there's a 70% off offer. If you didn't want something like that then the EX4200 is perfectly capable of coping as a core-switch through it's stackable backplane (128gbps links between switches within 7m of each other, or you can use a virtual stack through the 10gb fibre uplinks). Stack 2+ together and you also get the advantage of redundant routing engines.

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Originally Posted by Soulfish

It's a core switch, and that's typical core switch pricing. It compares to the Cisco 6500 range, Extreme Networks Blackdiamond 8k range and Brocade NetIron MLX range. Do remember that that price is list and currently there's a 70% off offer. If you didn't want something like that then the EX4200 is perfectly capable of coping as a core-switch through it's stackable backplane (128gbps links between switches within 7m of each other, or you can use a virtual stack through the 10gb fibre uplinks). Stack 2+ together and you also get the advantage of redundant routing engines.

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But the 4200 isn't modular. I think that *was* the discounted price. I found the same switch for £33k too.

I know the 8200 is a core switch, like the Procurve 9000s which are also very expensive. I just like having smaller, cheaper modular switches like the HP 5400s. It's been really useful as I'm actually mixing 10Gb interface types on a single module which helps keep costs down.

So we may have found a feature then! Stacking. One area the ProCurves don't really do.

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Originally Posted by sparkeh

Without wishing to sound like a nag ;)
Can someone inform us of the features you get with a Juniper switch that warrants the extra money over a Hp ProCurve

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Apparently Juniper are to review their priceing soon. As to why? Juniper are far better engineered, have more features, and a single OS between all devices. I've attached a 'Reasons' PDF I've found.

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Originally Posted by DMcCoy

But the 4200 isn't modular. I think that *was* the discounted price. I found the same switch for £33k too.

I know the 8200 is a core switch, like the Procurve 9000s which are also very expensive. I just like having smaller, cheaper modular switches like the HP 5400s. It's been really useful as I'm actually mixing 10Gb interface types on a single module which helps keep costs down.

So we may have found a feature then! Stacking. One area the ProCurves don't really do.

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The 5406 is 4U high, taking a max of 144 gbe ports. In the same 4U you can get 4 x EX4200 giving you 192 gbe ports :). That would also give you up to 8 10gig ports as each EX4200 can do 2 x 10gig ports. Also I got the stacking link speed wrong previously - it's actually 64gbps :)

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Originally Posted by DMcCoy

It's £20,000!

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What is it I'm missing? We spent around £2,000 total on all our switches for the entire school, and our 150-odd PCs seem to have enough bandwidth and so on to go round. What is it you can do with £20,000 worth of core switch that you can't with a £500 one? So far the options seem to be that the £20,000 switch is easier to use as it uses the same OS a your other £20,000 switches, and you can plug it in to a second £20,000 switch.

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David Hicks

Okay, so I've been asked to put together a funding proposal for work and equipment over the summer. What are the features that a modern school's network infrastructure should have - what should I make sure our network is capable of?

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David Hicks

One of our sponsors of the academy use Juniper Switches, and their business is 100% internet based (they're not a small company either) for them to put that much faith in Juniper is good enough for me, as if their network goes down they stop taking revenue, so they are high on my list to evaluate for our new build.

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Originally Posted by maniac

for them to put that much faith in Juniper is good enough for me, as if their network goes down they stop taking revenue

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I've not had a problem with any of our dirt-cheap switches - I just plug them in and leave them to it. I can afford to keep a spare in a cupboard just in case one blows, and they draw little power and will run for plenty of time off a basic, small UPS.

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David Hicks

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Originally Posted by DMcCoy

Still not hearing anything about what makes the switches good, other than looking nice and being expensive.

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I thought we were talking about Juniper not Mac! lol (and that coming from a Mac fanboy! lol)

Back on topic though, I've not come across Juniper, but the single system sounds appealing given we have several different brands of managed switch in this school (I take the approach of they're not broken so I'm not fixing them just yet .. but when the time comes .. EIK)