Feedback on anyone that has used these switches

[Nnyan]

So I've been on the hunt for an upgrade for my home network (for number of reasons some "need" based and some just "want" based). I'm on a limited budget (putting together my 30TB AIO server has made the WAF pretty low). I'm looking to consolidate my current 4 switches (2 Procurve 1810-24G's, 1 Procurve 6108 for L3, and 1 Procurve 2600-8-PWR for PoE) into one (or two at the worst) So my requirements:

Quiet.
Why: Home lab. At least the option of replacing fans.

Layer 3 (lite is OK)
Why: InterVLAN routing, Consolidate and not have to use Router on a Stick.

24-48 ports
Why: If I can find one switch with 48 ports I can just use one switch and retire the two Procurve 1810's. If I have to settle for a 24 port so be it. Between PoE and Non-PoE I have 43 active connections.

10Gb ports (2)
Why: I've been maxing out my 2GBe bonded link way too often. Yes I could add more 1GB NIC's but I was gifted some 10GB cards for free so why not?

PoE (8 ports, 15.4w each)
Why: For my PoE Stuff dude! 3 Adtran BSAP-1920's, 4 camera's. This isn't a MUST have but a NICE to have since I could get rid of the HP 2600.

I've been following the Quanta LB4M thread and while tempting I've decided to pass on it, just a bit too flaky for my tastes. Here are the ones I have been looking at:

Avaya/Nortel ERS 5650TD-PWR (Fallback to ERS 5530-24TFD)
+ 48 ports, 10Gb (XFP), 802.3af on all ports and pretty nice L3.

Brocade/Foundry FLS648.
+ 48 ports, 10GB (XFP and CX4), Decent L3
- No PoE (just found out that I would need the FGS models, but the 48 port version is an oven!)

Juniper EX3200-48T (fallback to 24 port model)
+ 48 ports, L3, 10GB (SPF+ !!), 8 PoE ports but need PS
- Price!

Anyway your feedback if any of you have used these would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you!

 

[chilipepperz]

One of our IT guys at work bought a X1052P for one of our branch offices. The PoE was for security and APs. He's liked them but I haven't gotten time on them. I want to try one because I might buy one for home. Dell retail on them is crazy so my plan was to best offer like every auction starting with: Dell X1052P 52-port Smart Managed Switch POE 1year Warranty Free Shipping! since at $650 I'd bite. I can update you if I get one or get time on the one we've got installed.

 

[Patrick]

Nice find on the Poe version.

 

[Nnyan]

That's a nice switch but way out of the price range that I'm looking at.

 

[Scott Laird]

I have a few Juniper EX4200s, which are basically the same as the EX3200s, except for a slightly faster CPU and a pair of stacking ports. Nice switch, but a bit noisy. They'll do L3 just fine, and are easy to work with on the command line. Haven't used the web UI. Keep in mind that Juniper's config language isn't a Cisco knock-off; you'll have a little bit of a learning curve, but there are a ton of resources online.

One thing to watch: Juniper made 3 different optics modules for these. There's a 4-port SFP module, a 2-port SFP+/2-port SFP module, and a 2-port XFP module. The first one is the most common, but it's 1 Gbps only. Visually, the SFP+ module has a bit of white above the two SFP+ ports, so it's usually easy to tell apart in eBay pictures. The last time I checked, the 2+2 module had a pretty big premium when bought from eBay on its own, but switches with one installed sold for only slightly more then ones with the 4-SFP module.

The XFP module is fine as well; XFPs are slightly harder to get than SFP+s, but buying a generic SFP+, a hunk of OM3, and a generic XFP isn't all that pricy.

 

[Patrick]

One of our IT guys at work bought a X1052P for one of our branch offices. The PoE was for security and APs. He's liked them but I haven't gotten time on them. I want to try one because I might buy one for home. Dell retail on them is crazy so my plan was to best offer like every auction starting with: Dell X1052P 52-port Smart Managed Switch POE 1year Warranty Free Shipping! since at $650 I'd bite. I can update you if I get one or get time on the one we've got installed.

I ended getting one for $575: Dell X1052P (POE+) $575 Thanks @chilipepperz

 

[Nnyan]

So I actually got to hear the Juniper 3300 and that's off my list, nice switch and all but replacing the fan in the fan "bay" is more trouble than I would want to go through and that thing is L O U D. After some additional research I've added the Dell PC 5524, Force10 Networks S50N and Foundry FastIron Edge X448.

 

[whitey]

I have the EX3300 and love it but then again my rack/stack sits in my basement and I am not a noise zealot :-D

 

[Pete L.]

I've mentioned it in other threads I own the Dell x1052p and I can say it is pretty quiet as long as you ambient temp is reasonable. It is much quieter than my Avocent KVM which had a bunch of fans on the side of the units.
I don't have mine in my living room but an office next to it and my Cisco SG300-28p is louder and that also has dynamic fans.

Remember that the 1052p is a POE / POE+ switch but only 24 ports out of the 48 copper ports are POE and you can mix / match POE / POE+ up to the limit which would mean you wouldn't get the full 24 ports.

Also worth mentioning is that this is a new line for Dell and has a completely redesigned GUI and a stripped down CLI which would be nice if it worked as well as Cisco but it is full of bugs that make configuring it very frustrating but it seems to stable once you do get it configured so keep that in mind.

 

[Patrick]

I ended getting one for $575: Dell X1052P (POE+) $575 Thanks @chilipepperz

This arrived today, and was packaged well. No rack ears or rails though.

 

[epicurean]

Hi Patrick,
What is your impression of the X1052p? Thinking of springing for this as well

 

[Pete L.]

I personally own one, the GUI is a SLOW as hell (compared to Cisco) and little clunky but once you work you way through it (IE works better than Fire Fox) it seems really stable. I recently picked up an x4012 so I am thinking of selling mine so... =)

I can also say that it doesn't seem to mind using off brand SFP+ Modules or DAC Cables unlike my Intel Card which was pissed about a Dell Compatible SFP but didn't mind the Dell DAC (go figure) but the switch has taken every SFP / DAC I've tried

Its a very well made switch, comes with Rack mount Rails which is also nice as it is a little on the Deep Side but nothing to crazy. It is pretty quiet but wouldn't put it in a quiet room, the fans are dynamic but still can be heard.

If you have any specific questions let me know.

 

[Nnyan]

Seems that the only reasonable switch + 10gb module combo's are on older hardware that is either too loud or a power hog. I think for now I'll just throw in another quad port intel nic and go LACP.

 

[Pete L.]

Seems that the only reasonable switch + 10gb module combo's are on older hardware that is either too loud or a power hog. I think for now I'll just throw in another quad port intel nic and go LACP.

LACP won't give you any additional bandwidth per TCP Session / Connection Unless you have a completely compatible SMB3 / Multi-Channel Setup which is (at this point) very limited.

 

[Nnyan]

Well I have eliminated the Brocade/Foundry options since they require a current support contract just to get current updates. Just on principle I will not buy from them. The Nortel 5600/5500 are fast but hot and noisy. I'm going to do some more research but I think I've settled on the Nortel/Avaya 4500 series. Not as fast at it's big brothers but more then enough for my needs and a step or two quieter and cooler.

 

[axemann]

@Nnyan,

A lot of the Brocade units are rebranded by other manufacturers (IBM, for example), so you may be able to find a cross-reference table that compares the Brocade model numbers to their IBM-branded counterparts. I found one once, but I'll have to dig around to see if I can find the link. If I do, I'll post it here.

EDIT: Here's one link that seems to have more entries than the one I was thinking of:

IBM - Brocade Switch Cross-reference

-Axemann

 

[Nnyan]

Axemann, I didn't even think of that! In the end I went with a Nortel/Avaya 4526GTX with dual 10G XFP ports. Seller accepted $60 for it shipped. I should get it later this week and I'll use this as my L3 primary switch and just keep the HP1810 since it's low power use.