[BlueOnyx:12493] Re: Upgrading Switch

[Chris Gebhardt - VIRTBIZ Internet]

I've been staying away from this thread as long as I could.   ;)

When we built our datacenter and our satellite POPs, we did so with 
Cisco infrastructure.  We come from back in the day when 7507 routers 
and 5513 switches were state-of-the-art.  That's when we first became 
responsible for managing our own infrastructure.   Of course, we have 
progressed a long way since those times.

Personally, I can get around in IOS and CatOS.  CatOS got a real bad 
rap, and I think it was a mistake to create something with a different 
syntax.  Obviously, Cisco agreed and later killed CatOS off.  But we 
still have some devices that are running it.  We have a handful of 
Catalyst5505's still doing duty, and they've logged THOUSANDS of days of 
continuous uptime.

The "real" Cisco gear works, works well, is utterly reliable and, like 
it or not, is the industry standard by which all others are judged. 
You'll always notice that when comparisons are made, it's always with a 
Cisco as a reference point.  I'm not saying there are not other great 
manufacturers.  There certainly are, and other vendors have a bunch of 
good things that recommend them.   But for us, we have no reason to 
change our infrastructure & network backbone.

When it comes to making recommendations for customer equipment, I always 
say you won't be "wrong" for choosing Cisco.  That's always a right 
answer.  Not the only right answer, mind you.  But you won't be wrong.

Just make sure that if you do go Cisco, it's "real" Cisco.   That 
Linksys stuff that's branded Cisco... what a mistake that was.  Chances 
are, if your Cisco is blue/green, you're good to go.   If it's black, 
take it back!

I don't sell the equipment, and I honestly don't have any interest if 
you buy any particular brand.  But if you ask me my experience, and what 
I see that customers bring in and what works vs. what doesn't?  Well, 
here's a sampling:

Cisco:	If it's "real", it's going to work.  We can even help you config it.

Cisco-branded Linksys:  Nope. Not worth it.  In my view, it's overpriced 
junk.

Juniper: Seems to be solid.

HP ProCurve:  I can count on one finger the problems I have seen with them.

Dell PowerConnect:  Run, do not walk, from this garbage as fast as you 
can.   It has pseudo-management that theoretically allows you to divide 
into VLANs, but offers no SNMP whatsoever?  And no proper CLI?  What's 
up with that?  Junk.

Dell ProConnect: Seems OK for low traffic (ie: anything under 20Mbps to 
the gateway).  Will lock up much past that, and is utterly incapable of 
handling wirespeed on more than 4 ports.

Dlink:  Surprisingly solid.   I had my doubts, and the CLI is a little 
odd, but I think that's more a matter of familiarity.

And then there's all the unmanaged stuff.   For me, most of that all 
sort of runs together.  We have customers that I know paid $200 for an 
unmanaged 24-port GigE switch from Netgear or similar, and they're only 
using 4 ports.   We've put in off-brand 5-port GigE switches that cost 
less than $40 for other customers and they've gotten the same kind of 
results.

As far as the OP's question goes, you can find some Cisco 3550's for not 
a lot of money on ebay these days.   And 2924's are practically free 
these days.  Yes, they're old, but they'll still be running after I'm 
gone from this Earth.    I'd probably head in one of those directions.

-- 
Chris Gebhardt
VIRTBIZ Internet Services
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