Network Switch - New Solutions and Suppliers

[petben]

We have a layer 3, Netgear switch environment (24/48 ports, PoE, stacking etc). We are looking at possibly moving away from Netgear for subsequent switch purchases, definitely having some kind of cloud management.

 

Netgear do 'Insight Pro' which is their cloud solution, which on paper looks OK...then there's Ubquiti which has mixed reviews. Everything looks good...and bad, everything has bad and good reviews, bit of a minefield.

 

In the medium term we will have to have a mix of new and old hardware.

 

Can anyone recommend a solution they've had a good or bad experience with, and a supplier who can give independent and honest options and prices.

 

 

Thanks

[AJWhite1970]

I have nothing but good to say about Unifi, my site is 100% (switches, AP's and CCTV) and it's install and forget. The only issue is Unifi has yet to implement Layer 3 so you need one capable device in your LAN to implement the VLAN stuff, I for example have an Aruba 2930F doing that job setup for me by another lovely EduGeek member over the summer

[petben]

Thanks, how are you doing for 10G links between buildings? Do you have any core switch failover or redundancy?

[Net-Ctrl]

If you would like a Ruckus perspective on it - please let me know.

 

They have the ability of cloud management of switches. They come with NBD replacement on their warranty. They have a wide-ranging portfolio to suit different needs.

 

We are also able to propose an Allied Telesis deployment for an alternative consideration.

 

Both designs would be put forward following a discussion and review of your network and what you're looking at achieving.

 

Both are competitively priced but wouldn't be as cheap as NetGear/Ubiq.

[Jcx500]

we use Aruba for our Core and access switches, We have the 2920 which is now discontinued . i think the 2930f is the newest similar switch to that one, We got ours from Bt business direct

[synaesthesia]

Aruba switches here - the switches are decent as you'd expect but cloud management from Aruba Central is still nowhere near suitable enough for switching IMO - it's still very much wifi-centric.

[Primus]

We run Unifi switches at the edge - super cheap and well featured and handle all of the L3 routing, VLANs, ACLs etc on a pair of HPE 5940 switches at the core. 10Gb fibre from the core to each edge switch and then switches in the same cabinet are uplinked to each other using 10Gb DAC cables as a backup for if the fibre feed/transceiver to that switch dies.

[MS2011]

We run Unifi switches at the edge - super cheap and well featured and handle all of the L3 routing, VLANs, ACLs etc on a pair of HPE 5940 switches at the core. 10Gb fibre from the core to each edge switch and then switches in the same cabinet are uplinked to each other using 10Gb DAC cables as a backup for if the fibre feed/transceiver to that switch dies.

 

Can I ask how cheap the unifi switches and Ap’s ? We are looking to install the cambium ap’s (WiFi 6) and switches. And they not cheap.

[Wubbalubbadub]

Can I ask how cheap the unifi switches and Ap’s ? We are looking to install the cambium ap’s (WiFi 6) and switches. And they not cheap.

We just bought some for our primary schools..

 

For a AC Pro box of 5 - £500 ISH per box

For 500W 48 port Poe+ switch.. £560

I think the 24 port is just over half that cost.

[caffrey]

If anyone is worrying about unifi stability

 

 

They do have their quirks, I have weird VOIP phone issues now and again also some users have issues with connecting to wifi but I think that's just an IOS thing.

[Primus]

Can I ask how cheap the unifi switches and Ap’s ? We are looking to install the cambium ap’s (WiFi 6) and switches. And they not cheap.

 

We paid £283 for non-PoE 48 port switches and £560 for the 500w PoE 48 port switches. We paid £440 per 5 pack of APs which were AC-Pros and £212 for the AC-HDs (only a small number of these for high density areas like the main hall, dining room etc.

 

Our Unifi setup has been rock solid, we've had zero problems with it. It was easy to install and configure. It was way cheaper than the other options and does everything we need including RADIUS.

[petben]

Am I right thinking the Ubiquiti switches don't support stacking? do you link them in the same cabinet with a LAG and cat6?

 

Thanks

[MS2011]

We paid £283 for non-PoE 48 port switches and £560 for the 500w PoE 48 port switches. We paid £440 per 5 pack of APs which were AC-Pros and £212 for the AC-HDs (only a small number of these for high density areas like the main hall, dining room etc.

 

Our Unifi setup has been rock solid, we've had zero problems with it. It was easy to install and configure. It was way cheaper than the other options and does everything we need including RADIUS.

 

Many thanks for info, what about licences and support?

[Davit2005]

Am I right thinking the Ubiquiti switches don't support stacking? do you link them in the same cabinet with a LAG and cat6?

 

Thanks

 

As far as I know there is no stacking on Unifi/ubiquiti switches that allow them to act as one logical switch

 

And if you need routing redundancy at the core you may need to look elsewhere. At home my last Ubiquiti ES-16-XGs had layer 3 only for IPv4 and no IP redundancy or IPv6 routing which I wanted, now I have a few Aruba 2930fs stacked which I use as core.

 

Whilst you could do various stuff like using VRRP for IP redundancy and have multiple links then using STP protocol to stop loops. But for core personally I'd go stacked or modular each have advantages depending what vendor/model you go with.

Edited November 27, 2020 by Davit2005

[Katy]

Many thanks for info, what about licences and support?

 

There are no licences, think it's a 1 year warranty and whatever free support you can get via email etc. - not sure entirely if they do any other support method as I've never had to use them. But for the price you can afford to keep a few spares on the shelf vs something expensive. Saying that we've not had a single AP or switch fail yet (100 APs, 6 switches) although only had them in a couple of years.

[Primus]

Am I right thinking the Ubiquiti switches don't support stacking? do you link them in the same cabinet with a LAG and cat6?

 

Thanks

 

We link using 10Gb DAC cables between switches for redundancy - spanning tree takes care of this so normally the links are disabled but if they lose their direct core 10Gb fibre feed they'll fail over to their DAC cable to a partner switch and therefore use the partner's 10Gb fibre link.

 

So each edge switch has a direct 10Gb fibre link back to the core plus a 10Gb DAC link to a partner switch.

 

No licences to pay for.

 

1 year standard warranty.

 

If you want enhanced warranty or support you can pay for it and the major players in the Ubiquiti world such as 4Gon and the others listed on their website will offer this as well as the courses and certs if you want.

 

We haven't bothered with additional support or warranties. I have a cold spare 48 port PoE switch, a 48 port non-PoE switch and an AP or 2 sitting on a shelf. I did read some of the course materials but I've never done the courses or the qualifications. It's really very straightforward.

 

We host the controller on a VM on our HyperV cluster rather than paying for a CloudKey - we had the resource available it made sense to use it and have it be HA.

Edited November 27, 2020 by Primus

[Aprice]

I took over my current site, It has Dell N series switches. I absolutely hate them. I have had several hardware faults and a couple of stacks that throw up memory errors on various firmware releases.

 

I think I will stick to Aruba and Cisco unless the the budgets really squeezed, in which case Ubiquiti. Never had a bad experience with the HP Aruba kit.

 

The Ubiquiti switches I use at home and used in a couple of primaries, I'm quite happy with them apart from the 3 switches that power supplies failed in.

Edited November 30, 2020 by Aprice

[Primus]

I took over my current site, It has Dell N series switches. I absolutely hate them. I have had several hardware faults and a couple of stacks that throw up memory errors on various firmware releases.

 

I think I will stick to Aruba and Cisco unless the the budgets really squeezed, in which case Ubiquiti.

 

The Ubiquiti switches I use at home and used in a couple of primaries, I'm quite happy with them apart from the 3 switches that power supplies failed in.

 

Think you've just been unlucky there, we've got loads and had zero issues.

[Aprice]

It probably was just bad luck, I'm just not very impressed with them. From what I gathered the price is comparable to the Aruba 2930f.

 

The CLI isn't bad though, very similar to Cisco.