Mixing Switch Brand and Fibre Module Brands?

[RobBaxter]

Hi,

I am thinking of replacing some old switches. Now while the switches are of reasonable cost the fibre modules are almost the same again. Now i don't pretend to be an expert in "Core Comms and Switching" and my "Brain" says keeping the brands the same is probably senssible anyway.

But for example, would it be possible to use say a Netgear 1GBit Fibre module in a HP Procurve Switch? Obviously i can check standards.

If i can "without risking stability" get away with not having to purchase modules that would be great. But, if i have to buy them its not the end of the world. Your advise would be greatly appreciated if you have tried this .

Thanks

Rob

[plexer]

The tech inside is the same however HP only allow certain transceivers to be put into their equipment mainly HP ones and possible some 3Com ones.

Ben

[plexer]

With HP switches I would say use HP mini g-bic's

Ben

[RobBaxter]

Good to know! New modules it is then

[MicrosoftTechy]

Extreme switches are not locked down to certian vendors they'll accept mostly any module brand plus there brilliant switched

[SYNACK]

The tech inside is the same however HP only allow certain transceivers to be put into their equipment mainly HP ones and possible some 3Com ones.

Ben

The benefit is the lifetime warranties given that they do burn out over time.

[RabbieBurns]

never having used a hp switch... if one of their switches was to break and non-hp modules were used in it.. how would they know if you just raised a RMA and sent it back ?

[SYNACK]

never having used a hp switch... if one of their switches was to break and non-hp modules were used in it.. how would they know if you just raised a RMA and sent it back ?

It would probably be logged in the system flash but you could not use it anyway as the software will prevent anything other than B revision HP SFPs in the switches. The others will sit there and not initialise, as far as I know there is not override command like there is in the Cisco gear. In short, there is not point, I doubt they would care if there were some in there at one point but it would be pointless.

[CyberNerd]

never having used a hp switch... if one of their switches was to break and non-hp modules were used in it.. how would they know if you just raised a RMA and sent it back ?

They would ask for a detailed system dump - they would only know if the offending non HP module was plugged in at the time.
TBH HP support isn't as good as some make out - with 3com we'd just phone up and they send us a replacement part next day. Last week we had to send back a faulty 10GBE module to HP and it took them over a week to acknowledge their kit was faulty, they made us run though a bunch of hoops to check that it was their fault. Eventually they sent a replacement but it was no-where near as easy as IBM are or 3com were. If it was a core switch I couldn't have afforded that as downtime.

[plexer]

Last time I had a failed HP switch which was some years ago I rang in the afternoon and the replacement was there before I got in the next day. This was a bog standard edge switch nothing fancy.

I've had a faulty core switch module changed before the same way.

Non HP and non genuine HP just simply won't work in an HP switch.

Ben

[VeryPC]

There are some really good compatible warranted sfp/fibre module available by a vendor called prolabs. They do all kinds of transeivers , UPS gear , cabling - at a big saving over the original part price .

There a configorator for HP here http://www.prolabs.net/products/tran...wlett-packard/rd/

Ignore the $ Price as its for list purposes

I'll drop you a PM with my details .


Andy

[RabbieBurns]

It would probably be logged in the system flash but you could not use it anyway as the software will prevent anything other than B revision HP SFPs in the switches. The others will sit there and not initialise, as far as I know there is not override command like there is in the Cisco gear. In short, there is not point, I doubt they would care if there were some in there at one point but it would be pointless.

Non HP and non genuine HP just simply won't work in an HP switch.

thanks, I knew there must be a reason we didnt use HP switching stuff

[CyberNerd]

thanks, I knew there must be a reason we didnt use HP switching stuff

Having gone through the 3com to HP transition I can see where your coming from! The service has definitely gone southwards, I used to be able to use netgear modules in my 3com with a lifetime warranty and no hassle.

[RabbieBurns]

networking is a Standards based technology. Not a vendor based technology.

IMO

[SYNACK]

networking is a Standards based technology. Not a vendor based technology.

IMO

Should be but most of the time it goes like this:

Cisco invents something cool
Cisco licences the tech to tier 2 vendors like hp who then implement it
In parallel the ISO decides it is a good idea and comes up with a committee based version of it with limited features in comparison.
The ISO standard is implemented in most switches alongside their own proprietary tech.
Everyone realises that although it is a standard not everyone has implemented it in the same way so it can still be a bit problematic between switch brands (depending on the age of the protocol)
It gets mentioned in hacker movies wrongly
It shows up completely wrongly in fiction books
Managers start demanding it
It goes end of line and is retired