Core Switch - Aruba or Meraki?

[gumbygaz]

Just after some advice/tips?

Got quotes for some new Switches for our core, and now trying to decide between and Aruba 5406R solution or a Meraki MS425 & MS225 solution.

I really like the Meraki web interface, never been much of a CLI guy so that does appeal - Our other switches are all aging Procurves so sticking with the HP/Aruba is also tempting (but these will get replaced over the next couple years too so not a huge thing I guess). Not much in it cost wise, especially with the Meraki 10year license included. Looking at the forum seems most have Aruba and not many have Meraki for Wired (plenty of Wifi ones)

Is Aruba Central a good system for Switch monitoring/troubleshooting?

Thanks !

[MatthewL]

We use Aruba, although locally managed nothing in the cloud it works for us. I find them solid switches no extra licenses and just run and run. Just about to rip some aging Cisco ones out and put Aruba in at one site. I don't think I'd use anything else personally.

[Carrot63]

We use Meraki MS410 and MS350 at the core (2 of each) and have been very happy. Our Wifi is also Meraki so it made sense and the people who supplied and configured our Wifi also do our switches. Easy to reconfigure although I haven't had much need to. I like the visibility it gives across the network in an easy to use gui. We are gradually replacing the rest of our HP / Aruba switches for Meraki on our rolling program.

[Jcx500]

Aruba had been the sweet spot for cores the past few years in my view.

[StephenPink]

We recently upgraded our whole wired infrastructure - with Aruba. Pair of 6405's running as a virtual core - very happy so far. Don't currently have Central, but have looked at it - from what I've seen so far, I don't think you see much of a benefit from Central unless you have wired AND wireless with Aruba; for wired only I couldn't justify the additional costs.

 

Cheers,

Stephen

[simpsonj]

Looking at something similar, but looking to justify the large capital spend.

 

For those that have upgraded, to either Aruba or Meraki, have you noticed an improvement to the speed/reliability of your network? Other than the age of the kit (going on for 14 years now!) I haven't had any major issues, and I'm struggling to justify the upgrade to the higher ups. Security concerns would be number one, and moving to more 1GBs ports across the board would be great, as would the increased visibility/manageability, but has the actual networking ability of switches really moved on the past 5-10 years? It's slightly easier to justify a wireless upgrade as we jumped from WiFi 4 (802.11n) to WiFi 6 and that's easier to explain!

[localzuk]

We have 2 5406Rs in use. They have been bullet proof. Thoroughly recommend them. The lifetime warranty is a really nice thing to have too, plus not having to worry about paying for subscriptions etc... In my experience, we don't make that many changes to things on the core(s) so the CLI is fine enough. The Aruba web interface works well for basic stuff too (assigning ports to Vlans being the usual thing we use it for, or plain enabling/disabling ports).

[3s-gtech]

We went from Cisco 1Gb to desktop with 1Gb uplinks (with an HP 5406zl v2 core) to Aruba 5Gb to desktop (mostly at 1Gb) with 10Gb uplinks (and 50Gb stacking).

 

Not noticed any difference. The Cisco and HP kit was reliable and there was no saturation of any links. It wasn't as resilient due to single PSUs in edge switches, but the core was a beast (and lives on as our CCTV core, with the old PoE switches on the edges).

 

This kit should give us good future proofing though.

[Net-Ctrl]

To throw another name in, we have a number of edge and core projects planned for summer with the Ruckus ICX portfolio - they have an extensive portfolio comes with a great warranty and priced competitively.

 

If you're open to that as a further consideration, please send me a PM and we can spec up a solution so you have another to compare against.

[Wave9_Lee]

Just after some advice/tips?

Got quotes for some new Switches for our core, and now trying to decide between and Aruba 5406R solution or a Meraki MS425 & MS225 solution.

I really like the Meraki web interface, never been much of a CLI guy so that does appeal - Our other switches are all aging Procurves so sticking with the HP/Aruba is also tempting (but these will get replaced over the next couple years too so not a huge thing I guess). Not much in it cost wise, especially with the Meraki 10year license included. Looking at the forum seems most have Aruba and not many have Meraki for Wired (plenty of Wifi ones)

Is Aruba Central a good system for Switch monitoring/troubleshooting?

Thanks !

 

I'd vote for Meraki - we have plenty of customers happily using it. Sounds like you already have pricing but if not, happy to help. We also offer a co-managed service whereby we spread the cost of the hardware/licence over a 5 year term and include 3rd line support. This is particularly useful if capital is an issue. Installation and configuration included.

 

cheers

[Davit2005]

HP/Aruba through and through here with 700+ switches with older HP ProCurve core.

 

Rock solid apart from some of the older HP switches like 15years+ (mainly fan/psu issues on specific models like the 2650s) but they still get replaced under lifetime warranty. Newer Aruba switches have less of a warranty, in some cases limited to one year but in others around 5 to the original purchaser so check first.

[Norphy]

The 5400R is a fine switch, I’ve got loads dotted around my MAT. The only thing to bear in mind is that it’s a relatively old model and it might not have much life left on the roadmap. I think if I was considering a new deployment, I’d look hard at the CX series. It will be supported for longer.

[slugshead]

Hands down the 54XX.

 

I'm using a 5412 as the core and then branched out to a few 5406's with bonded links (2x10gb) before going down to the single (1/10gb) links to access switches.

[slugshead]

The 5400R is a fine switch, I’ve got loads dotted around my MAT. The only thing to bear in mind is that it’s a relatively old model and it might not have much life left on the roadmap. I think if I was considering a new deployment, I’d look hard at the CX series. It will be supported for longer.

 

Recently purchased 6300M's for SAN switch. Damn expensive but impressive.