cheapest 100GE unmanaged switch?

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jpmomo

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Aug 12, 2018
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I am trying to find the easiest way to configure a 100GE unmanaged switch. I don't need all of the fancy sdn functions of most of the onie switches but can't seem to find a simple 100GE switch. I have seen some pretty cheap edge-core switches on ebay which have been suggested in some of the sth threads: EDGE-CORE 7512-54X-O-AC-F DATA CENTER SWITCH. I just wasn't sure which OS would be able to install and if it could be configured to be a simple non-blocking 100GE switch. The listing also mentions the following:


Manufacturer: EDGE-CORE

Model Number: 7512-54X

Part Number: {PART NUMBER}

Firmware Version: 3.11.10

OS Installed (if applicable): FEDORA

License (if applicable): STANDARD.

I am also not sure if there is anyway to configure the linux os that is installed and add any packages that would allow this hw to act as a simple switch. Thanks for any tips or suggestions as to where I could find something for my use case.
jp
 
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jpmomo

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I just noticed that the above referenced switch is only 10GE. But there are other edge-core switches like the EDGE-CORE 7512-32X 100GBE QSFP28 that are 100GE switches. My question still remains as to how to configure as a simple switch.
thanks.
 
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i386

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On my 40gbe Switch i only changed the Fan settings to 30% and enabled 3rd Party transceiver Support. Everything Else is using the Default settings.
 
fohdeesha

fohdeesha

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jpmomo

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i386 said:
On my 40gbe Switch i only changed the Fan settings to 30% and enabled 3rd Party transceiver Support. Everything Else is using the Default settings.
Click to expand...
which 40G switch are you using and which OS? I am wondering if I get a sonic compatible switch and just load sonic, will the default settings act like an unmanaged/basic switch?
 
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i386

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jpmomo said:
which 40G switch are you using and which OS? I am wondering if I get a sonic compatible switch and just load sonic, will the default settings act like an unmanaged/basic switch?
Click to expand...
Arista 7050q-16-r
 
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jpmomo

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does the arista come with its own OS or are you using an onie os like sonic?
 
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Scott Laird

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The EdgeCore 7512-32X isn't supported by Sonic either, even though it's on the supported list. It's the only Cavium switch on the supported list, and the Cavium port hasn't been built in over a year. I wouldn't recommend touching one.

The Arista 7060s are probably the best moderately priced choice for 100G Sonic switches. Sonic isn't really a great base for small networks, though. There are lots of sharp corners and things that can only really be fixed by maintaining your own build of the thing. Which is great if you're deploying thousands of devices. And not so hot with 1 or 2 of them.
 
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alex.forencich

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[reposting due to backup restore]

I picked up a Celestica Seastone switch a while ago. Installed sonic on it just fine. Was never able to get it to run as an ethernet switch, though. Or at least I wasn't able to ping through it, even after placing the ports in L2 mode (or so I thought). But, sonic on that switch also doesn't support PTP, which was kinda the whole point of getting a 100G switch. So I ended up getting an Arista 7060, which works great, and it's also a lot shorter than the seastone. I have yet to get rid of the seastone though, so I could possibly try a few things on it, especially now that I have an arista console cable.
 
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Evan

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You said simple and I assume your want cheap ?
maybe Cisco nexus 9236C, should be plenty used around now, that’s 32x100G
 
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Rand__

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alex.forencich said:
I picked up a Celestica Seastone switch a while ago. Installed sonic on it just fine. Was never able to get it to run as an ethernet switch, though.
Click to expand...
Worked fine for me, but have not used mine for much more than testing
 
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alex.forencich

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Rand__ said:
Worked fine for me, but have not used mine for much more than testing
Click to expand...
Let me say it this way: it doesn't work in L2 mode out of the box, the ports have to be switched into L2 mode, and I couldn't make it work even after a few hours of googling and trying things out. I could see traffic at the switch (you can run tcpdump on the ports on the switch, which is very convenient), but I was unable to get the hosts to talk to each other through the switch. I think there may have been an autonegotiation issue I had to work out as well to get the links up to the Mellanox NICs I was using. I could probably figure it out and make it work, but since I learned that PTP is not implemented on sonic on that platform yet, I decided to abandon using that switch entirely. Perhaps I will revisit it at some point, but I probably only need one 100G switch, and I have an Arista 7060 now, and that one does exactly what I need out of the box.
 
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jpmomo

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thanks for everyone's help. I pulled the trigger on the arista 7060 (thanks Alex!). I am sure sonic would be ok eventually but for my use case, there are a 1000 other issues that I need to sort out and didn't want to lose time working a sonic config backwards to a simple L2 switch. Thanks again for everyone's input. This really is a good forum for these odd things we do!
 
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alex.forencich

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Rand__ said:
PTP support on SONiC by lguohan · Pull Request #232 · Azure/SONiC ?


Have not tested it;) But might be working now.
Buit its totally fine if you prefer the Arista, just wanted to mention that the DX10 is not a bad switch and its not 'unusable' per sé
Click to expand...
Did you look at that PR? There is no code there, just some documentation. Also, I think the problem is not that sonic doesn't support PTP period, it's just that it doesn't support it on the switch ASIC used in the seastone.

And I agree that it's not unusable, it's just a question of how much you value your time. Get an Arista switch running EOS that works out of the box, vs. get a switch that can only run sonic and spend hours futzing around with it.
 
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Rand__

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Ah i thought I missed something, saw the documentation part and thought somewhere would have to be some code, but didnt look to be honest;)

The Tomahawk chip used in the DX010 was widely used I think, but o/c Celestica has not spent too much time on optimizing Sonic for their specific switch opposed to some of the other vendors...

And I totally agree, if the Arista and the DX010 are similar in price its a no brainer, but usually the Celestica's are way cheaper - they actually were the first 100G switches below $1000 a while back - and I have been looking hard back then...
O/c nowadays you get Gen1 100G switches for ... well not necessary peanuts but way cheaper; i.e. there is a lot more choice in the $1k-2k range then two years ago
 
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