Greetings!
I've been lurking for a while, great stuff! First time poster today.
I am interested in picking up two Netgerar M5300-52G switches on ebay to add some redundancy to my network. My intention is to set them up as follows:
Now:
Stacked, with stacking connection using dual 10G ports via SFP+ Direct Attach cables.
2 Servers with quad 1G NICs connected in distributed LAG to both switches.
Connect all downstream switches via distributed LAG, 2x 1G ports, one port on each of the M5300s.
Later in the year:
Replace Server Quad NICs with dual 10G SFP+ NICs.
Add 2x Netgear 10G SFP+ modules to the M5300-52G switches for a total of 4x 10G SFP+ ports (part AX743).
Connect the two dual 10G server NICs to the two additional 10G ports on the switches, again in distributed LAG, one port on each switch for each server.
So I have a few questions, hoping people familiar with this or similar switches will be able to help out as I have never used stackable switches before.
Distributed LAG: By this I mean that one server with 2 ports in LAG connects to port 1 on Switch A and port 1 on switch B, such that if any of the two switches were to fail, the server does not lose connectivity. Is this supported on these switches? I read the manual, and it looks like it is supported as long as the switches are stacked (obviously) and the LAG flavor used is LACP, not static.
Buying: There are some suspiciously cheap M5300-52G switches on ebay, from China, like this:
Netgear M5300-52G3 48-Port Gigabit Layer 3 Stackable Switch with 2 10G SFP+ Slot
Netgear M5300-52G ProSafe 48-port Gigabit L2+ with 10 Gigabit Stacking
Are they likely to be legit? There is this ominous warning: "The Serial Tags was missed! There is no this tag on the switches." I know there has been a lot of counterfeit Cisco stuff floating around, do you think this is going to be trouble, or are they just well-used?
Cabling: I intend to use SFP+ Direct Attach cables - do I need active or passive? Do I need to watch out for any sort of compatibility issues?
Noise: How loud are these things? They will placed in an office within earshot of humans. Is this going to be a problem?
Other options: I read the low cost 10G switch thread, but I am unsure of the brands. Any other recommendations based on experience (I do need 4x 10G SFP+ ports, so options are more limited)?
I've been lurking for a while, great stuff! First time poster today.
I am interested in picking up two Netgerar M5300-52G switches on ebay to add some redundancy to my network. My intention is to set them up as follows:
Now:
Stacked, with stacking connection using dual 10G ports via SFP+ Direct Attach cables.
2 Servers with quad 1G NICs connected in distributed LAG to both switches.
Connect all downstream switches via distributed LAG, 2x 1G ports, one port on each of the M5300s.
Later in the year:
Replace Server Quad NICs with dual 10G SFP+ NICs.
Add 2x Netgear 10G SFP+ modules to the M5300-52G switches for a total of 4x 10G SFP+ ports (part AX743).
Connect the two dual 10G server NICs to the two additional 10G ports on the switches, again in distributed LAG, one port on each switch for each server.
So I have a few questions, hoping people familiar with this or similar switches will be able to help out as I have never used stackable switches before.
Distributed LAG: By this I mean that one server with 2 ports in LAG connects to port 1 on Switch A and port 1 on switch B, such that if any of the two switches were to fail, the server does not lose connectivity. Is this supported on these switches? I read the manual, and it looks like it is supported as long as the switches are stacked (obviously) and the LAG flavor used is LACP, not static.
Buying: There are some suspiciously cheap M5300-52G switches on ebay, from China, like this:
Netgear M5300-52G3 48-Port Gigabit Layer 3 Stackable Switch with 2 10G SFP+ Slot
Netgear M5300-52G ProSafe 48-port Gigabit L2+ with 10 Gigabit Stacking
Are they likely to be legit? There is this ominous warning: "The Serial Tags was missed! There is no this tag on the switches." I know there has been a lot of counterfeit Cisco stuff floating around, do you think this is going to be trouble, or are they just well-used?
Cabling: I intend to use SFP+ Direct Attach cables - do I need active or passive? Do I need to watch out for any sort of compatibility issues?
Noise: How loud are these things? They will placed in an office within earshot of humans. Is this going to be a problem?
Other options: I read the low cost 10G switch thread, but I am unsure of the brands. Any other recommendations based on experience (I do need 4x 10G SFP+ ports, so options are more limited)?