[resolved] Switch Suggestions, please

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GaryD9

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Feb 15, 2017
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I've been asked to help my employer find a couple of replacement switches for his office network. This is a very small company, and there's no official IT department or network administrator(s), so the switch will have to be set up and maintained by me. (I'm not a proficient network administrator. I can get by, but my chosen profession is software engineering...)

This is all coming up because the people who manage our VOIP phone (mitel) systems are blaming everything on the network and are avoiding doing any work on their system until the switches are updated. (Honestly, I agree that the switches should be updated... we're currently using a rag-tag collection of left-over "dumb" switches that require prayer and that we sacrifice a virgin lamb before each reboot.)

What we need is a 24 port POE "semi managed" switch (POE on all 24 ports for VOIP phones with a total of around 160watts power budget) and a 48 port non-POE semi managed switch. Both should be gigabit switches. (Having one POE and one non-POE switch is to reduce the cost.)

By "semi-managed", I mean that the switches should have some managed features, but don't need to be full blown L3 routing capable switches that sing, dance, and wash dishes. They need to support VLAN's (both 802.1q tagged and port-based VLANs), spanning tree (to make the phone people happy because they insist that STP is a magic bullet that'll fix all the world's problems even if there's no loops), LACP, and perhaps some type of mechanism for dealing with packet storms. (Netgear calls it "storm control")

We'd like the two switches to be from the same manufacturer in order to avoid any incompatibilities.

The only other requirement I'd have for the switches would be that they are rated to handle the amount of traffic that they have ports for. They are rare these days, but I still on occassion see switches that will choke on full loads of traffic.

The boss wants NEW (not used) switches. The phone people suggested 2x 48 port POE HP Aruba switches that they'd be happy to sell us. We don't need that, and really don't want to spend $3k (USD) on them. I suggested a pair of netgear switches (GS748T and GS728TP-100NAS) based on me being familiar with Netgear's "semi managed" line of routers. That kind of covers the top and bottom ends of the budget.

Can anyone please suggest other pairs that would meet my needs?

Thank you
Gary
 

Patrick

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Dec 21, 2010
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What about Dell? I actually like my X1052P. Here are specs for the family: Dell Networking X-Series Smart Managed Switches | Dell United States

The X1052P is 360W of PoE/ PoE+ on 24 of the ports. There is a half-width one as well (X1026P) that is also 24 PoE/ PoE+ but no 10GbE uplinks.

They seem to sell via resellers for $800- $900 each new and have 48 ports plus 10GbE for uplinks. Amazon.com: Dell Networking X1052P - Switch - 48 Ports - Managed - Rack-Mountable, Black (463-5912): Computers & Accessories

The Web UI is slow but available. There is a CLI as well.
 

GaryD9

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Feb 15, 2017
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Patrick, I appreciate the reply, but I was hoping to keep the budget a bit lower than that.

Are there any thoughts on the Cisco "SG200" series? The SG200-50 non-POE and SG200-26FP POE switches appear to meet the requirements I have. However, I'm completely unfamiliar with them.
 

GaryD9

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Feb 15, 2017
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How about Ubuiqiti switches?
In all honesty, Ubuiqiti scares me. I like their AP's, but I always feel like I'm a beta tester regardless of it I'm using their "release" firmware or not. I've done research on their routers, but they also seem un-finished. (For example, half-baked IPv6 support - if any IPv6 support at all.)

I realize that they might be the greatest thing since sliced bread and I could be missing out on the greatest possible value, but when a company gains a reputation of half-baked solutions and/or instability in some product lines, not to mention the long list of known security vulnerabilities in some of their older products, it tends to scare people.

Ironically, I'd use their switches in my home without hesitation, but I can't suggest them to my employer simply because I'm not confident in them.

For the same $900, I could get a Cisco SG300-52 (non-POE managed) and SG300-28PP (POE/POE+ managed) with lifetime warranty.
 

CreoleLakerFan

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Oct 29, 2013
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In all honesty, Ubuiqiti scares me. I like their AP's, but I always feel like I'm a beta tester regardless of it I'm using their "release" firmware or not. I've done research on their routers, but they also seem un-finished. (For example, half-baked IPv6 support - if any IPv6 support at all.)

I realize that they might be the greatest thing since sliced bread and I could be missing out on the greatest possible value, but when a company gains a reputation of half-baked solutions and/or instability in some product lines, not to mention the long list of known security vulnerabilities in some of their older products, it tends to scare people.

Ironically, I'd use their switches in my home without hesitation, but I can't suggest them to my employer simply because I'm not confident in them.

For the same $900, I could get a Cisco SG300-52 (non-POE managed) and SG300-28PP (POE/POE+ managed) with lifetime warranty.
Just be aware that the Cisco switches aren't really traditional Cisco switches - they are D-Link switches with Cisco branding and a half-baked "something sortalike IOS but not really" CLI. Not everything can be done via CLI,and the GUI is counter-intuitive and slow. They work, but they can be a real PITA ... I have two SG200-26 and two SG300-10 in my home, but they would not be my first recommendation for an SMB environment.
 

pyro_

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Oct 4, 2013
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How about an HP 1820 series switch. They have Poe and non Poe versions and are web managed or the next step up the ladder for them the 2530 series
 

GaryD9

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How about an HP 1820 series switch. They have Poe and non Poe versions and are web managed or the next step up the ladder for them the 2530 series
Pyro_, do all the HP 1820 POE switches only offer POE on 50% of the ports? In other words, to get 24 ports, it appears I'd have to get the 1820-48G-POE model (370 watts for only 24 powered ports???) Or is it that 50% of them are POE+ and the other 50% are regular (802.3af) POE?

The specs sheets are... confusing. For example, the J9983A model "1820 24G POE (185W) Switch" lists 12 rj-45 autosensing gigabit POE+ ports and 12 gigabit ports... but with 185Watts. That wattage seems to be high for only 12 powered ports (but if there are only 12 powered ports and they are all POE+, I guess it'd be reasonable.)

The 1820's seem to be at a similar level to the Cisco SG200 line and the netgear "smart" switches.

The 2530's are quite a bit more expensive. $780 for 24 port POE... over $800 for 48 port non-POE. I think that might go over the budget...
 

GaryD9

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Not everything can be done via CLI,and the GUI is counter-intuitive and slow. They work, but they can be a real PITA ... I have two SG200-26 and two SG300-10 in my home, but they would not be my first recommendation for an SMB environment.
I don't mind if the initial setup is a PITA, as long as I don't have to revisit it very often.

I am curious, though, that if they wouldn't be your first recommendation.... what your first recommendation would be?
 

pyro_

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Oct 4, 2013
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I cannot comment for sure as I have not used the 1820s myself. Best bet would be to speak with HP about it to verify. Was tossing out as an option as I and a number of other people have been very happy with the earlier 1810 series
 

GaryD9

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Okay... my boss took my lists, comments, prices, etc... and decided to go with the Cisco SG300 switches. (Based on the info I was able to gather, it seemed like the best value. No 10G, but really no need for it either.) I guess I'm going to be spending the weekend playing on Cisco's emulator website to try and learn the stuff.

I can't help but to think that "brand" was a major selling point for him, as well as "lifetime warranty."

Maybe I should replace the netgear GS724Tv4 I have at home with a SG300-28 (non-poe) to better learn. My wife would kill me, but it wouldn't be the first time.
 

pyro_

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Note that the os on the SG series is not the same the one on their more mainstream catalyst switches
 

GaryD9

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Note that the os on the SG series is not the same the one on their more mainstream catalyst switches
That's okay with me... This will be the first experience I've had with any Cisco branded managed switch, so I won't have to unlearn anything. In the past, I've only dealt with cheaper netgear "smart" and "plus" switches (which are 100% WebUI.)

I'm kind of looking forward to the experience.
 

whitey

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Jun 30, 2014
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I cannot comment for sure as I have not used the 1820s myself. Best bet would be to speak with HP about it to verify. Was tossing out as an option as I and a number of other people have been very happy with the earlier 1810 series
I can say that procurve cli/config is drop dead simple. Switched from Procurve to Juniper a couple 2-3 yrs back but I was a die hard procurve guy before and still have a 2530 arnd for light PoE/office duties and a small 1810 8 port as an uplink to house cat5e wiring. Just look at the larger port count models and they can be had to very cheap used, new (which i think you are after) will cost a bit more of course.