Network switches

[AlanD]

I'm sure everyone, at one time or another has bad experience with _EVERY_ manufacturer's kit....and sometimes its the user rather than the kit (although sometimes its because the kit has allowed the user to do something stupid). On the odd occasion - when I have had to take up the "life time" guarantee offered by netgear (..I think it was when a firmware upgrade stiffed the switch) they were extraordinary helpful and ready to courier me a replacement switch for next day. In the end - I offered to set up a TFTP server and see if I couldn't reflash the boot code - as long as they took the risk this wouldn't further invalidate any warranty. They were happy with this - and hey presto, it worked. I counted this is Netgear's favour rather than counting the failed firmware upgrade as Netgear's failing. I had upgraded identical switches, from identical previous versions of firmware without issue. Maybe there are some poor netgear switches out there, and I would say I've not seen any - but actually there is a "GSM7224" or something like that which is prone to losing a heat sink off a chip if you knock it about. Where there are network problems in a school, contractors usually cover themselves and replace all the kit with premier division stuff, rather than look to fix the single issue causing the problem. So the myth is then born that the premier stuff is better.

[Davit2005]

I'd contemplate 2nd hand managed HP switches, certainly for Edge. For the price you could get 2 and have one as spare.

 

I completely despise web based Smart or non-out of band managed switches, never touch them if you are working on anything other than a completely flat ( 1 vLAN only network).

 

IMO Netgear are the worst I have encountered. HP are good apart from some issues with some versions of PoE switches, 3com are quite good and Cisco are best ( of course, apart from cost of Support ) .

Edited March 13, 2017 by Davit2005

[zag]

Sir, welcome to my world. I've sort of just learned to ignore the bad wrap they get. You will never change personal preference/opinion but I suppose that's what makes life interesting.

 

Our infrastructure does more than what we need. We don't need 30/40gb to edge cabs, we probably don't need 1.2TB switching/routing at the core but we can and do.... I had a Cisco CCIE tell me our kit was great and the code base is about 99% the same as the Cisco CLI.

 

I was gonna say this as well, we use Netgear gigabit switches all round school including the server room and never had any issue with network speed at all.

 

The reliability is also near on perfect, think I have had 1 switch fail in 9 years and that was due to a power surge.

 

The cost of each switch is £106 which makes it quite a jump to anything "better".

 

Saying that, we don't do any complicated VLANs or anything like that...

[etowntec]

In my district we are currently doing a full network infrastructure upgrade. We were a fully Cisco shop before but in the upgrade we will become a full Extreme Networks Shop. Their pricing came back at nearly 1/3 that of Cisco with all of the same feature sets. CLI options are very easy to pick up on especially if you were used to working with Cisco in the past.

[Davit2005]

I was gonna say this as well, we use Netgear gigabit switches all round school including the server room and never had any issue with network speed at all.

 

The reliability is also near on perfect, think I have had 1 switch fail in 9 years and that was due to a power surge.

 

The cost of each switch is £106 which makes it quite a jump to anything "better".

 

Saying that, we don't do any complicated VLANs or anything like that...

 

 

I guess it is down to personal experience with switches as well as anything else IT. If you are happy with a brand you normally try and stay, those you have had issues with, you avoid.

[Mark-wilde]

Recently, I have been pretty pleased about Huawei switches, you can have a look at it.

[Achandler]

One issue I have, is that having been getting prices.

 

Netgear/ D-Link who are considered the lower end vendors, there prices for the higher end kit isn't a mile off the likes of HP. So either people are getting much better prices then I am, or times have changed more. For example M6100 chassis, when you fill them as wanted, comapred to HP chassis come out at similar prices, not a big discount as everyone is talking or implying.

 

Huawei suppliers seem few and far between in the UK. Brocade haven't bothered to even get back to me.

 

Unifi, there is supply problems (not fully surprised to be fair) but it means I couldn't get them done in Easter as I was planning originally.

 

There is so much inconsistancy between manufacturers and then resellers. Makes you wonder why you bother sometimes.

[mdrabble]

Used Netgear at my previous school and the only issue I have is the web interface - in that finding a browser that works with the interface!

 

With shrinking budget do I dare look at the UniFi US-48 as a real alternative to replacing my edge switches?

 

Having never seen/used any Unifi kit I have no idea on reliability, performance etc.

 

Another question I have is which model handles VLAN better?

[mdrabble]

Used Netgear at my previous school and the only issue I have is the web interface - in that finding a browser that works with the interface!

 

With shrinking budget do I dare look at the UniFi US-48 as a real alternative to replacing my edge switches?

 

Having never seen/used any Unifi kit I have no idea on reliability, performance etc.

 

Another question I have is which model handles VLAN better?

[localzuk]

So, I have just drawn up a comparison for the re-network of one of our schools.

 

HPE - £20,000

Dell - £16,000

Ubiquiti - £7,000

 

Was expecting Dell to be cheaper to be honest. Ubiquiti is alarmingly cheap...

[localzuk]

So, I have just drawn up a comparison for the re-network of one of our schools.

 

HPE - £20,000

Dell - £16,000

Ubiquiti - £7,000

 

Was expecting Dell to be cheaper to be honest. Ubiquiti is alarmingly cheap...

[AlanD]

Netgear - not working with a browser. Yes, you sometimes need to add the "web site" address of the netgear switch to the "compatibility View" mode in the browser to make it work. And some of the really old ones need JAVA on your PC....No reason to throw working kit out because of this....but I agree it adds to the hassle of the day.... Edited March 14, 2017 by AlanD

[AlanD]

Netgear - not working with a browser. Yes, you sometimes need to add the "web site" address of the netgear switch to the "compatibility View" mode in the browser to make it work. And some of the really old ones need JAVA on your PC....No reason to throw working kit out because of this....but I agree it adds to the hassle of the day.... Edited March 14, 2017 by AlanD

[caffrey]

Be aware that Unifi switches, (The US) series VLAN configuration may be a bit different than you are used to. I quite like it

[caffrey]

Be aware that Unifi switches, (The US) series VLAN configuration may be a bit different than you are used to. I quite like it

[Davit2005]

Netgear - not working with a browser. Yes, you sometimes need to add the "web site" address of the netgear switch to the "compatibility View" mode in the browser to make it work. And some of the really old ones need JAVA on your PC....No reason to throw working kit out because of this....but I agree it adds to the hassle of the day....

 

Stick with managed CLI switches unless you have a very basic setup i.e. no vlans. It just takes one simple vlan mistake to render a network broken and if you only have a web based interface you can find your self in a sticky situation.

 

No Java to worry about on CLI and much easier to configure quickly once commands are known.

 

Tag management traffic between switches if using vLANS.

Edited March 14, 2017 by Davit2005

[Davit2005]

Netgear - not working with a browser. Yes, you sometimes need to add the "web site" address of the netgear switch to the "compatibility View" mode in the browser to make it work. And some of the really old ones need JAVA on your PC....No reason to throw working kit out because of this....but I agree it adds to the hassle of the day....

 

Stick with managed CLI switches unless you have a very basic setup i.e. no vlans. It just takes one simple vlan mistake to render a network broken and if you only have a web based interface you can find your self in a sticky situation.

 

No Java to worry about on CLI and much easier to configure quickly once commands are known.

 

Tag management traffic between switches if using vLANS.

Edited March 14, 2017 by Davit2005

[tinca492]

+1 for netgear here

 

Originally used 13 years ago as could not afford HP or Cisco.

 

Very few problems, the odd fan failure (x2) but that is it. One of my base "rules" is to keep all infrastructure the same manufacturer wherever possible. That way all kit is using the same interpretation of "Standards".

 

We were also using Netgear managed wireless upto 3 years ago but then reviewed our requirements and went for Ruckus, good decision as it has turned out, mega reliable, flexible, and fast.

[mdrabble]

I'm also pricing up both ES and US unifi kit and cannot believe I have been quoted £33.00 for 2 x10Gb Multi Mode transceivers.

[Blue_Cookeh]

We were an all Netgear school for 15 years. The switches never failed us, but eventually the APs started dropping like flies. The Web Management was shockingly bad when it came to VLAN configuration (these were Smart switches mind you, not fully managed) but they didn't really skip a beat in use. That in mind, I ripped them all out and replaced them for HPE/Aruba a couple of years ago. I think we just outgrew the Netgear stuff really since we started adding more and more devices onto our network, needing routing/VLANs/voice etc.

 

I know Ubiquiti's ES switches run a form of Vyatta/VyOS, but I'm not sure on the Unifi ones... they seem a little less managed? maybe to me. I'm certainly interested in them given the price points but I don't know if I'm ready to ditch the HP stuff when the CLI is so good, and the pricing vs Cisco is just right.

 

We are using Ubiquiti wireless at the moment though and have had zero problems.

Edited March 15, 2017 by Blue_Cookeh

[Asgard]

We were an all Netgear school for 15 years. The switches never failed us, but eventually the APs started dropping like flies. The Web Management was shockingly bad when it came to VLAN configuration (these were Smart switches mind you, not fully managed) but they didn't really skip a beat in use. That in mind, I ripped them all out and replaced them for HPE/Aruba a couple of years ago. I think we just outgrew the Netgear stuff really since we started adding more and more devices onto our network, needing routing/VLANs/voice etc.

 

The smart switches are shocking for any sort of configuration because I believe they use JavaScript and it just cant handle serving up web pages whilst operating as a switch. The new firmware for the managed switches is lightning quick.

 

Thnk were on 23 VLANS, VoiP (with No QOS), BYOD, the standard stuff for most of us but yeah the smart switches are very limited in my experience too.

[Andycat]

We use Cisco for edge, but replaced our core with 5 Dell N4032F in a stack. They didn't like this, and still fall over sometimes, we're awaiting chance to install the latest firmware which should hopefully cure this. Apparently they would have been fine unstacked. But we were pretty early on board with them at a very attractive price/warranty point.

[PotNoodleTech]

There's nothing attractive about core switches falling over!!

[localzuk]

There's nothing attractive about core switches falling over!!

Yeah, I was thinking the same thing. If a product you've only recently bought is failing, and it is the core of your network, I'd not be looking at it as attractively priced! I'd be looking at it as junk.

[markwilfan]

Bought a US-48-500W to play with. Plugged it in at 3.25 and tried to adopt it. 3.30 I was running over to the 2nd server room to rip out the ethernet cable as it floored our network. Wtf! I don't want to rtfm makes me feel inadequate