[frozentundra]

Hello

I have just had my network switch go down.

I am looking into what to buy to replace my current unit and I find that I am confused by the widw variety of choices and costs.

The switch is a 24 port 10/100 that is connected via fiber channel SX GBIC ( I am only copying the specs off my module I do not know what this means) It is connected to my 100/1000 Extreme 24 switch.

All of my producton Macs are connected via the Mac gigabit to this switch but my T1 line, office computers, mail server, mass transit server and printers are all connected via my fallen 10/100. There is a lot of traffic on the 10/100 because it is connected to our T1 line and we do a fair amount of uploading and down loading of very large files.

What is the difference between purchasing an Asnate' friendly net 16 port switch that costs only $589 vs buying some CISCO unit that costs almost $2000. ( yeah I know $1600)

Will I have problems if I do not have fiber channel uplinks. What sort of back plain do I need.

I really feel like a novice in this area. Please assume I know nothing regarding netwroking if you are going to respond. I have to purchase a replacement unit ASAP but I don't really know what to get.


Thanks,
FrozenTundra

[ginoledesma]

What particular Asante and Cisco switchers are you referring to?

The only FriendlyNET 16-port switch I've found on Asante's site is the FriendlyNET FX1017, which is a 16-port 10/100Mbps switch with an optional fiber module. The only available fiber modules for this switch are the FriendlyNET FX100-MMC and FriendlyNET FX100-MMC-15, both 100-baseFX multimode SC module. Neither will connect your switch at Gigabit speeds. The only products that will satisfy that is the IntraCore series of switches.

One detail you might want to focus on when considering switches is the size of the backplane. Usually, 10/100Mbps switches have at least a 4.7Gb backplane (the underlying switching fabric). The bigger the backplane, the better it is able to handle traffic (even at sustained high loads), and the more costly it becomes. Usually, the more expensive 3Com, Intel, and Cisco products tend to have HUGE backplanes, which is essential in a high-traffic, high-bandwidth setup.

[frozentundra]

I had ben looking at an ad in a catalog that led me to believe the GX5-1600 had the fiber channel GBIC option. It turns out only the GX5-2400 actually has this option. Of course it costs nearly a $1000 more. What's that they say, if it seems to good to be true?

Still at $1399 this seems like it may be a nice unit. It appears that I can get the SX GBIC option but I still need to verify that fact.

The specs are available on this page.
http://www.asante.com/products/switc...400/index.html

If its not too much trouble could you tell me if this unit looks OK?

Is there anything that looks like it may be a problem with this particular unit.

Thanks
FT

[frozentundra]

Any help would be appreciated.

[ginoledesma]

The switch looks good, and the GX5-2400 seems like a good drop-in replacement. It has two (shared) GBIC ports and has a decent, large enough switching fabric (backplane), though I've to find out more on what they mean by segmented.

Asante's always produced good products, so I'm sure this one will suit your needs. What other switches were you considering?

[frozentundra]

I don't really have a list of canidates. I need to understand the technology so I can put my list together.

My main option at this point is to send my existing switch in for repair. We have an ExtremeNetworks Summit 24. This has 24 10/100's and 2 SX GBIC fiberchannel ports

This switch was connected to our Summit 7i 100/1000.

It looks like our failed switch is no longer made, but I can get a repair/ exchange for $900.

The accountant here wants us to go that direction. I would like to find a 10/100/1000 option that will help me with migration toward Gigabit ethernet in thr future.

Thanks for your help,

Tim

[ginoledesma]

Ok. As I see it, you currently have a 100/1000 core switch, to which one (or more) 10/100 workgroup switch was attached via fiber. The designation between "core" and "workgroup" switches basically implies the amount of traffic each can do. Usually, core switches handle the grunt work of everything, whereas workgroup switches are what end-nodes (devices/PCs) are connected to.

Anyway, with regards to your setup, you could opt to buy an entry-level gigabit workgroup switch. I'm not familiar with the Summit series of switches, so I checked the datasheet and see it has 28x100/1000BaseT ports and 4x1000BaseSX ports, and an additional four 1000Base-X GBIC ports.

Also, it might help to get switches that support Jumbo Frames, which the Summit7i (and Summit24/48) you have do. Jumbo Frames support means an MTU value of at least 9000 bytes.

Some candidates:
- Cisco Catalyst 3750 (3750G-24TS): 24 Ethernet 10/100/1000 ports and 4 SFP uplinks
- 3Com® SuperStack® 3 Switch 3824 (24-port, managed, Gigabit). You'll need to buy the additional GBIC modules.

If you don't mind "cheap" products (basic switches, very much entry level)
- TigerSwitch 10/100/1000- Standalone 24-port 10/100/1000 Managed L2 Switch

These entry-level products are really drop-in replacements, but they may not prove to be the best solution in very high-traffic networks.

Remember not all switches come with GBIC modules. Usually, the model has support for it, but they're extra purchases. So make sure when buying that the unit has them already.

[ginoledesma]

If you can get a service/replacement for your Summit48 switch for that price, its an ok deal, really. Its pretty much an upper-mid-range switch, though at its price (for repair) you could already be getting gigabit.

The FriendlyNET switch you found is pretty much ok for a starter switch, because higher in the price range you'll be dealing with the big names (though not necessarily always superior switches).