Network Switches

[alextreadwell]

I Used Linksys (now badged as cisco small buisness) gigabit unmanaged switchs for 3 primary schools and have had all of them fail (within warenty period admitted 2 years) sent first few back to netherland at £20 each postage and had them replaced with new after but took about a month to come, out of 12 switches 1 is still working. we have replaced them with hp procurve 1800s and they are ace

[jam3s]

I think you're kinda way off base there... Yes Cisco are still the market leader, in some areas, and in some countries (for example HP are the market leader in Finland IIRC). Also, on features, the new HP switches have pretty much all of the functionality of the Cisco equipment now. In a school situation, you would *never* need the extra few functions that Cisco offers.

 

So, it isn't a case of getting what you pay for, more a case of paying for something you'll never use, and a name badge.

 

Currently I think you are correct however with voice and video I think Cisco are going to become far more attractive. many schools and college don't seem to have a clue about building LAN's and often create huge broadcast domains with no way of controlling security or broadcasts. which is why i think its more important to look at the requirements first and get a good design before just randomly saying X vendor is the best BUY BUY BUY.

 

if your looking at VoIP for the future it makes a huge amount of sense to have your phones the same vendor as the network. so when it all goes wrong there's only one person to blame.

[localzuk]

if your looking at VoIP for the future it makes a huge amount of sense to have your phones the same vendor as the network. so when it all goes wrong there's only one person to blame.

 

Otherwise known as 'putting all your eggs in one basket'

 

Also, you're assuming Cisco would be providing the phone systems? Not here, and not in any school I know of either - far too expensive, and to be honest, it doesn't offer anything that schools need over, say, a Samsung system or the Asterisk system we have here.

 

Also, VOIP is handled perfectly well (as is video) on HP switches... We use both here, with QoS enabled and working fine.

[jam3s]

Otherwise known as 'putting all your eggs in one basket'

 

Also, you're assuming Cisco would be providing the phone systems? Not here, and not in any school I know of either - far too expensive, and to be honest, it doesn't offer anything that schools need over, say, a Samsung system or the Asterisk system we have here.

 

Also, VOIP is handled perfectly well (as is video) on HP switches... We use both here, with QoS enabled and working fine.

 

I still don't think you getting what i am saying. the requirements of the network have to be looked at first before just shouting vendor names.

 

and also technically if your going on price 3com actually work out much cheaper than Procurve for often the same features and more.

 

Also' date=' you're assuming Cisco would be providing the phone systems? [/quote'] no i am not 3com also produce networking and a phone system

Edited June 25, 2009 by jam3s

[localzuk]

I still don't think you getting what i am saying. the requirements of the network have to be looked at first before just shouting vendor names.

 

and also technically if your going on price 3com actually work out much cheaper than Procurve for often the same features and more.

 

no i am not 3com also produce networking and a phone system

 

No, I get what you're saying.

 

And, 3com?? Are you insane?! Every experience I've ever had of them is that of poor quality devices, that broke down constantly, and had to wait an age to get replaced...

 

Shouting vendor names works for schools as most schools have very similar infrastructure requirements. ie. core switch connecting to a load of edge switches with lots of computers on each. Not a massive amount of variation here.

 

Hence shouting HP - as it is based on people's experiences with the equipment.

[jam3s]

Shouting vendor names works for schools as most schools have very similar infrastructure requirements. ie. core switch connecting to a load of edge switches with lots of computers on each. Not a massive amount of variation here.

 

 

What you have just described is how nearly all small to medium sized networks are built its called a collapsed core. enterprise network use the full three layer hierarchical model with access, distribution and core layers.

 

access layer devices provide the port count and is composed of L2 switches

 

distribution layer devices provide acl's, qos and route summirzation is made of routers or multilayered L3 switches

 

core layer provides fast access between the different distrbution layer routers. very high spec multilayer switches and routers.

 

the collapsed core desgin combines the distrbution and core layers in to one.

 

just because a network is collapsed core network does not mean that Procurve is the correct solution in every network.

schools and colleges also vary hugely in size!!! so a different solution is needed for each!

Edited June 25, 2009 by jam3s

[localzuk]

What you have just described is how nearly all small to medium sized networks are built its called a collapsed core. enterprise network use the full three layer hierarchical model with access, distribution and core layers.

 

access layer devices provide the port count and is composed of switches

 

distribution layer devices provide acl's, qos and route summirzation is made of routers or multilayered switches

 

core layer provides fast access between the different distrbution layer routers. very high spec multilayer switches and routers.

 

the collapsed core desgin combines the distrbution and core layers in to one.

 

just because a network is collapsed core network does not mean that Procurve is the correct solution in every case.

schools and colleges also vary hugely in size you know!!! so a different solution is needed for each!

 

*sigh* You are missing the point! I have experience of HP. Others have experience of Netgear (well, me too)... So, we all work in a school environment (hence this being edugeek.net). So, when someone asks 'what switches do you recommend?' we reply with what we know!

 

Personally, I can't think of a single school which HP would not be suited for, that is my point. If you're a dinky primary with 1 switch and a dozen computers, then a 2800 series would do. If you're a 2000 capacity academy with multiple buildings, you can craft a solution built from 5400 series, 2800 series, and if needs by a core using one of their 6xxx models or the 8200 series (if your schools is *really* that big!)

 

So yes, the actual models needed will vary by school, but we can only recommend what we've had experience. Anyone can simply match requirements to specifications, what we give is recommendations.