snoerre

Well, HP Procurve is not HP Procurve and Cisco is not Cisco and I wouldnt suggest a brand, but only specific switching series. CommodoreS, you probably want something cheap? I consider "Tenda" noname like TPLink, way below Netgear, Linksys or Zyxel. Nowadays there is no more lack of performance (i.e. oversubscription with ports) for switches like it way 5 - 10 years ago, vendors use ASICs with "non-blocking" / "wirespeed" even on low cost devices. Nowadays it´s (longtime) software support and putting more and more features into the ASIC itself, low energy consumption, warranty. That comparison isn´t that great, but you can see that there´s much more than having Gigabit ports...

I am asking myself who told your business manager to talk to you? Normally, my business managers even don´t know me. Well, they remember me, when "internet is down" but even then they tell their secretaries to write an email to me with CC to my boss... So, is your network "bad"? What about performance? Do you have problems? What switches do you have? Would you like to redesign your network?

Take a look at the Zyxel GS1910-24. In terms of software features it has a lot to offer, it´s cheap and fanless, too. Unfortunately it doesn´t have any ssh or telnet server onboard.

Cisco versus UBNT: Super-fast Wi-Fi: Cisco, Ubiquiti access points top out at nearly 400Mbps - Network World UBNT versus rest: http://dl.ubnt.com/marketing/Tolly213128UbiquitiUAPPerformance.pdf All biased. Haven´t seen any independent reviews, yet.

Do all clients have that disconnect at the same time? I´d suggest do setup a mirror port on the HP and wireshark everything. Perhaps you can see something within the datastream. (Also do a firmware upgrade: https://h10145.www1.hp.com/downloads/DownloadSoftware.aspx?SoftwareReleaseUId=3931&ProductNumber=JE057A , it´s HP and I´ve read too many strange things they fixed in some other switching series I have the last months/years...)

I use Netgear´s GS110TP (46 Watt Power Budget) and HP´s 2520G-8-PoE (67 Watt Power Budget) devices. (So it´s 3 versus 4 access points at full power, but doesn´t matter if you power something else) As budget is now a more important topic than years ago I currently usally use GS110TP for fanless installations. 1910-8G-POE does have fans. I once asked HP´s presales team as accroding the data sheet the non POE version has fans, the POE version doesn´t. It´s a typo within their data sheet.

Hi, so SCCM obviously supports multicast (and can much more than rolling out images with a simple Norton ghost(cast)) - great. So, if I have several computer rooms with different images I can give each room its own multicast address and upload images concurrently - which is now done once each semester. But what about the following: During a semester calls are coming in telling me that they need some special software X and Y in pool Z until tomorrow (. Sometimes that software has tons of gigabyte. So, there basically two possibilites: take the image of that pool, add that software and multicast the whole image from beginning (problem, some images have 80GB+ of software integrated). Second step, add that software via SCCM not step by step (==unicast) but with multicast. So, is this even possible? Some other question: In world of SCCM, is there a kind of additional auto speed negotiation between multicast sender and receiver (Yes, that´s not TCP but UDP traffic I know...)? For now, I only know software where I can limit throughput on the the source. Michael

What about the console port? Login and check whether SSH server is enabled "set ip ssh server enable" http://h20628.www2.hp.com/km-ext/kmcsdirect/emr_na-c02584048-1.pdf

As my budgets have been again cut, I´m going the refurbished way. "HP renew" switches with HP´s lifetime warranty (A5800, A5500-HI, or A5500-EI/E4800 + dual PSU for core, as those are ~50-60% below former public tendering prices) plus fanless Zyxel GS1910-24 for edge, it´s cheap, it has ACLs, it has a working loop prevention and IGMPv3 snooping plus an ugly non CLI with no SSH or telnet server running. But I already started a feature request with Zyxel. They promised to get it into the next firmware which will be released this year according to support team. Hopefully they keep their word.

If source and clients are on different subnets, did you enable multicast routing? (HP 5400zl needs a "premium license" to enable this) Take a look at page 26: http://www.terena.org/activities/campus-bp/pdf/gn3-na3-t4-cbpd111.pdf or http://bizsupport1.austin.hp.com/bc/docs/support/SupportManual/c02610033/c02610033.pdf

If you want to save money, buy "HP Renew" switches - A5800-AF: 48x Gbe@RJ45 plus 6x SFP+ - A5500-HI: 24xGbe/48xGbe@RJ45 plus 2x SFP+ plus 4x SFP - A5800: depending on the model, at least 2x SFP+

If money is that low why don´t you buy Ubiquiti (UniFi | Ubiquiti Networks, Inc.), put your clients in extra VLANs, set ACLs,...

Hm, it seems we have different HP sales representatives/region manager, which I asked recently about some features, i.e. openflow, SPB, ... on A5500-EI, A5500-HI, A58XX. As far as he could/want to tell me those ones will be put into Comware OS version 7 exclusively and those switches won´t see that Comware 7 upgrade. (Well, I haven´t signed any NDA with HP, so that could be a reason for this answer...)

Take a look at the user guide (starting from page 256): http://bizsupport2.austin.hp.com/bc/docs/support/SupportManual/c02965327/c02965327.pdf (And yes, you can set inbound ACL for IPv4 and IPv6)

- (current) Netgear Wifi solution == no go (almost no software support) - Netgear switches == no go (the same as above: almost no software support, although not as bad as for their wifi products) - Netgear NAS solution == yes, as those ones get nice software support.

For the price it´s a bargain (because of its supported protocol features) I am using the fanless GS1910-24 (~110,-€ incl. VAT) for inroom cabling setups for e.g. PC pools/meeting rooms. Some "propaganda": http://www.zyxel.kr/support/matrix/gs1910-24hp.zip

So, HP A5800/A5820 series have: All your mentioned Netgear devices do have: There´s a reason, why I wouldn´t buy HP A5120-EI series nowadays any longer: It was released in 2008. That´s no problem at all as it still gets software updates. But you have to put in SFP+ slot modules before adding SFP+ LC modules which make them too expensive. Look at the HP 2920 switching series. For edge/access/POE it will be sufficient. As you bosses look at the money, you could of couse buy compatible SFP and SFP+ fiber modules. Your (official) HP partner will not sell you those, of couse, as they are not allowed to do it, as they would risk their HP partner status. Or look for "HP Renew" parts, which will also save really money and still give you HP´s favourite lifetime warranty (at least on the HP A5800, not the A5820 switches - yes, HP also likes you to pay for hardware warranty contracts on their higher spec switches)

If it is HP versus Netgear, go HP, as they have much better software support.

Well, Unifi is centrally managed, but the client traffic isn´t forwarded to the controller, where you can control what the users can do (That´s why I´m interested in "IPv6 over CAPWAP", as this is the "tunnel protocol" Enterasys uses between the access points an the controller). Instead it goes in the local subnet of the access point or another VLAN; no problem if e.g. you control all traffic there, use VRF,... But not that comfortable while setting it up. If my current 802.11n access points get replaced (in 5,6,7,8,9,10,11, 12 years, depending on the given budget), I will definitely look at the Ubnt Unifi devices. (PS.: I wouldn´t buy current Netgear business access points, as software support with Netgear´s switching/networking products isn´t that good at all)

Great, thanks. Talking about the Enterasys, I haven´t had any clients complaining about "unstable" connectivity for some months. As long those don´t complain, I won´t either at the moment (Yes, there were bugs. Just log in to the enterasys support homepage and read the release notes). But they have been fixed. If you go with Enterasys, you have to pay for the controller, the access points and licenses for the access points plus software support contract. Hardware warranty is nowadays a kind of limited lifetime for (some?) controllers, I think(, which wasn´t the case when I bought those:( ). Also, go for the smallest devices (AP3705) and put in more if needed.

Great, you´re sitting down with them. Could you please ask them when/if "IPv6 over CAPWAP protocol" will be supported? That´s what I am missing on the Enterasys Wifi solution. (Perhaps it will help, if you give them that paper from Cisco http://d2zmdbbm9feqrf.cloudfront.net/2012/usa/pdf/BRKEWN-2010.pdf (page 79) )

Do you really want to start with openflow in a production network right now? (Of course, google uses it. But you can´t buy the "google switch" or the "google openflow controller") I once read a kind of whitepaper about an HP SDN controller. Afterwards, I thought: "Great, but what can I actually do with that one? You mentioned the HP A5800 series: This one is really nice for (small/medium) cores: Look at the current release notes: http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bc/docs/support/SupportManual/c03725788/c03725788.pdf - dynamic routing with Bidirectional Forwarding Detection - OSPFv2 - OSPFv3 - BGP (IPv4) - BGP (IPv6) - ISIS (IPv4) - ISIS (IPv6) - MPLS - VPLS - Virtual Routing instances with IPv4 unicast and multicast support - Virtual Routing instances with IPv6 unicast and multicast support What else do you need? Try to get them as "HP Renew", yes that´s refurbished, but with HP´s warranty and less than half of the price you have to pay on the lowest market price, e.g. HP 5800-24G-SFP Switch for ~1800,-€ without VAT!). So the nice thing is, you can get all that "old stuff" for cheap, while you have to pay much more for the cool new gadgets. Downside: The A5800 was introduced in 2008. I once watched a small video, where I think it was mentioned that the switch will be supported (softwarewise) for 10 years. Well, it might get some smaller updates (Comware 5.20 based). But all the the nasty features are put into Comware 7.10 and up. So you will probably never see this on that switching series. And of course don´t expect miracles if you want a features request fulfilled...

For now, I actually do not need any openflow based routing control Talking about the HP - The 2920 is based upon HP´s "Procurve OS", which has OpenFlow 1.0 support. - The A5800 is based upon exH3C "Comware OS 5.20", which has no OpenFlow support. OpenFlow 1.3 support has been introduced with "Comware OS version 7.10" on some highend switches, i.e. 11900/12900 I think. "Comware OS 5.20" switches will never see OpenFlow or SPB support. And it´s unclear whether all smaller Comware 5.20 based switches will see an upgrade to Comware version 7.10, i.e. 5120, 5500-SI/EI/HI, 5800, 5820, 5830,...

It´s not secret at all _cmdline-mode on Password is: 512900 Talking about the V1910 again. It´s a relabeled 3Com 2928/2952 switch which is based upon H3C S5120-SI. They share the same firmware, but have different internal IDs (so with V1910 you do not have e.g. IRF stacking capabilities as on the H3C S5120-SI) But HP sells the HP A5120-SI (== H3C S5120-SI) for a much higher price. So for the price the HP V1910 is a bargain. And of course it does have limitations, e.g. the ARP table is limited to 256 entries: http://h30499.www3.hp.com/hpeb/attachments/hpeb/switching-a-series-forum/4158/1/switches2011.xls http://h30499.www3.hp.com/hpeb/attachments/hpeb/switching-a-series-forum/4158/2/switches2012.xls

Well, HP bought 3Com and H3C some years ago. - Before that 3Com rebranded some of the H3C switches, not all, e.g. the 3Com 2924 SFP Plus is not based upon H3C´s Comware operating system, as I remember; (the HP V1910 is and the mentioned HP E4800 == 3Com 4800G == H3C S5500-EI) So, there are H3C switches that have never had any "3Com" label onboard. Be careful if you say "5500": There was indeed a 3Com 5500, which was sold as HP E5500, but this one has nothing to do with the HP A5500 series. The 3Com 5500 was a relabeled H3C S5600 I think. Understood? - Then we have all H3C switches: H3C - Technical Support & Documents Software Download The switches you mentioned above belong to H3C. But not all switches mentioned on the H3C homepage are sold worldwide with an HP (software/Hardware) label attached) - And we have HP´s "old" "Procurve" labeled switches which they sold before they overtook 3Com/H3C. (Btw, HP is adjusting its old "Procurve" based switches so you can use H3C´s CLI syntax there.) Now, I think HP calls all its switches "HP Networking" and distinguishes between "V","E" and "A" series. The only thing you can make out what is what is by reading the release notes. H3C based switches have Comware operating system and therefore have CMW310 (Comware version 3.10), CMW520 (Comware version 5.20) and CMW710 (Comware version 7.10) while the Procurve ones have e.g. K.13, K.14, K.15.* labels.