New switches

[Devontechie]

What are people currently using for switches? I have a client that is moving and need to sort out the new switches. More than likely going to be looking at 2x 48 switches that can be stacked.

 

I've not done much with switches for a few years, so any help would be great.

[DalekSec]

HP are a good shout, can't go wrong with lifetime warranty!

[FN-GM]

Are you after a specific suggestion of a model? If so what features so you require?

 

HP are a good shout, can't go wrong with lifetime warranty!

 

Worth point out Cisco also have a life time warranty.

[RobD]

If they can afford them then get Cisco.....the SG models are good for smaller businesses.

[FN-GM]

If they can afford them then get Cisco.....the SG models are good for smaller businesses.

 

It does seem to be a myth that Cisco is always more expensive. When we prices up the replacement switches last time around HP was slightly more expensive than Cisco. If budget is the biggest decider Ubiquity is worth a look at.

[TechMonkey]

Depends on intended use, but I wouldn't buy a switch without POE+ without a very good reason now. Means you can power APs, phones and a myriad of other devices without the need for filling your cabinet with injectors.

 

We have standardised on HP/Aruba switches, but I have heard good things about Ubiquity.

[mavhc]

HP's lifetime warrenty is much more restricted these days.

 

You have stuff like Ubiquity, and Cisco Meraki to look into as well

[BKGarry]

Is this going to be a flat network or require VLANs?

 

I have recently replaced 27 cisco switches with 8 Unifi switches and 1 edgeswitch, all from ubiquiti and I did it for around the 7k mark, that was with new SFP+ modules and some SFP+ cables and 4 new 10gbps ethernet cards for the server.

 

The reason for the edgeswitch was for our unique setup requireing layer3 routing to be transparent to our ISP (as our IP address are allocated from them, and the filtering is upstream there.

[Sonic007]

Simple switches? managed switches with vlans?

 

Do you require POE over any of these?

 

 

I like the Netgear managed switches. Simple and effective.

[sonofsanta]

Depends on intended use, but I wouldn't buy a switch without POE+ without a very good reason now. Means you can power APs, phones and a myriad of other devices without the need for filling your cabinet with injectors.

 

We have standardised on HP/Aruba switches, but I have heard good things about Ubiquity.

 

Caveat: measure your comms cabinets first. If it's a smaller wall mounted one (rather than a floorstanding full rack) then a PoE+ may not fit in; they're a lot deeper than non-PoE switches. I have learned this lesson the hard way.

 

A general recommendation for the HP Comware switches; better value than the other HP stuff and have been rock solid for us. Specific models depends on whether you need 10GbE, Layer 3 etc. Talk to SwitchShop, best networking company I've known by far (and if you get on their mailing list you get chocolate at Christmas and Easter!)

[AlanD]

I have always used netgear, despite the bad press given to them (usually by those who won't buy anything unless its badges Cisco or HP...a bit like those who only buy NIKE trainers). When one (and its only been one for the last 20 years) failed a firmware upgrade and bricked it self - and phone call to netgear instantly had them promising to send out another by courier for next day. In the end - with their guidance I updated the boot code and the firmware sprung into life, but knowing they really deliver to customers without hassle when things go wrong made a permanent customer out of me. (But yes, they are a bit noisy, and no they are not quite as fast as some switches in terms of packet throughout. And buy the cheap £10 fibre modules - much better than the badges £100+ netgear ones). And if I started again I'd be looking at Ubiquiti, because their price/performance makes them worthy of a good look....and their web interface alone is wake up call for those stuck in the past insisting that command line programming is the only way to go. I'd also look at ZYXEL. Don't expect suppliers to be rushing to you with the cheaper options - which they will rubbish - because their margin is going to be much smaller.

[Sonic007]

Ive never had a problem with Netgear switches. Does the job.

I picked up 3 128 port managed switches a couple of months back. Running perfectly.

[DalekSec]

We replaced all our aging netgears with HP. I don't know if it was just the oldness of the Netgears or them in general, they were very noisy and the interface was very clunky! Managing the HPs via SLI is a lot easier.

 

We mainly have the J9773A and J9775A models

[Sephiroth]

I've previously been a huge advocate of the Netgear M5300 and M7300 series switches, but we've recently had a lot of issues with them dropping off the network and getting the VLAN tagging/untagging wrong (e.g. a port marked as tagged is then untagged, and saved. refresh the view and the port is marked as tagged again, but is correct in the PVID screen) and stuck, requiring a reboot of the switchstack. I've also had to really battle with support to get units replaced, hving to either do a swap and wait for the unit to turn up before having a new one shipped, or using the schools credit card as collateral. We had this on 2 M5300s and an M7300 (our core switch and primary router and gateway, the collateral on that was very hard to get past finance!)

 

We have moved to Allied Telesys switches for our 6th form campus which turned out much cheaper than any other manufacturers that we were looking at. There are a couple of minor lingering issues with this to do with PoE coming on before data, but otherwise the migration was flawless. The fans in them (at least the ones we have - GS900 series) are aligned so airflow is front to back, so our cabs are cooler and quieter as well.

Edited September 11, 2018 by Sephiroth

[dhicks]

Caveat: measure your comms cabinets first.

 

Also, consider the noise level of your switch - we use HP's 2920 PoE edge switches, which are fine but quite loud - you notice the fans whirring away as you walk around the corridors. Placing them in an accousticly-dampened cabinet seems to work okay - I was worried about the heat retention, but it doesn't seem to have been an issue (network now 4 years old, I think), and it cuts the noise level down to pretty much zero.

 

I'd echo previous comments about how good SwitchShop are, and if looking at a new network I'd be also looking at Ubiquiti switches, with their neat web-based control panel.

[DalekSec]

Also, consider the noise level of your switch - we use HP's 2920 PoE edge switches, which are fine but quite loud

 

We've found the opposite, the netgears we had before were louder than a moving train! The HP's we have are silent AF in comparison.

[PotNoodleTech]

We've found the opposite, the netgears we had before were louder than a moving train! The HP's we have are silent AF in comparison.

 

Each switch is different, if you need quiet ones you need to make sure you are buying a specifically quiet one from any of the manufacturers. E.g. HP V1910-24G-POE are loud and MASSIVE. HP 2530-48G-POE are near silent and much more compact. Bought at the same time!

 

Research needs to be done on the depth of the switch and sound level when introducing POE.