Oops_my_bad Posted May 23, 2007 Posted May 23, 2007 Hi We got the go ahead to run fibre to pretty much most of our switches and get rid of this cascaded switch crap thats going on. We've decided to go for a collapsed backbone - ie all our servers hook straight into the core switch, and then a gigabit fibre runs from the core to each satellite switch. But I'm wondering what sort of fibre switch/core you guys can recommend. I've been toying around with the idea of a cisco 4506 - the chassis itself is quite cheap but the switch blades not so. The HP kit looks quite good and seems to get a lot of recommendations so what do you think I should be looking at? The core will be switching fibre only. In the long term I need something that can scale as the network grows so a chassis/blade product would be ideal. I might have to settle for a decent fibre switch in the short run though.
Geoff Posted May 23, 2007 Posted May 23, 2007 HP ProCurve 4108gl or 5308xl (I'd go with the latter for the extra functionality if you can justify the cost) gets my vote. Also note you can stick these in in key locations where you have had a lot of chained switches. They are flexible enough (using the module system) to make up any configuration you might currently have lurking in comms cabinets. http://www.hp.com/rnd/products/switches/switch4100glseries/overview.htm http://www.hp.com/rnd/products/switches/switch5300xlseries/overview.htm Basically download the HP Procurve configuration utility and have a play around with various configurations.
plexer Posted May 23, 2007 Posted May 23, 2007 The 4108gl are not designed for use as a core switch just an expandable edge swithc however for education they make perfect core switches. I have a 4108gl that is fully loaded except for 2 module ports free on one of the slots and that will be filled this summer. Ben
localzuk Posted May 23, 2007 Posted May 23, 2007 I'd go for the 5400zl (http://h10010.www1.hp.com/wwpc/uk/en/sm/WF25a/23591-23599-23599-23599-1789289-12388280.html?jumpid=in_r2515_procss/psc) That's what I've got here and it is solid as a rock.
Mr_T Posted May 23, 2007 Posted May 23, 2007 That's what I've got here and it is solid as a rock. I have a 4108 as my core switch but will be upgrading to the 5308 good solid kit great for school and a fair bit cheaper than cisco also the HP kit is lifetime warrenty.
richardp Posted May 23, 2007 Posted May 23, 2007 Hi, I just recently replaced 5 3Com Superstacks and 2 Cisco Catalyst 2950 with 2 4100gl switches. Both of the 4100gls have 7x 20port Gigabit cards installed leaving one slot free in each chassis. This gives me 280 gigabit ports for an approx cost of £11,000. With a lifetime replacement warranty as standard on the chassis and the cards, flexible configurations and good performance and at a price you can afford I think you would be hard pressed to find a better solution. I also looked at the Cisco 4507R Switch, I had three problems with this option. Firstly the total number or ports would be approx 240, 40 less than the HP setup. Secondly the 4507R chassis would not fit into the available space in my network cabinet. Finally the cost was going to be approx £24,000. Again I also looked at the 3Com 7700 Switch. The total port capacity was better at 288 ports but this chassis would also not fit into my network cabinet. Again the cost was higher at approx £20,000. There is a smaller chassis version but that would have only given me 144 ports. The above may make me sound like a HP salesman (which I am not!) but this is the second time I have used HP ( I used the 4000 switch in my previous job in manufacturing) and I have yet to be disapointed. Hope this helps. Richard
Butuz Posted May 23, 2007 Posted May 23, 2007 Running HP Procurve here too throughout the network. Fantastic, reliable good value kit. All our cisco stuff has been replaced with HP. Frankly I don't rate cisco any more at the budget - mid end of the market its a pure rip off and theyre riding on their name. Andrew
Geoff Posted May 23, 2007 Posted May 23, 2007 I agree, when your buying Cisco your buying into a brand name just as much as buying the equipment.
bossman Posted May 23, 2007 Posted May 23, 2007 TeddyKGB: I would recommend both Cisco and HP for the purpose you intend except that HP is less expensive (pays yer money makes yer choice) but would make sure the backbone core fibre is 10Gb compliant OM3 (think that is the spec) read following article http://lw.pennnet.com/display_article/290659/13/ARTCL/none/none/Survey-details-switch-to-OM3-in-enterprise/
Mr_T Posted May 23, 2007 Posted May 23, 2007 The only reason I would go Cisco now for most School networks is if you have alot of cisco kit already.
Oops_my_bad Posted May 23, 2007 Author Posted May 23, 2007 Wow! thanks for the response peeps! TBH I'm thinking of going for the 5308xl because it seems to have all the features we need and custom configuring it with 2x 4 port fibre cards. Now is it acceptable to be using these beefed up edge switches at the core? Will this work out of the box with the config above or do I need to purchase additional power supplies, management software, etc.. also what is the management like? do you get a cli/web interface or..? Also I will have to connect this to a few satellite netgear switches - is it OK to have the procurve at one end and a netgear at the other presuming I use the same GBIC type? (ie SX?) Sorry for all the questions
localzuk Posted May 23, 2007 Posted May 23, 2007 May I ask why the 5308xl and not the 5408zl? The backplane on the latter is much more capable and, dare I say it, future proof. The state the unit arrives in depends on the exact model you choose - the 5308 appears to come with a built in supply, but you can purchase a redundant external supply if you want. It also comes with the standard Procurve manager software for monitoring them and setting them up. You can set them up via this, cli or via web - all depending on your personal choice. There should be no problems hooking up netgear switches for basic functionality via fibre (as you say, using the same standard of GBIC). The only issue you may come across in the future is VLAN perculiarities if you use them (or so I've read/been told).
DMcCoy Posted May 23, 2007 Posted May 23, 2007 I'm just replacing a 5308 with a 5412, if it existed at the time I would have gone for the 5400 first. 5412s support 10Gb links.
Oops_my_bad Posted May 24, 2007 Author Posted May 24, 2007 5406zl it is then - pity the modules cost more than the switch itself but it's money well spent 8)
localzuk Posted May 24, 2007 Posted May 24, 2007 You should also buy 2 power supplies for it - the size depends on how much use you intend to make use of PoE via it.
plexer Posted May 24, 2007 Posted May 24, 2007 DMcCoy: I presume 5406zl will support 10gb links too as it's just a 6 slot chassis compared to a 12? Ben
DMcCoy Posted May 24, 2007 Posted May 24, 2007 The price difference is minimal for the chassis so I went for the big one. I bought two, one for a new block (it will be the only switch for 120 points), and one to replace our core switch (no point having 10Gb at only one end!). I went for the 5412 that includes the 4 PoE modules. As the one for the new block has 7 modules already, I think I made the right choice One thing to note about the 54 series, which is very useful over the 53s. You can get 24 port Gbic modules (1Gb). The 53s only had 4. Oh, in reference to power supplies, I got the smaller PoE ones, however the switch with 7 modules won't turn them all on without both supplies (it takes up to 4 psu). 5406 supports 10Gb (http://www.hp.com/rnd/products/switches/ProCurve_Switch_3500yl-5400zl_Series/specs.htm)
Butuz Posted May 24, 2007 Posted May 24, 2007 I am actually only using a 2826 here at the core but we are quite budget constrained and it's doing a very good job to be honest. Will do us for a few more years - then time to move to 10gbit Andrew
Geoff Posted May 24, 2007 Posted May 24, 2007 What are the fibre requirements for 10Gb? I have 50/125nm fibre atm. Would I need to run new fibre (singlemode perhaps?)
plexer Posted May 24, 2007 Posted May 24, 2007 10GBe standard specifies the following: km)(meters)62.5 µm Multimode1602 to 262002 to 33 50 µm Multimode Modal Bandwidth @ 850 nm - Range 400 2m to 66m 5002 2m to 82m 2000 2m to 300m So your fibre is fine. Presume it's OM2, new installs would probably be with OM3 spec fibre. Ben
Oops_my_bad Posted May 24, 2007 Author Posted May 24, 2007 I am getting 62.5 1.25 buffed multimode run in - is this OK for 10gig fibre? I have no idea what the figures mean? :-k
wesleyw Posted May 24, 2007 Posted May 24, 2007 62.5 is the thickness of the fibre. This will run 10GB but only to about 26 Metres. Wes
wesleyw Posted May 24, 2007 Posted May 24, 2007 As long as its OM2 or Om3 it should be okay to run but even OM3 has a limit of 300 metres Single Mode would be okay for a few kilometres. Opti-networks makes their own and they guarantee 550 metres from OM3+ (They make a purer version of OM3 specs) They've put it in wembley stadium so they know what they are doing lol (someone on that build needed to). Wes
Oops_my_bad Posted May 24, 2007 Author Posted May 24, 2007 OK.. so would I need to get the job changed from multimode to singlemode?
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