Switch Manufactures Preference

[mikeyd101]

Our network equipment is getting to the point that our failure rate is increasing. Most of our equipment ranges from oldest Unicom and Dlink to Extreme to HPs being our newest equipment. Most of our issues is with the extreme equipment (mostly x250e-48t) either solo switches or in stacks. Our split is probably 75% extreme, 20% HP and 5% other

 

We have applied for a grant which could cover 80% cost of upgrading our infrastructure. We have a network consultant who is working with us to help remedy some of our network issues and the proposals for the future. I'm in no way the decision maker but am fairly knowledgeable Tech (more so than our coordinator).

 

Consultant is pushing big for Extreme equipment, saying he has good working relationship with them.

 

So i'd like to get some opinions on what manufacture is preferred to go with for switches?

What equipment you have/would consider and likes/dislikes/issues?

 

My gut feeling is that we should strongly look at HPs (95% of our pcs/servers are HPs)

Edited June 18, 2014 by mikeyd101

[MatthewL]

HP/3Com personally, cannot fault them.

[jamesreedersmith]

HP - lifetime warranty is a big bonus if nothing else.

 

saying that extreme kit is feature rich if expensive and newer switches seem to need lots of firmware updates for a while to get them stable?

[Bananas]

HP stuff with the lifetime warranty for me. Decent quality not too expensive

[Fazza]

I worked with the 'Purple Boxes' (aka Extreme Switches) for many years whilst I worked at a College where we had 5 main campuses and 24 outreach centres spread across 2 counties (each connecting back to the main campus with a BT Learning Stream) and all sites/locations had Extreme switches. We had a core at each main campus (which also linked back to our main campus either via Microwave or Infrared links).

 

The kit worked very well and was very reliable. Easy to assign VLANs to ports etc. and the Support we got was fantastic (mainly used for making changes to how we did things rather than faults).

 

So if you go with Extreme switches then I can fully recommend them. The only question is will you be getting an annual maintenance contract over the years? Is it affordable?

 

Where I currently work (now at a School) we use HP Switches, like Extreme they're reliable and do the job. Do we have a maintenance contract? No. HP have a lifetime warranty so no need. We save money with HP by not having to have an annual maintenance contract. If one fails (*touch wood* not happened yet) and we want to get back online whilst we deal with HP to get it fixed, then we can order a new one for next day delivery from a supplier which is infinitely cheaper than an annual maintenance contract and still providing a quick-fix for our internal customers.

[synaesthesia]

HP here for all new stuff, warranty is the big SP plus easy management from a single point.

[FN-GM]

We use Cisco here. 3750X for the edge and 4500X for the core. Really good switches, very reliable again with the lifetime warranty. You also have the Cisco Network Assistant. A nice GUI you install on a machine to manage your switches.

[daveyboy]

Go Extreme. Carrier grade.......nuff said.

[sonofsanta]

The HP Comware range is great value for money compared to Extreme. Juniper had similarly priced devices but the SFPs were a lot more.

 

If the majority of the issues you have are with Extreme now, why even consider them? Trust your own experience.

[3s-gtech]

We have a mix of HP (mostly V series, with a 5*** core) and Cisco (small business range) gigabit switches here. Very pleased with them all. The Ciscos replaced some older 10/100 Procurves which were also excellent - some did many years of service while exposed to brick dust and general abuse.

[pantscat]

HP Procurve here - the quality of the kit is excellent, and the support has been truly outstanding.

 

Bid pricing from HP will bring the purchase cost down considerably - our final HP solution when we overhauled our entire LAN was cheaper than a Netgear equivalent.

[fiza]

We have all HP Procurve kit. Just the other day we had our first issue with a chassis switch after 5 years of continuous use. See my post here http://www.edugeek.net/forums/hardware/138131-hp-lifetime-warranty.html

 

Lifetime warranty. Nuff said!

[localzuk]

HP all the way for me. Been running a pure HP network for 7 years now, and its been rock solid. The lifetime warranty is great for piece of mind, without needing to buy extra support.

[Sephiroth]

I would recommend Netgear. their M5*** and M7*** switches are flawless. Either layer 2+ or 3 (if you go 2+ you can just buy the upgrade licence later) and come with 3 year Pro Support, 3 year onsite hardware replacement and lifetime warranty. I've had thm in place for about 5 months now and I've had no problems whatsoever.

[jtotheb]

We use Cisco here. 3750X for the edge and 4500X for the core. Really good switches, very reliable again with the lifetime warranty. You also have the Cisco Network Assistant. A nice GUI you install on a machine to manage your switches.

 

Yeah, I love the 3750 switches. Matching up mixed stack software revisions was fun the first time, but the ability to make a stack with a brand new 3750X and a more mature 3750G is very handy. However, CNA is pure evil

[FN-GM]

Yeah, I love the 3750 switches. Matching up mixed stack software revisions was fun the first time, but the ability to make a stack with a brand new 3750X and a more mature 3750G is very handy. However, CNA is pure evil

 

I don't use it. Really clunky and slow. If working with someone with a complex network I might use it as a visual seeing how the switches connect together. The good thing with the 3750 you have stuff like stackable power, dual PSU and the ability to stack upto 9 switches. Plus you don't need to purchase additional expensive stacking modules like you do with the 2960's. When you get all the extras for the 2960's like stacking modules more SFP's uplinks etc the cost between those and the 3750 isn't much.

[rickypike]

HP ProCurve here, excellent kit and been faultless, no issues in 3 years.

[dhicks]

So i'd like to get some opinions on what manufacture is preferred to go with for switches? What equipment you have/would consider and likes/dislikes/issues?

 

We bought a new network's worth of switches last year. The feature that I particularly wanted was the ability to do software defined networking via OpenFlow. HP's switches turned out to be the best value, after looking at several other manufacturers as well. Theoretically, you can buy cheaper generic switches now that you then build a network on top of with SDN / OpenFlow, as Google / Amazon / Facebook / etc do, although in practice, at the consumer / small business end of things, an HP switch is going to cost about the same - the large savings are for if you're buying a datacenter's worth.

[Griff]

All Procurve here no problems apart from multiple powercuts in a row caused the fans on our main switch to stop working properly, HP sent out a replacement fan unit next day..can't fault them

[SHimmer45]

HP Procurve, still have some 2524's running in the edge without any issues and silly uptime i expect.

[mikeyd101]

Thanks for all the input guys, its help alot.

 

I'm sure which ever is picked HP or Extreme we will be ok with, I'm hoping HP then we only have one manufacture for all our equipment and may also bring added value to us as if we have a certain annual spend we may qualify for on-site warranty work.