Can you fit a desktop switch in a rack?

[hallb15]

Have you already got the WAPs? If so, which are they?

We use Netgear switches and Netgear WAPs here. They just work and are easy to configure.

[MattDLEA]

We havent got the WAP yet,

 

We are looking at the unifi solution ...One of my friends has just orderd this for his school so letting him install and test before we bite the bullet. At that price we would probably get 12 AP one for each room. We could probably get away with less but its going to be cheeper then any of the maru / rukus solutions.

 

We have netgear AP's and some netgear POE injectors at the my other school. They were installed by someone else but seam to cope ok with the current iPad demand. however people say keep away from netgear.

[gshaw]

I'd always recommend sticking with quality kit for your network backbone, with education special bid pricing and a raft of suppliers fighting for business the HP ProCurve switches are hard to beat imo. Stick with the 2xxx series and you'll be sorted for years Edited September 25, 2013 by gshaw

[Michael]

It makes more sense (wherever possible) to use the same manufacturer of Switches and Access Points.

 

Clearly it sounds like ICT is taking off at as you're essentially removing perfectly good working switches for more powerful ones. Considering they are the backbone of any school network, it's critical you buy something decent - a device which can provide plenty of bandwidth, but also offer excellent uptimes with the minimum of fuss.

 

Being able to deliver 1Gbps (1000Mbps) to each Access Point is better than 100Mbps, especially if you buy in new Access Points today which are typically N rated. Even if you wireless devices only connected at 65Mbps, multiply this by 10 (10 devices) = 650Mbps and you can see that the 1Gbps pipe does make all the difference. This is why buying a switch with plenty of bandwidth (as I wrote in my previous post) is crucial

[TronXP]

If you go unifi, remember that the normal unifi and the LR don't use standard POE. Also the Unifi's do come with POE injectors. We have just used the ones that come with the unifi's.

[catch21]

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.

 

Go for the SG-300 at least.

 

I powered our 12 APs in two blocks of 6 off two SG300-10MP switches. Works a treat.

 

I don't think you'll need to wire all 90 copper links back to the switch once you've got your wifi up and running.

Edited September 26, 2013 by catch21

[Gaz]

Go for the SG-300 at least.

 

I powered our 12 APs in two blocks of 6 off two SG300-10MP switches. Works a treat.

 

I use a SG300-10MP at home and there is a bit of a high pitched whine from the PSU would you say that is normal? It tends to be louder with less cables plugged in.

[catch21]

I use a SG300-10MP at home and there is a bit of a high pitched whine from the PSU would you say that is normal? It tends to be louder with less cables plugged in.

 

I've not noticed but the background noise is quite high plus the server and cache server run in the same closet.

[MattDLEA]

Can someone explain Stackable?

If i have 3 switches and a router the router connects to the first switch, this switch connects to the next and then the 2nd to the 3rd, whats that called via the normal ports?

[seawolf]

That's called trunking.

[seawolf]

...And stacking is where stackable switches are connected over a dedicated interface (Gig, 10GbE or proprietary datalink) to provide a unified system. So, rather than having multiple switches to manage separate it they are managed as one large switch essentially. The use of the stacking interface between them also preserves all of the ports for use on the network rather than trunking several ports to connect standalone switches. Stacking is only really relevant where you need to use a large number of switches in the same network cabinet or need enough ports to fill more than one data cabinet in the same building. Generally, it is going to be much cheaper to use a large modular chassis switch rather than stacking a large number of 24-48 port switches together (although cable management is easier with stackable switches).

[nicholab]

Stackable do allow for better cable management. As they can be interleave panels and switches. Edited October 1, 2013 by nicholab