Brocade ICX Series (cheap & powerful 10gbE/40gbE switching)

[EngineerNate]

I think you're stuck with that unless you wire your own short "USB" to db-9 cable on the switch side.

I think brocade made some that were one piece so you'd eliminate the adapter but not fix the length.

Maybe find a USB to serial that's shorter? The real issue here is that nothing has serial ports anymore. Without the USB ->serial adapter your setup would be at worst marginally less convenient than a straight serial cable with db-9 on one end and rj45 on the other.

 

[infoMatt]

I just noticed in the photos of the unit I bought (had to zoom in) that the metal plate that covers one section of the RJ45 plugs is damaged. How concerned should I be about this?

IMHO, do not worry... It is just a grounding metal sheet around the real structure of the ports underneath, nothing to worry about.

 

[fohdeesha]

it's funny, it looks more like the entire bottom section was purposefully snipped off rather than broken. wonder if the previous user had some weird cables that weren't fitting or something

 

[infoMatt]

it's funny, it looks more like the entire bottom section was purposefully snipped off rather than broken. wonder if the previous user had some weird cables that weren't fitting or something

Or maybe when removing one the latch catched the rim of the grounding sheet and tore it apart... It is strange nonetheless.

 

[BenjaminCalibration]

Or maybe when removing one the latch catched the rim of the grounding sheet and tore it apart... It is strange nonetheless.

I like the idea that they were taking the switch out of the rack with one cable left in it, and accidentally dropped the switch. The cable sacrificed itself to save the switch with only the damage you see externally.

 

[EngineerNate]

You guys aren't making me feel better about that damage so I'm glad I swapped units.

Something tells me dangling a whole switch from an RJ45 jack isn't super great for the jack.

In any case. Any input on reversing airflow? It's unclear to me why the G and non-G models have reversed flow directions in the first place.

 

[infoMatt]

You guys aren't making me feel better about that damage so I'm glad I swapped units.

You had the opportunity to make the swap and you did the right thing

Something tells me dangling a whole switch from an RJ45 jack isn't super great for the jack.

Who cares about the jack?
Just kidding, mine was just an hypothesis, maybe the real cause was a completely different one...

 

[safrax]

I got my kit yesterday, thanks for the advice for those of you who commented! Now I have another question, is my device fully licensed? I've got an ICX6610-48p with the QSFP+ ports on the back.

telnet@ICX6610-48P Router>show license
Index Lic Mode Lic Name Lid/Serial No Lic Type Status Lic Period Lic Capacity
Stack unit 1:
1 Node Lock ICX6610-PREM-LIC-SW dzmHKHKmFMh Normal Active Unlimited 65535
2 Node Lock ICX6610-10G-LIC-POD dzmHKHKmFMh Normal Active Unlimited 4

I think I may have accidentally blown the license config away while following @fohdeesha guide on setting the switch up.

 

[hmw]

I got my kit yesterday, thanks for the advice for those of you who commented! Now I have another question, is my device fully licensed? I've got an ICX6610-48p with the QSFP+ ports on the back.

telnet@ICX6610-48P Router>show license
Index Lic Mode Lic Name Lid/Serial No Lic Type Status Lic Period Lic Capacity
Stack unit 1:
1 Node Lock ICX6610-PREM-LIC-SW dzmHKHKmFMh Normal Active Unlimited 65535
2 Node Lock ICX6610-10G-LIC-POD dzmHKHKmFMh Normal Active Unlimited 4

I think I may have accidentally blown the license config away while following @fohdeesha guide on setting the switch up.

You have a premium license and one license for unlocking 10G on the SFP+ ports. Each ICX6610-10G-LIC-POD license enables up to 4 ports, so you'd need two such licenses if you wanted to use 10G on all 8 SFP+ ports

You should contact @fohdeesha directly via DM

 

[hmw]

In the Fastiron web UI, does 'Lock Address' mean the same as the Port MAC Security that one has to configure via the CLI?

 

[KC8FLB]

I have a 6450-48p with a bad power supply (verified by swapping with known good power supply) Are there replacements available at a reasonable cost? My google-fu not producing results today. Thank you.

 

[fohdeesha]

In any case. Any input on reversing airflow? It's unclear to me why the G and non-G models have reversed flow directions in the first place.

just switch the fan direction around and monitor temps, I have a feeling it'll be fine. If I remember right somewhere here with a 7250 swapped the fann direction and actually saw slightly cooler temps but I could be misremembering

 

[infoMatt]

I have a 6450-48p with a bad power supply (verified by swapping with known good power supply) Are there replacements available at a reasonable cost? My google-fu not producing results today. Thank you.

I am not aware of any part number, but it should be a dual +12/+54V supply, with a bit of soldering and wire work you can adapt any "standard" one.

Or you can try to search for any serial number that you can find on the supply block.

@fohdeesha: do you know if the supply units for the 6610 PoE, taken out of their modular cages, can be adapted in a 6450?

 

[pr09]

Any 2020 updates to the rack ear situation? I just got a 7250-24P without any mounting hardware. Does it use the same brackets as the 6610 and others? Has anyone successfully 3d printed or machined something, or found a universal option that works?

Seems like all the authentic ones are at least $100, and usually marked out of stock or backordered.

 

[infoMatt]

Any 2020 updates to the rack ear situation? I just got a 7250-24P without any mounting hardware. Does it use the same brackets as the 6610 and others? Has anyone successfully 3d printed or machined something, or found a universal option that works?

Seems like all the authentic ones are at least $100, and usually marked out of stock or backordered.

I'd not trust a 3d printer rack ear with those kinds of shear loads that the unit applies to them.
For the front ones, they are a plain old L shaped stamped steel piece, you can make one with little effort using some steel sheet and a drill to make the holes if you can't find a kit for sale.

 

[EngineerNate]

I'm trying the ears that come in the ICX7750-RMK kit, I'll report back. I got it for $60 which considering it came with the funky USB serial cable as well I was okay with.

I'll report back.

 

[Fallen Kell]

There are some universal rack ear kits out there (basically it has a bunch of flush mount screw hole drilled into the side in a grid pattern). As long as you don’t absolutely need to have the switch be perfectly aligned in the rack (I.e. it might stick up above or down below the 1u rack unit it is in) many of these would work. You can also look at a rack tray which seem to be cheaper to find than the ears for these switches, and then just use some Velcro or double sided tape on the bottom of the switch to keep it from sliding without some decent forces applied to it.

Also, for anyone who was having fans not spinning down (at least on the 6610), I found that if you have 2 power supplies installed and only one connected, it will not slow down the fans from the highest speed setting. Not sure if that applies to several of the people posting about their fans always being on full or not, but thought I would share (I mentioned it before, but it is somewhere buried in this thread).

 

[hmw]

Also, for anyone who was having fans not spinning down (at least on the 6610), I found that if you have 2 power supplies installed and only one connected, it will not slow down the fans from the highest speed setting.

depends on the PSU Rev. For B&C revisions, even a single PSU will spin down and is much quieter. @fohdeesha covers that in the first few posts.

 

[infoMatt]

There are some universal rack ear kits out there (basically it has a bunch of flush mount screw hole drilled into the side in a grid pattern). As long as you don’t absolutely need to have the switch be perfectly aligned in the rack (I.e. it might stick up above or down below the 1u rack unit it is in) many of these would work.

It would be easier to buy those universal ears and make the holes to align to the switch case than to buy a shelf or lose a unit worth of space due to clearance issues IMHO.

 

[pr09]

It would be easier to buy those universal ears and make the holes to align to the switch case than to buy a shelf or lose a unit worth of space due to clearance issues IMHO.

Do you have any examples of universal ears that have sufficient space to drill custom holes? I couldn't find anything that didn't have a bunch of holes that partially overlapped where I'd need them.