[geeks] Gigabit upgrade

[Lionel Peterson]

>From: Shannon Hendrix <shannon at widomaker.com>
>Date: 2008/08/04 Mon AM 01:15:54 EDT
>To: The Geeks List <geeks at sunhelp.org>
>Subject: Re: [geeks] Gigabit upgrade

>On Aug 3, 2008, at 23:24 , Sridhar Ayengar wrote:
>
>> Alois Hammer wrote:
>>> Now that my network has a fair number of gigabit-capable PCs, with a
>>> couple more rebuilds on the way, I'm looking seriously at gigabit
>>> switching.  I'm upgrading from an Intel 510T and 520T (24x and
>>> 12x10/100Mbps, respectively) with backplane interconnect.  I've been
>>> kind of spoiled by having managed switches, and I'm wondering if  
>>> there's
>>> any way to acquire 16-port-or-bigger managed gig copper switches  
>>> without
>>> either paying ~USD$700 or buying not-made-by-Dell (of which I have  
>>> heard
>>> many horror stories).  Used would be fine, so long as eBay is not
>>> involved.
>>> If not, I'm eyeing the NetGear GS116 and JGS524 switches.
>>> Does anyone know where to get new or used managed gig switches for
>>> significantly less than MSRP, or whether the NetGear units would be  
>>> best
>>> avoided for some reason that's not clear in the NewEgg reviews?
>>
>> I *highly* recommend the HP Procurve 1800-24G.  It's pretty cheap  
>> for an  enterprise-grade managed L2 switch.
>
>I've already said I recommend this one too, but wanted to add:
>
>As soon as you get it, upgrade the firmware.  It really needs that  
>first update for best performance, and some critical bug fixes.
>
>Switches sold now might already have it, but check.
>
>Also, just in case anyone needs more information:
>
>This switch does have decent SNMP support, and it supports port  
>redirection so you can mirror your switch traffic to a port for  
>logging, analysis, whatever.
>
>Multiple vlans, trunking, etc.
>
>I have tried the SFP ports with non-HP fibre optic modules and they  
>worked fine in spite of HP's warning to use nothing but HP modules.

If I read the HP website correctly, the HP switches are fanless - that could be a real plus for the OP, can anyone confirm that?

Provantage.com has them for about $325 (see: http://www.provantage.com/hp-compaq-j9028b-aba~7HEWN1CF.htm ) and the 8 port version for about $129 (see: http://www.provantage.com/hp-compaq-j9029a-aba~7HEWN1AK.htm )

HP website:

http://www.hp.com/rnd/products/switches/ProCurve_Switch_1800_Series/specs.htm

Lionel
Lionel