Dell Switches and Network Equipement

D

DopefishLives

Weaksauce
Joined
May 3, 2006
Messages
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What are everyone's thoughts on these? We have a few in house that are being a pain to get configured properly and Dell is offering no assist.

I'm wondering if they are worth their weight in gold and we just need to work with them more or if they are just trying to play network in kindergarten.
 
We're an all Dell shop at work (servers/pc's). I've never been a fan. Still not a fan.

As far as switches, I've had great luck with HP's Procurve line.
 
At my last job we used Dell switches and they were rock solid. They're also a good deal. However, yes documentation is relatively sparse and they don't really offer tech support. You get what you pay for. I've seen other vendors like that, like Nortel, which is why I only reccomend Cisco for my current employer due for support reasons.

Your best bet would be the Dell community forums.
 
I have several clients that use the Dell switches. They are decent for the price, but Cisco switches are definitely better.
 
Hmm I have to disagree, I may be missing something somewhere but I use a load of dell kit (servers,switches, desktops) and the support I get is excellent, normally some chap in scotland who speaks to me normally and it is quick to resolve issues (and on the servers 4 hour call out is exactly that or less). HP on the other hand are bloody terrible on the two occassions I have had to deal with then I have spent literally hours on the phone to someone who barely speaks english who clearly knows nothing about IT and is insisting on wasting my time walking through a procedure I have tried 10 times already (which I already inform them what the issue is) before giving me an RMA number. The Dell switch manuals cover everything the switch does as well as examples etc, the Foundary kit I have has a lot more features and better manuals with far more examples of deployment situations, but there again I would hope so since there is nearly a 10x price difference!
 
I've used some small dell switches and they work for your generic rinky dink offices. (Then again so does Linksys, Dlink, etc etc)

If you want a real switch with real features, buy Cisco. (or at least Foundry or Xtreme)
 
we run all hp procurve switches, cisco routers/firewalls...

procurve is pretty nice..
 
da sponge said:
I prefer them over Cisco switches for most uses.
Click to expand...

As and enterprise of 10K+ systems we are moving away from Cisco at every level except for the Core in our switching invironment. HP offers great features and performance for the $$. And lifetime warranty. WE are moving our servers to the new HP C-Class blades and installing Hp switches in the raks at the same time.
 
For edge switches we're using the Procurve 2650's. Very nice. I'm getting them for around 700 bucks. The fiber 1000SX transceivers are about $225.
 
Aren't Dell switches just rebadged SMC units?

Cisco everything here. We save A LOT of money by not purchasing smartnets for them all. We purchase smartnets on the core gear and download any IOS upgrades for the edge units (against Cisco licensing but I've never seen them care about that).
 
shade91 said:
Aren't Dell switches just rebadged SMC units?

Cisco everything here. We save A LOT of money by not purchasing smartnets for them all. We purchase smartnets on the core gear and download any IOS upgrades for the edge units (against Cisco licensing but I've never seen them care about that).
Click to expand...

Just like Del printers are rebadged Lexmark printers.

Ignorant question, but what's a smartnet? Service contract?
 
JayAre said:
Just like Del printers are rebadged Lexmark printers.

Ignorant question, but what's a smartnet? Service contract?
Click to expand...

Yes. Smartnet support is a service contract with varying levels of support (8x5xnbd, 24x7, etc). You typically buy SmartNet contracts per piece of equipment (based on unit serial). A lot of people dislike Cisco because they feel they somehow need smartnet for everything. I usually only buy smartnet for mission-critical gear. If something can wait a few hours and be replaced with a backup piece of hardware, I don't buy Smartnet for it. In my experience though I have *never* had a piece of Cisco hardware malfunction on me. I'm sure this is different for others, but for me, never.
 
shade91 said:
Yes. Smartnet support is a service contract with varying levels of support (8x5xnbd, 24x7, etc). You typically buy SmartNet contracts per piece of equipment (based on unit serial). A lot of people dislike Cisco because they feel they somehow need smartnet for everything. I usually only buy smartnet for mission-critical gear. If something can wait a few hours and be replaced with a backup piece of hardware, I don't buy Smartnet for it. In my experience though I have *never* had a piece of Cisco hardware malfunction on me. I'm sure this is different for others, but for me, never.
Click to expand...


Agreed. We do the same and only buy smartnet on mission-critical gear. Everything else we usually have a spare for. Higher end Cisco equipment comes with lifetime warranty anyway, I just RMA'd a 3750 with a bad port last week and had the new one in hand 3days later.
 
I run a Powerconnect 3324 for a half-rack of dedicated servers.
It really can't compare to the Cisco 2950-T we were considering using. But, at less than half the price, what can you expect?
 
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