Blue_Cookeh Posted July 16, 2015 Posted July 16, 2015 Hi All, Our school is expanding once again and now I'm looking into redesigning our wired network! Currently we have 3x HP 2530 switches (x2 for access, x1 for servers/VoIP etc) and we'll be looking at adding two or three more. At the moment these are chained together but now I'm looking at getting a core switch with fibre to the access layer, and Layer 3 routing. Does anyone have any recommendations? I'm keen to stick with HP for now but am open to others (that aren't Netgear!). Preferably I need to be able to connect up to 6 access switches, with room to grow. Thanks
itdaveh Posted July 16, 2015 Posted July 16, 2015 Hi, We have a HP 5406ZL core with 1 x 24 Port SFP, 1 x 24 port POE and 2 x 24 Port Gigabyte. 13 x Hp 2530 end point switches all connected to the Core using Fibre modules. If this helps Regards Dave
Net-Ctrl Posted July 16, 2015 Posted July 16, 2015 Hello, We have had a number of schools and colleges install a range of our Allied Telesis switches, they come out at a great price point and we haven't had any complaints. We also offer switches from Juniper Networks, but they do work out more expensive. If you would like some more information or ideas on pricing, please feel free to PM me and will liaise with one of our sales team.
simonm Posted July 16, 2015 Posted July 16, 2015 Whatever you do, it's worth thinking about redundancy - so if you just have one core switch and that fails then life becomes interesting until the replacement comes. If you can look at a design which gives you some resilience or fallback ( even it's taking gbics out of a failed core switch and plugging into something else ). This PDF from HP can be quite useful as they have so many products http://h20195.www2.hp.com/V2/GetPDF.aspx/4AA1-7037ENW.pdf
Jamman960 Posted July 16, 2015 Posted July 16, 2015 I've just brought 2x 2920 24g-Poe+ switches to act as our Core, I keep looking at the modular chassis switches but our network and budget isn't quite big enough as yet
Blue_Cookeh Posted July 16, 2015 Author Posted July 16, 2015 Budget is mostly my problem too... unfortunately schools expand and my IT budget seems to stay the same! (or someone else comes along and spends it on software and IWB->TV upgrades ) I'm really looking for something to aggregate fibre from the 2530 access layer, really not looking at copper since some of the runs in the future will be spanning multiple buildings.
IanT Posted July 17, 2015 Posted July 17, 2015 I would look at the HP 5400 zl Switch Series: http://www8.hp.com/uk/en/products/networking-switches/product-detail.html?oid=1827663#!tab=features Couple of modules: http://www8.hp.com/uk/en/products/oas/product-detail.html?oid=4348629 http://www8.hp.com/uk/en/products/oas/product-detail.html?oid=4348608 For the edge switches I wouldnt recommend the 2530 models, they have very buggy firmwares!
IanT Posted July 17, 2015 Posted July 17, 2015 I would look at the HP 5400 zl Switch Series: http://www8.hp.com/uk/en/products/networking-switches/product-detail.html?oid=1827663#!tab=features Couple of modules: http://www8.hp.com/uk/en/products/oas/product-detail.html?oid=4348629 http://www8.hp.com/uk/en/products/oas/product-detail.html?oid=4348608 For the edge switches I wouldnt recommend the 2530 models, they have very buggy firmwares!
caffrey Posted July 17, 2015 Posted July 17, 2015 We got recommended a HP 2920-48G Switch for the core (small school) but also recommended the 2530s in 24+48 for edge switches - what exactly is wrong with them ? And what would be the alternative ?
njc235 Posted July 17, 2015 Posted July 17, 2015 (edited) Nobody has mentioned the 5800 series in IRF. The 5800 is at the top end of HP's Lifetime warranty range. It is an excellent core switch offering many many features. With the IRF technology creating a virtual chassis, you can split your core to two or more locations thereby creating a DR solution utilising live links and switches. Edited July 17, 2015 by njc235
Blue_Cookeh Posted July 17, 2015 Author Posted July 17, 2015 Thanks a lot guys, will definitely be looking into these @IanT; What bugs were there? We've been running our current 2530s for the best part of a year or so now without any problems... I do keep firmware up to date on all our infrastructure though.
cpjitservices Posted July 17, 2015 Posted July 17, 2015 Juniper switches are nice as Core switches... look at the EX range, cheaper than people think too but utterly solid and reliable!
IanT Posted July 17, 2015 Posted July 17, 2015 (edited) Thanks a lot guys, will definitely be looking into these @IanT; What bugs were there? We've been running our current 2530s for the best part of a year or so now without any problems... I do keep firmware up to date on all our infrastructure though. I did a big deployment of these switches (the 2530) for edge and 5406zl for the core a few years ago, the original firmware they were shipped with (at the time) had issues with SFPs modules, high cpu usage, randomly rebooting connecting via CLI etc etc, I ended up logging a call with HP ProCurve team and even ended up speaking to one of their procurve engineers who writes the firmwares in the US! i sent all the tech data over to him\HP who confirmed and in their words "there are known issues with the last couple of firmware releases", after a few firmware updates later they have settled down and seem ok now. We got recommended a HP 2920-48G Switch for the core (small school) but also recommended the 2530s in 24+48 for edge switches - what exactly is wrong with them ? And what would be the alternative ? 2920 series are solid switches - $$$$$$ Edited July 17, 2015 by IanT
ITGURU Posted July 17, 2015 Posted July 17, 2015 Pure D-Link Here - One supplier told me not recommended for Education but told them I don't know why - The DGS-3420-52T and 52P (POE) Switches are solid with a DGS-6604 Core - Few issues I identified with the firmware but were resolved and new version released.
john Posted July 17, 2015 Posted July 17, 2015 Juniper switches are nice as Core switches... look at the EX range, cheaper than people think too but utterly solid and reliable! Agree with that @Net-Ctrl did a stunning installation for me in my last place well worth the investment and it was all Juniper and we used Ruckus wifi (also from @Net-Ctrl) and it was the best combination I've ever used things just worked perfectly. 2
Blue_Cookeh Posted August 11, 2015 Author Posted August 11, 2015 Went for a 2920-48G in the end, it's on it's way!
Blue_Cookeh Posted August 11, 2015 Author Posted August 11, 2015 No fair, I want one! It'll be perfect for us, our county finally gave the go ahead to move from 3 to 2 tier (the only 3 tier county left in the country I think!), we'll be expanding in the next couple of years
ass17 Posted August 11, 2015 Posted August 11, 2015 We got 2x 5406zl as cores, 15x 2920 as edge switches.
IanT Posted August 12, 2015 Posted August 12, 2015 Went for a 2920-48G in the end, it's on it's way! Just out of curiosity, I assume your site is small as these switches only come with 4x SFP ports, so uplinking fibre into these will be limited unless you spend more money on another switch.
njc235 Posted August 12, 2015 Posted August 12, 2015 It will of course take a dual 10g sfp+ module in the back.
CyberNerd Posted August 12, 2015 Posted August 12, 2015 It will of course take a dual 10g sfp+ module in the back. A small site then!
Blue_Cookeh Posted September 23, 2015 Author Posted September 23, 2015 We're relatively small at the moment, we have two access cabs and one server/telco cab, so for now we have x1 spare SFP port with the ability to add the dual SFP+ module. Even when we get our server room finished and school expanded I'll get the SFP+ module and just about have enough ports unless we get an extra IT suite!
mukz Posted December 15, 2015 Posted December 15, 2015 A little bit late to the thread but we have 1 x ProCurve 5412Rzl chassis switch, with 2 management modules, 4 power supply's but only really requires 2 to power and stay on. We have 6 x 8port 10GBase-T v2 zl Module, 2 x 8p 10GbE SFP+ v2 zl Module and one each of 24p Gig-T v2 zl Module and 24p SFP v2 zl Module. We use Hp ProCurve 2920-48G-POE+ and Cisco WS-C3560G-48TS as our access switches.
PotNoodleTech Posted December 16, 2015 Posted December 16, 2015 5412ZL here which is brilliant and a mixture of 2530 (which are great) and V1910 (which are .....cheap) on the edge. Can't fault the HP kit for the money, the cisco option was prohibitive.
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now