HP I think I made a mistake

[Gaz]

We are building a new site and this time I opted for HP switches as they get raved about on edugeek. I much prefer a GUI to CLI to config a switch, possibly just because of my skill level (or I'm lazy) I've only ever used Cisco SMB switches before so I know their GUI pretty well, today I setup the new HP switches (2920-48 & 2920-24PoE Stacked) and had a good look around the GUI, or lack thereof! It seems that with these switches 90% of it is done via CLI as the GUI is very sparse (Using Manager account)

 

Even using the GUI is a complete mess and it seems to take ages to navigate around, using the "Help" (really its a joke i'm sure) isn't great either and there in no search function that I could see. Are they really this bad from a GUI perspective? Or is it a case of the higher up in class of switch the less GUI is used?

 

I guess I'll get to improve my CLI skills but I just prefer to see what I'm doing and the effect in a graphical environment. The lightshow when they start up is pretty cool though

[synaesthesia]

Yeah - I'm quite fond of a UI too. Thankfully it didn't take too long to pick up the CLI with the aid of lots of googling and a cheat sheet or two

[Mustang]

"Real admins don't use a GUI" I can't remember who said it but it was someone big in the IT world.

 

HP switches are by far the easiest switches to configure from the CLI, you will pick it up in no time and actually find it quicker.

 

What things are you trying to do??

[Gaz]

I like that saying, however I can't abide by it yet

 

At the moment, not a lot as the server still isn't in place. I've made some VLANS which I did manage to start using the GUI but I had to finish them off using the CLI (for ip helper etc) still gotta sort out the routing for the VLANS for DHCP which is a little tricky without the server. A lot of the CLI stuff I actually remembered from reading threads on here about other people trying to config HP switches, which I guess is another reason for choosing HP switches and the support from edugeek.

[FN-GM]

Bit late now, but with Cisco Catalyst switches you can install some software on a Windows PC called Cisco Network Assistant. You can do pretty much anything in the GUI with that. Even ACL's!

 

However as your keeping these switches I would learn the CLI. Not sure what its like compared to Cisco but if its is like Cisco once you have grasped the basic concept and how it works its fairly straight forward.

[xenonive]

If you feel brave you and always look at installing a trial of HP IMC (60 day trial) , you can do all the setup via it using GUI and copy settings from one switch to another with one click. 50 node license costs about £2k but if you have many switches it makes monitoring ,troubleshooting, doing fireware updates and adding new VLANs very easy.

[njc235]

Have you spoken to your reseller for assistance? Most will have engineers who will gladly give some guidance FOC if it's a new purchase.

[kendallb]

I have just deployed two nice hp 5900's in my core replacing a stack of cisco 3750's

I was unsure about HP's acquisition of 3com thinking we would start getting horrible hybrid switches. But comware 7 is amazing switch is 100 times more logical than cisco and the oridional hp os on other hp switches. I cant promote them enough!

[Davit2005]

If you feel brave you and always look at installing a trial of HP IMC (60 day trial) , you can do all the setup via it using GUI and copy settings from one switch to another with one click. 50 node license costs about £2k but if you have many switches it makes monitoring ,troubleshooting, doing fireware updates and adding new VLANs very easy.

 

+1 for IMC, it is a big product but when you've got 50+ switches, numerous stacks, trunks and vlans it is worth it. A step up from PCM ( ProCurve Manager).

 

Just don't get carried away with the alerting.

 

For an alternative you can use the CLI menu but to be honest you can do much more on the CLI and it's probably faster too once you know the commands.

[localzuk]

I only ever use the GUI stuff for a quick port status check (is X port "up"?)

 

The CLI is by far the best way to do anything with HP switches. You can prep your commands in a text file and copy/paste them, for example!

[njc235]

+1 for the CLI menu, just to get you started. It's a step away from the GUI but still menu driven which some people are more comfortable with.

[tmcd35]

+1 for the CLI menu, just to get you started. It's a step away from the GUI but still menu driven which some people are more comfortable with.

 

This is how I configure all my HP switches, with the CLI menu. Couldn't be easier. I don't know if it's still the same on new switches but the ones we have here use a buggy Java UI the crashes sooner than give you the port status. Putty + CLI menu is the way to go.

[Gaz]

I guess for me the GUI offers a visual overview of the config whereas with a CLI you need to look at the config in text format and be able to understand it to see how it effects the network. I'll get used to it, I guess I was just expecting more from the GUI side having been spoilt with the Cisco.