Gigabit switch upgrade

[zag]

Is anyone upgrading their network infra structure to gigabit networking?

 

I have just received a load of Net gear commercial gigabit switches for free and was thinking about starting to roll out an upgrade from the server room outwards but its only a start.

 

Questions

 

- Is it worth it?

- What gigabit switches are people using?

- Are there any quiet 10/100/1000 switches available(they all seem to have loud fans)

- What about fiber channel converters for long distances

 

Cheers.

[localzuk]

We just use gigabit to the servers/backbone. All clients are on 100Mbit and I don't really see the advantage of increasing from this as the network isn't a choke point for the system we have.

[Geoff]

Is it worth it

 

If you just slap it in and hoping it'll fix all your problems. No. If you actually design your network infrastructure and take account of the speeds and topology, yes.

 

What gigabit switches are people using?

 

We have 3com superstack gear at the moment. The network core is wired up with 1000Base-SX 50/125nm Fibre. I am not overly happy with this situation (it's inherited) so I'll be redoing things with HP ProCurves and redundant fibre links as money and time allows.

[Dos_Box]

I have lots of these:

 

http://www.netgear.co.uk/gigabit_smartswitch_gs748t.php

 

Which are semi-managed (VLans etc) and great for the server room and cabs (as well as being very, very affordable at £422 from Dabs).

 

I have also taken delivey of one of these fully managed stackable versions:

 

http://www.dabs.com/productview.aspx?Quicklinx=4HP1&CategorySelectedId=11176&fb=542&NavigationKey=11176

 

They are very good and have not let me down at all in 12 months 24/7 running, highly recommended.

[limbo]

We have three buildings and in each building there is a core stack of switches (which means they are connected together at about 36Gb or something like that) all of which have 1GB ports. The majority of desktops are connected into this core at 1GB.

 

In the half a dozen or so places where the switch cannot be in the stack because of historical / geographical reasons the switch has 100mb ports with one link back to the core stack. They could have been 1GB switches on every port but I struggled to justify the money - especially as they would have to share a single 1GB link anwyay.

 

All the network kit is Cisco which works exceptionally well and since we put it all in the network performance has been outstanding compared to the 100Mb backbone and desktop delivery we had before (and that was far from a poor network).

[Ric_]

I use HP Procurve with 2600 switches serving 100Mbit to the endpoints. I also have a couple of 4104gl switches that connect the 2600s via fibre and copper depending upon distance.

 

My servers all connect into a 2824 switch which is gigabit on all ports. The 4104s have a 2 port trunk between them (that's 2Gbit) and the 2800 connects to a 4104 via two copper feeds (2Gbit again).

[Butuz]

I too am running all HP Procurve managed switches - they're fantastic.

 

2824 at the core, linking servers and inter-buuilding links @ gigabit

2626/2650/8000's around the place serving 100mbit to the desktop.

 

Personally at the moment Gigabit to the desktop is pointless. In 5 years when 10Gbit is available at a realistic price, and workstations are faster - then it will be worth going gigabit to desktop. Not currently though - waste of money IMHO.

 

Cant reccomend the HP Procurve enough though!

 

Andrew

[DMcCoy]

Due to extensive upgrades to the network infractructure most switches have fibre to core and 1Gb to all switch ports. Still some way to go though (network was neglected for a few years previously). I still have a 10Mb hub to get rid of!

 

I'm using mostly procurve 2848 for IT suites, with 3400 for Art and Music areas. Still a few 2600/2500s around. Core switch is a 5308, but I have pair of 5412s sat on the floor waiting to go in (need 10Gb link for new building).

[Geoff]

I also have a couple of 4104gl switches that connect the 2600s via fibre and copper depending upon distance.

 

Huh? What sort of distance? With decent modern fibre, 1000Base-SX will do at least 1km (yes I know that's over spec).

[Ric_]

@Geoff: I should have been clearer.... if the distance between the switches is a couple of metres then I use copper. If it is between buildings then I use fibre.

[webman]

We use exclusively Cisco switches, just replaced our last lot of ageing 3Coms last year. Backbone is Gig fibre with a 3550-12G in the middle. Core servers are 1G copper on a Catalyst 3550-12T. Everything else connect at 100M via copper to Catalyst 3550s or 3650s.

[maniac]

We've got mainly HP procurve equipment here. We've 2 main buildings, each have a 4108gl switch as its core switch, these are linked together via a 3GB fibre link and distribute to all our other wiring cabinets in the buildings via gigabit fibre. All our other cabinets have 2524 and 2626 switches providing 100mbs to desktop, there's also a few ancient netgear switches in low traffic areas.

 

All our servers are linked with a duel gigabit connection to the core switch in building A. We do have one room with gigabit to desktop, but to be honest we don't notice any significant performance increase from having this.

 

Mike.

[mrtechsystems]

I too am running all HP Procurve managed switches - they're fantastic

 

Love them and managed through a web browser

 

I agree with Geoff design the network first and look at the kit you have got and plan/design think I need to a update the Network Topology

aswell hehehe

 

Good day

[FN-GM]

all our network is gigabit running on Cisco Catalyst switches they are fantastic

[bishopsgarthstockton]

all our network is gigabit running on Cisco Catalyst switches they are fantastic

 

are they easy to configure?

[FN-GM]

i havnt configured them so i don't know.

[DMcCoy]

Seeing as the topic came up I can post an update

 

I now have all managed switches (well they will be next week when the old cabinets are removed, new ones are in place and almost patched in).

 

As of next week I will be exclusively procurve managed switches. The 10Gb link between the core and new building was brought online for the first time today (I finally got round to fitting the UPS in the new block).

 

2 5412 Core and New building

1 5308 Science refurbisment (in place next month)

8 2848

2 3400

1 2524

1 2824-10

4 2500-10 (oldest parts of the network, I need them to be managed and the cabinets and fibre are not installed yet.

 

The remaining 10Mb hub was removed last week.