Can you fit a desktop switch in a rack?

[MattDLEA]

Sorry if this is a stupid question looking at some switches to replace the ones in our rack but they come with a desktop enclosure??

 

Obviously I dont want these on my desktop I want to tidy the rack not make it more messy. Is there a conversion kit or something to look out for ? Or just look at other switches?

[glennda]

Depends on the switches - which ones are you looking at?

 

How many ports and how much functionality is required?

[sparkeh]

Rack shelf, like this? http://www.amazon.co.uk/19-inch-1u-Rack-Shelf/dp/B005VCL2F4

[MattDLEA]

Looking at the ZyXEL GS1910-48HP - switch - 48 ports - Managed Mainly as we need a bit of POE for some wifi AP and these seem the cheapest.

ZyXEL GS1910-48HP 48-Port... | GS1910-48HP-GB0101F | £503.99 | Insight UK

 

Dont really need much functionality after that to be honest.

[Michael]

I would suggest you look at other switches which are 19" or rack mount compatible.

 

If they're the standard width, then I'm guessing with the desktop surround that they wouldn't fit in a 19" cab anyway.

[sparkeh]

Um.. unless I'm missing something, aren't those rack mounting screw holes on the side of that switch?

Feel like I'm being dumb or something?

[Michael]

Looking at the ZyXEL GS1910-48HP - switch - 48 ports - Managed Mainly as we need a bit of POE for some wifi AP and these seem the cheapest.

ZyXEL GS1910-48HP 48-Port... | GS1910-48HP-GB0101F | £503.99 | Insight UK

 

Dont really need much functionality after that to be honest.

 

Looking at the dimensions/picture, it does look like it's rack mountable. To be honest the switching capacity of 104Gbps isn't that great bearing in mind it's a 48 port gigabit switch with optional 10 gigabit uplinks. This is reflected in price however

[sparkeh]

Here's the manual: ftp://ftp2.zyxel.com/XGS1910-48/user_guide/XGS1910-48_v1.00_ed1.pdf

 

It has rack mounting instructions in it.

Edited September 24, 2013 by sparkeh

[MattDLEA]

Looking at the dimensions/picture, it does look like it's rack mountable. To be honest the switching capacity of 104Gbps isn't that great bearing in mind it's a 48 port gigabit switch with optional 10 gigabit uplinks. This is reflected in price however

 

I Appreciate your trying to help but I didnt understand any of that lol . A switch to me is something that we connect all out data points to and one from the broadband box. We are a small primary school with less then 50 Pc's . We will be having some wifi AP's hence the need for the POE to run 12 AP's max. We dont do anything like VLan or any thing like that

[Gaz]

I Think some clarification is needed as to what equipment / switches you've currently got.

 

From my understanding of your first post you have seen a desktop switch like this one Cisco SF100D-08 8-Port Fast Ethernet Desktop Switch, 100 Series some of them come with "ears" (basically brackets that mount to the side of the switch) so you can install them in a rack but if they don't then you can get shelves for racks and just put it on that.

Edited September 24, 2013 by Gaz

[Michael]

Think about it like this -

 

Each port is capable of connecting at 1Gbps or 1000Mbps in both directions. This is called Full Duplex mode.

 

48 x 2 = 96 or 96Gbps, so there's very little left for your 10Gbps links to other switches (if you have any).

 

96Gbps + 10Gbps = 106Gbps and it's only capable of pushing out 104Gbps max.

 

To give you a comparison, I've installed lots of HP 2910al switches and these are capable of 176Gbps.

 

In English it basically means the HP can push out considerably more data at once - mainly due to a faster processor and more onboard memory inside.

 

Another important consideration is that the HP 2910al supports PoE+ as well as PoE. The only difference being the power is increased from 15W to 25W+ per PoE port. Many new Access Points will only work with PoE+ switches due to the higher power demand. Hope this makes sense

[Roberto]

As has been noted, the switches you have do look like they're rack mountable, but for the future its worth keeping in mind that the 'rack-ability' of something isn't just about whether or not you can find a way to physcially squeeze it into a rack, but about such things as it having adequate airflow when mounted in a rack, etc.

[MattDLEA]

Thanks both we currently have 3 x Procurve 1800-24G switches however we have 90 points around school coming back to the cab, obviously not all of these are live. What im trying to do is make it so we have enough capacity with the switching so that all the data points can be live.

So basically I will be wanting to get 2 * 48 port switches. Don't know if its best to get them both POE or one POE and one not.

We have a NGFL broadband at 8/9MB

[Gaz]

You may want to stick with HP switches if you can just for compatiblity but that shouldn't really be a problem. It would be cheaper to get 1*48PoE and 1*48 nonPoE as it should be cheaper and use less power. However HP switches will cost a lot more than that ZyXEL switch.

48 port 10/100Mbps http://uk.insight.com/en-gb/productinfo/network-switches/0002191186-00000001

48 port 10/100/1000Mbps HP 2530-48G-PoE+ Switch - switch - 48 p... | J9772A | £1,290.99 | Insight UK

Edited September 24, 2013 by Gaz

[MattDLEA]

To Be honest the old switches will be coming out as theres not that much room in the cab, could probably get away with taking one out and just getting one 48 switch but the school wont fork out £1000 for a switch.

 

The ZyXel ones are ok arnt they?

[Gaz]

I can't speak for the quality of ZyXEL as the only product I used of their was a home grade router years ago. We use Cisco Small Business and Allied Telesyn switches but the Allied Telesyn will be replaced with Cisco Small Business soon.

 

Most people on the forum use HP and with good reason as they are good switches. Better to spend more on a quality switch than buy poor switch which may struggle.

But someone may be able to enlighten you on the quality of ZyXEL.

[nicholab]

I would stick with the big 3 which are Cisco, HP and Juniper.

[Norphy]

I think the Dell Force10 switches are worth looking at too, especially if you have a good relationship with your account manager.

[Gaz]

Just read your a primary school. Two of these would be fine, Cisco SF300-48P (SRW248G4P-K9-UK) 48-Port Managed Ethernet PoE Switch, 2x Gigabit, 2x mini-GBIC Combo, 48 PoE Ports (375W), 300 Series I can't see you needing masses of bandwidth that a full gigabit switch provides.

[sparkeh]

How many PoE ports do you need?

Another option could be to buy a good quality, cheaper, non PoE switch (ProCurve or the like) and just buy a PoE injector/midspan just to cover ports you need PoE for.

Could work out cheaper and get a better switch?

[MikeGilbert]

There are cheaper HP switches; you are unlikely to want all the management stuff in the high-end Procurve units, and there is a decent configurator on the HP website. I'd counsel against getting the cheapest of anything, personally. The key thing to remember is that your entire system depends on the network working, and that hangs on the switches. As an aside, 48 port units often cost more than 2x 24 port.

[twin--turbo]

I have had first hand experience with Zyxel and they are not the best of the bunch.

 

Given my experience I would put my money in second user cisco, and buy a spare in case of an unlikely failure.

 

We have only had 1 cisco fail in 5 years ( well appart from a pair of dodgy PSU's in a core that must have been a faulty batch) which was replaced under the lifetime warranty. that's out of about 40 devices.

 

2 HP's failed out of 10. 1 was fixed under warranty, the other was taken out of service as it was not needed.

 

 

If it was not Cisco or HP, I would step down to Netgear and D-Link.

 

Rob

Edited September 24, 2013 by twin--turbo

[Norphy]

Just read your a primary school. Two of these would be fine, Cisco SF300-48P (SRW248G4P-K9-UK) 48-Port Managed Ethernet PoE Switch, 2x Gigabit, 2x mini-GBIC Combo, 48 PoE Ports (375W), 300 Series I can't see you needing masses of bandwidth that a full gigabit switch provides.

 

I think that last statement is pretty short sighted. They may not need that kind of bandwidth now (although gigabit is nothing special these days) but it's probably safe to assume that their needs and the size of their network are only going to grow. Why hamstring yourself in the future only to save a relatively small amount now?

[MattDLEA]

Ok showing my total lack of knowledge here. but would I need some transceiver modules?

 

Also I have found a procurve 2650 switch from another school this has 48 ports so is it worth using this and just getting a 24 POE switch at better quality for the AP's

[Norphy]

You'd only need transceiver modules if you have another switch connected to it over fibre.

 

The 2650 is a reasonable switch, it's fully managed and will be enough to get you going. And if it's free, all the better. You will only get 100mbps to the client though, this may be limiting in the future.

 

How many APs are you using? It may be worth getting POE injectors rather than a full POE switch.

Edited September 25, 2013 by Norphy