Switches - 2x 24s or 1x 48

[lasercat]

We're looking at replacing some of our older 10/100 24 port switches with gigabit.

 

In a couple of cabs we have 2 24 port switches.

 

Do you think we should go for 48 port models for these? What are your opinions, what are the pros and cons?

 

It will be Netgear stuff we go with.

 

Thanks

[AIT]

We're looking at replacing some of our older 10/100 24 port switches with gigabit.

 

In a couple of cabs we have 2 24 port switches.

 

Do you think we should go for 48 port models for these? What are your opinions, what are the pros and cons?

 

It will be Netgear stuff we go with.

 

Thanks

1 single 48port is far more efficient than 2 24 ports.

 

not really any pros or cons. 1 48 port will be more expensive but if you go for 2 24s its the uplink between the 2 that will be the limiting factor.

[glennda]

it depends how you have it set up, do you have a fiber link into the top then it crossed over into the bottom? or do you have two seperate fiber connections, one to each if its the later then 2 x 24s would be quicker

[Tricks]

If noise is a factor it might be worth considering that some 24-port switches are fanless, where-as 48-ports can be quite noisy. Not sure if this applies to Netgear switches but worth looking into if you have switches in classrooms.

[powdarrmonkey]

Not sure if this applies to Netgear switches but worth looking into if you have switches in classrooms.

 

It does.

[powdarrmonkey]

it depends how you have it set up, do you have a fiber link into the top then it crossed over into the bottom? or do you have two seperate fiber connections, one to each if its the later then 2 x 24s would be quicker

 

False; any self-respecting Netgear switch these days has a 48Gb/s backplane, so fibre-fibre connections go at full pelt.

 

However, I agree that if there's only one uplink to the switch, choose a 48 port unless you think you might want to separate them later.

[lasercat]

Yes, in a couple of the cabs we have just one fibre uplink, 48 port seems the way to go.

 

To be honest, the only benefit I can think of for 2 24s is that if you have one fail, you could jiggle classes round in an area while you sorted the other half out. I'll be keeping hold of what we take out, so they'd just slot back in if we had any problems though.

 

Noise isn't an issue as they are all in stockrooms.

 

Thanks for your input everyone.

[Guest Guest]

False; any self-respecting Netgear switch these days has a 48Gb/s backplane, so fibre-fibre connections go at full pelt.

 

No, true, as there will be 2 gig links back to the core network as apossed to 1.

[RTFM]

It might also be worth considering the depth of your cabs.

 

We noticed that the 48 port netgears we purchased dont fit in all of our cabs due to the increased depth compared to a 24 so we had our hand forced in those situations.

[lasercat]

It might also be worth considering the depth of your cabs.

 

We noticed that the 48 port netgears we purchased dont fit in all of our cabs due to the increased depth compared to a 24 so we had our hand forced in those situations.

 

Good point, I'll have to double check this.

[dirtydog]

someone here sort of standardised across the site with 24 ports a while back the idea being its easier to keep a spare or swap out a non critical switch if we have problems. we only have a few cabs with 2 x 24 ports and like you say the size of the cab is usually what decides it for us.

[K.C.Leblanc]

You might want to think about redeployment.

 

A lot of our older 48 port 100m/b switches have been replaced with gigabit and redeployed to quieter areas. Some of them are a little bit underused, we have one 48 port switch with 6 pcs and an AP attached.

 

EDIT: Oh, PROCURVE!!!!!!!!!

Edited February 24, 2010 by K.C.Leblanc

[Jamman960]

If you currently or may in he future requre more SFP ports than a single switch offers(most only come with 2) having 2 24 port switches stacked togeather may be better as you'd get the extra SFP's without spending loads.

 

As long as the swtiches are stackable you'll still have 1gbps+ speeds between them without using any of the uplinks.

 

Stacking really becomes usefull when you've got 3 or more switches as they will work as 1 switch yet if any unit fails only the ports on that switch will be down and the others will route packets around it until fixed.