Looking for some switch advice on 1/10gb switches with FE support

[vrod]

Hi all,

I currently have a Quanta LB6M running my network at my colo. I am using the 10GB ports for storage and normal network traffic.

I am looking into getting a couple of new switches which is stackable and eventually could support Fast Ethernet connections as I have a few management interfaces which only supports Fast Ethernet.

I have flashed the LB6M to Brocade firmware and as far as I know I can't stack it with another switch. Would anyone have a decent suggestion for this use case? I have looked at the Dell s4810 switches and found some good deals in the US but I live in Europe so perhaps that would cost a bit more then...

I was looking in the direction of 3750X switches with 10G modules but they only support up to 2 ports per switch unfortunately. Any suggestions would be appreciated!!

 

[fohdeesha]

See my post about the icx6610 here https://forums.servethehome.com/ind...gbe-l2-l3-switch-vlan-acls.19338/#post-187283

They are stackable with 24 or 48 ports of copper and 8x 10gbe ports each. They have 4x dedicated 40gbe stacking ports on the rear, so two of these stacked would get you 16x 10gbe ports and 160gbps of inter-chassis bandwidth (or 40, or 80, you can decide how many of the stacking ports to trunk)

The stacking config and management is really clean on these, I use a pair of FCX's (they run the same software image) stacked with important hosts lacp'd to both, losing a switch is unnoticeable. It's the same fastiron OS you're running on your quantas, so at least you wouldn't have to learn anything new

I'm starting to sound like a brocade shill in this subforum, I don't mean to be! The gear is just so cheap used. I would certainly recommend looking into juniper as well, but an EX series switch with the same 10gbe port count will sadly have an extra 0 on the end of the price

 

[vrod]

They do look interesting indeed. Turns out the 20U rack i’m renting is actually 24 so I will be able to fit more in there... which have made me think if 2x 10gbe switches (stacked) and a single 100/1000 switch which can take care of the mgmt ports and such.

If I read it right, the 4948’s use 230w each? That’s a bit.

 

[Evan]

If I read it right, the 4948’s use 230w each? That’s a bit.

Depends on model, looks more like 170-180 watts for the model you want but certianly won’t be less according to spec sheet. Old Cisco Catalyst switches (and new nexus / ACI one’s as well) suck a lot of juice !
(C3560CX, 2960XR etc being the exceptions)

 

[Terry Kennedy]

They do look interesting indeed. Turns out the 20U rack i’m renting is actually 24 so I will be able to fit more in there... which have made me think if 2x 10gbe switches (stacked) and a single 100/1000 switch which can take care of the mgmt ports and such.

WS-C3750E-24TD gets you 2 10GbE ports (on X2 optics) and 24 10/100/1000 copper ports. You can stack a bunch of these with stacking cables if you really need more than 2 10GbE ports, but for aggregating 24 GigE or slower ports the 2 on the switch should be fine. These are dirt cheap (there's a couple under $100 w/ free shipping on eBay now). The software is essentially EoL at this point.

If I read it right, the 4948’s use 230w each? That’s a bit.

Catalyst 4948? I assume you're talking about the 10GE version? That's the same (2 X2 ports) as the 3750E I linked above. The only added feature you get with it is dual power supplies, but you also give up reliabilty ("reboot of death"), stacking, and the software is also EoL and an older version than on the 3750E.

 

[Evan]

@Terry Kennedy the 4948E or E-F version with 4xSFP+ 10G ports and would the reboot of death issues. Newer and software EoL 2021 I think, still under $300 on eBay I see.
But still near 200watts

The E and E-F versions are not green but silver/gray looking. (One of forward and the other reverse airflow)

Personally I would not use them but I don’t need that many ports

 

[vrod]

Yes the 3750E might also be a thing... i am really leaning towards the S4810’s but do they have a 1gbe switch in that family? Would be awesome if I could stack all 3 together!

Otherwise I might just get a 3750X/E

 

[Jerry Renwick]

The 3750-E Series Switch enables migration from to 10 Gigabit Ethernet uplinks, as business needs require, without having to upgrade the switches.

 

[vrod]

I got in contact with a guy who had 3750X switches and got me a deal: 2x WS-C3750X-48T with 10G modules in them as well as redundant PSU’s and stacking cables, just for 950 bucks.

Since my servers also have 2x 1gb nics I might as well keep the LB6M, configure the 10G links as Active and the 1G’s (LACP’d) as backup in case the LB6M pukes. Quite cheaper than 2x S4810’s