Looking10Gb/40Gb Switch

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carlosmp

New Member
Mar 12, 2013
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Need to get a pair of "new" (to us) switches to replace some aging/dying IBM G8264. They've served us well over the years, but seems the fans are failing, and with the fan bug, seems to be no end. One of the units doesn't like any fan in slot 3, etc.

So looking for something with 48 SFP+ ports, and some 40Gb uplink ports. Rear to front airflow. Would love something with a GUI in case we have to walk someone onsite on config changes, etc. but seems most are CLI only, which is fine for most of the staff. Just prefer something i can ask someone what does it say in the corner, etc. Something more recent that would last longer is preferable.

Trying to narrow down the choices, in the $1k range. Still digging around regarding firmware, licenses (if needed) for these, and that will also impact our choice..

- Dell S4048
- Arista 7280SE
- Arista 7050S-64
- Brocade ICX6550

Any recommendations between these?

Thanks,
Carlos.
 

Stephan

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Apr 21, 2017
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My personal and very unscientific preference would be Arista, then Dell and Brocade tied for 2nd place. Arista has a community on STH. Also pretty much no licensing hassles, and I am a big fan of MLAG. Brocade has that megathread with everything and then some also here on STH. Their gear might not hold up for 10 or 20 years, which is what I prefer. Dell usually rebadges reliable gear but no experience with that model. In the past I snagged up some fanless Marvell-based office switches from Dell for cheap. Troublefree experience. The problem right now is that switches are in short supply in EU, prices have doubled.
 

carlosmp

New Member
Mar 12, 2013
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Prices seem to be pretty close. I just want something solid, and get some spares (PSU, Fans, etc.) to have ready to deploy. I'm guessing the 7050 is the "better" one? Uses less power, and has much better latency...Just need to line up the software so it's ready to go. Are the optics locked on the Aristas? I know on the IBM's we have to set the sfp Override on them...

Thanks,
 

carlosmp

New Member
Mar 12, 2013
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So are those on a per vendor basis? That is going to be a PITA long term, unless there's a library of them per vendor. On the IBM it's a simple setenv sfp Override, and you're done. (I was running that last night on my spares, but the fans/boards seem to all be dying simultaneously). I've got a few different transceivers in play from different vendors that we've picked up over the years...I know Fiberstore sells "compatible" ones, but hate getting locked in, especially with the freedoms we've enjoyed with the IBM/Blade switches...
 

Stephan

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Apr 21, 2017
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No, you just add one of those e.g. the EMC one to your config and you are good to go. EMC only means that line was originally made for Arista's customer called EMC, and not that this line will only make the switch accept EMC transceivers.
 
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fohdeesha

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My personal and very unscientific preference would be Arista, then Dell and Brocade tied for 2nd place. Arista has a community on STH. Also pretty much no licensing hassles, and I am a big fan of MLAG. Brocade has that megathread with everything and then some also here on STH. Their gear might not hold up for 10 or 20 years, which is what I prefer. Dell usually rebadges reliable gear but no experience with that model. In the past I snagged up some fanless Marvell-based office switches from Dell for cheap. Troublefree experience. The problem right now is that switches are in short supply in EU, prices have doubled.
I agree up until the "gear might not hold up" bit, I've had three out of those 4 switches listed apart on a bench and they're nearly all identical component selection wise aside from slightly different management planes (which makes sense, given they're all not-far-deviated from broadcom ref designs of that era). All have Delta or Emerson supplies, broadcom PHY/MAC, micron flash, etc - it's pretty rare to see large variances in switches like these for broadcom board-leader ASICs for a given era. When it comes to expensive (for the time) L3 switching the difference is software, and I highly prefer Arista's EOS to FTOS or Fastiron (at least dell finally opened up FTOS to public download without requiring a Force10 account)
 
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Stephan

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I agree up until the "gear might not hold up" bit, I've had three out of those 4 switches listed apart on a bench and they're nearly all identical component selection wise aside from slightly different management planes
Thanks for the clarification. Maybe I was misled due to a couple lightning damaged Brocades that showed up, which buyers only realized later, when trying to use PoE. Two votes for Arista, plot thickens. ;)
 
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fohdeesha

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Thanks for the clarification. Maybe I was misled due to a couple lightning damaged Brocades that showed up, which buyers only realized later, when trying to use PoE. Two votes for Arista, plot thickens. ;)
yeah PoE is a different beast, by nature it's power electronics that get connected directly to shit in high static discharge environments (outdoor cams, etc). In enterprise environments where installers completely ignore recommendations for inline ethernet GDT surge protection 99% of the time, it's only a matter of time before the front end transformers etc break down
 

LodeRunner

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yeah PoE is a different beast, by nature it's power electronics that get connected directly to shit in high static discharge environments (outdoor cams, etc). In enterprise environments where installers completely ignore recommendations for inline ethernet GDT surge protection 99% of the time, it's only a matter of time before the front end transformers etc break down
At a previous job, we installed some pole mounted PoE devices and we did gel-filled, shielded cable; tied to gas discharge tubes (similar to or exactly these: https://www.amazon.com/Tupavco-Ethernet-Protector-Gigabit-1000Mbs/dp/B00805VUD8) then tied to a proper grounding busbar. IIRC we had an electrician validate the building grounding.
 
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