Enterprise gear at home?

J

jnick

2[H]4U
Joined
Sep 25, 2004
Messages
2,888
So I have been re-thinking a relatives network setup. They are using an Asus RT-N66U with two 8 port gigabit switches. Their main function is to stream video files (BluRay) from their server to their Apple TV. So gigabit IS important.

On top of that, they have wireless devices up the ass. Something like 10 wireless iOS devices alone and game consoles. Typically they do have some connection issues. Luckily the upgrade from the N56U to the N66U has helped a bit.

Remembering that you can get older Cisco gear on eBay to use for labs and whatnot, I was wondering if they should invest in a Cisco router and a 24/48 port switch? I know the stability would be solid however what I don know is if these devices that you can get on ebay for about $150 hav gigabit on all ports? I was then thinking about complimenting this with Ubiquiti WiFi over time.

What do you guys think? Would the upgrade in switching gear help the buffering on streaming video to the wired devices? Would this be worth it at all or do you see it as being a waste?

I do work with 3900 series routers at work and 26xx/37xx switches so if the used gear could run iOS, I am familiar with programming them.

Any feedback is appreciated!
 
It's hard to find gigabit managed switches for a few hundred bucks, but they do exist. Just be sure to lookup models before buying. Some switches are sold as gigabit because they have two gigabit uplink ports but all the other ports at 10/100, so just have to research before pulling the trigger.
 
jnick said:
So I have been re-thinking a relatives network setup. They are using an Asus RT-N66U with two 8 port gigabit switches. Their main function is to stream video files (BluRay) from their server to their Apple TV. So gigabit IS important.

On top of that, they have wireless devices up the ass. Something like 10 wireless iOS devices alone and game consoles. Typically they do have some connection issues. Luckily the upgrade from the N56U to the N66U has helped a bit.

Remembering that you can get older Cisco gear on eBay to use for labs and whatnot, I was wondering if they should invest in a Cisco router and a 24/48 port switch? I know the stability would be solid however what I don know is if these devices that you can get on ebay for about $150 hav gigabit on all ports? I was then thinking about complimenting this with Ubiquiti WiFi over time.

What do you guys think? Would the upgrade in switching gear help the buffering on streaming video to the wired devices? Would this be worth it at all or do you see it as being a waste?

I do work with 3900 series routers at work and 26xx/37xx switches so if the used gear could run iOS, I am familiar with programming them.

Any feedback is appreciated!
Click to expand...

The cheapest fully gigabit true Cisco switches usually are $400 plus on eBay. Look for a used HP 1810-24G, 1800-24G, 1910-24G if you want managed or 1410-24G for unmanaged, They are silent and can be had under $200 on eBay. As for router, I use a EdgeRouter Lite and really like it.

Also you can find great deals on lesser known brands. I got a Layer 3 48 port gigabit 3com for $150 and a Allied Telesys 24 port gigabit Layer 3 switch for $100. It was brand new in the box and is a very good switch.

That said, are you sure the buffering issue isn't on te server end? What's serving these files? I have no problem streaming 20GB MKVs on 10/100 let alone gigabit. Is the server up to snuff?
 
How would you say the EdgeRouter Lite compares to something like te N66U? Do you think it will be a worthy upgrade? Is it quiet?

His current switches are a DLink 8 port and a newer HP 8 port, unmanaged. I would say the unmanaged switches are fine as his network is flat.

The server is an AM2 build with 4GB ram running WHS 2011 and drive pool managing the storage. Ironically, they are doing maintenance on the house and the server won't be back online until I reconnect it tomorrow so I can't get te exact specs at this point. IIRC, it's a 2.4Ghz dual core. I can update the specs here tomorrow though.
 
what about looking into mikrotik devices? They seem pretty beefy for the price
 
jnick said:
So I have been re-thinking a relatives network setup. They are using an Asus RT-N66U with two 8 port gigabit switches. Their main function is to stream video files (BluRay) from their server to their Apple TV. So gigabit IS important.

On top of that, they have wireless devices up the ass. Something like 10 wireless iOS devices alone and game consoles. Typically they do have some connection issues. Luckily the upgrade from the N56U to the N66U has helped a bit.

Remembering that you can get older Cisco gear on eBay to use for labs and whatnot, I was wondering if they should invest in a Cisco router and a 24/48 port switch? I know the stability would be solid however what I don know is if these devices that you can get on ebay for about $150 hav gigabit on all ports? I was then thinking about complimenting this with Ubiquiti WiFi over time.

What do you guys think? Would the upgrade in switching gear help the buffering on streaming video to the wired devices? Would this be worth it at all or do you see it as being a waste?

I do work with 3900 series routers at work and 26xx/37xx switches so if the used gear could run iOS, I am familiar with programming them.

Any feedback is appreciated!
Click to expand...

Is a gigabit network really necessary if the Apple TV is 10/100? I ask because I thought it was my network, turned out the solution was to get rid of the Apple TV and get a Mac mini. There were other issues that were unrelated, that were solved by the mini. Wasn't just the streaming.

That's what worked for me.

Just asking.
 
Cisco gear is easily found on ebay be patient and be picky. You'll have a hard time finding a 48 port switch at your price but 24 port switches can be had anytime in your pricing. I only run enterprise gear at home and am stunned anyone puts up with the crap that is aimed at consumers. One caveat to Cisco gear is that you need an entitled account to download IOS updates otherwise you're stuck with whatever comes on the device.
 
Nicklebon said:
Cisco gear is easily found on ebay be patient and be picky. You'll have a hard time finding a 48 port switch at your price but 24 port switches can be had anytime in your pricing. I only run enterprise gear at home and am stunned anyone puts up with the crap that is aimed at consumers. One caveat to Cisco gear is that you need an entitled account to download IOS updates otherwise you're stuck with whatever comes on the device.
Click to expand...

Some of us (me included) just don't like the constant upkeep, noise, and replacement/support price of running enterprise hardware at home. I sold off all of my Cisco and Aruba hardware as I was getting sick of maintaining/tweaking it constantly. I felt like working on my home network was another job.
 
shade91 said:
Some of us (me included) just don't like the constant upkeep, noise, and replacement/support price of running enterprise hardware at home. I sold off all of my Cisco and Aruba hardware as I was getting sick of maintaining/tweaking it constantly. I felt like working on my home network was another job.
Click to expand...

This is a joke right? What was broken that required the need to "tweak"it? I would suggest it wasn't configured correctly to begin with which is hardly the fault of the equipment. That's the point of enterprise gear you get it set correctly and it just works unlike the vast majority of consumer grade gear that as far as I can tell just doesn't work ever. I do far more work troubleshooting issues for friends and family that more often than not results in just power cycling whatever pos networking gear they have and the problems go away. Aside from moving some machines to a new VLAN for my own reasons I haven't touched my layer 2 switching or core switching in well over 3 years. I do swap out firewalls and AP fairly often, ie currently using a Check Point 2211 which I swapped in 2 months ago, but that is for purposes of testing a different piece of equipment or satisfying my own curiosity.
 
Last edited:
BluRay has a maximum bitrate of 36Mb/s and max data transfer rate of 54Mb/s, both well within fast Ethernet. I would suspect the source before the network in this case.
The problem with Enterprise network in the home is it's usually not a good fit- the expense, noise, cooling requirements, mounting requirements (if any), usually aren't well received in the home. Gimping enterprise gear by modding or removing fans and playing with features you don't understand can get you in a lot of trouble. There is no 'Reset' button on most enterprise gear- get a serial cable and learn the CLI commands to save your gear.
Properly isolate the problem and go from there, don't take the shotgun approach.
 
MrGuvernment said:
Dell web managed switches should be more than sufficient for your needs

http://www.dell.com/us/business/p/powerconnect-2800/pd?c=us&s=bsd

and i am surprised the N56 to N66 did anything since the 56 is rated faster for wireless throughput
Click to expand...

Wow...those Dell switches look rather nice. Specifically looking at the fanless 16-port. Are they reliable? I know the dell name comes with a rather poor stigma.

I am nearly positive there was an issue with their 56U. I think it either, due to load, overheated one to many times which eventually caused it to fail. I tried all different firmwares and nothing was able to save it. It needed to be restarted about 3 times a day near the end. The 66U has been running flawlessly ever since the replacement.

Liver said:
Is a gigabit network really necessary if the Apple TV is 10/100? I ask because I thought it was my network, turned out the solution was to get rid of the Apple TV and get a Mac mini. There were other issues that were unrelated, that were solved by the mini. Wasn't just the streaming.

That's what worked for me.

Just asking.
Click to expand...

I seriously feel like fail right now. Never even thought to look at the connection details from the Apple TV. I just assumed it would be GigE as this day in age, what isn't any more? Good point my friend...good point.

RocketTech said:
BluRay has a maximum bitrate of 36Mb/s and max data transfer rate of 54Mb/s, both well within fast Ethernet. I would suspect the source before the network in this case.
The problem with Enterprise network in the home is it's usually not a good fit- the expense, noise, cooling requirements, mounting requirements (if any), usually aren't well received in the home. Gimping enterprise gear by modding or removing fans and playing with features you don't understand can get you in a lot of trouble. There is no 'Reset' button on most enterprise gear- get a serial cable and learn the CLI commands to save your gear.
Properly isolate the problem and go from there, don't take the shotgun approach.
Click to expand...

I don't necessarily know if learning the CLI commands for the 66U would be very beneficial as the third party firmware pretty much opens up everything. I'm just looking to give them a STABLE network environment vs the typical consumer product. If that means using something like the Dell or HP fanless switch to improve processing power vs the shoddy DLink we have then that works for me! If that means we need to get a better, "pro-sumer" grade router, such as the ubiquiti one with separate Wi-Fi to give them the "hands-off" experience they are looking for, then by all means I can quote them up the price for the hardware and let them decide.

I just know that there has to be something better/more stable than an Asus consumer router...right?

Thank you for all of the replies, gentlemen!
 
I'm using an Edge Router Lite, HP Procurve 1410-8G Switch, and UniFi AP's in my home. All are fanless, and all are seamless now. Configuration initially is a bear (took me a weekend on and off to get it all up and happy, but then I was tweaking things as well), but once it's up, it's up and happy.

Personally, I'm very happy with the setup. Is it more expensive than what I would have spent on a decent home router? Yep. Is it better? I think it is...
 
With the knowledge that this is a relatives setup, my first thought is do you really want to be supporting it any time something goes wrong? Unless the ATV3 upgraded to gigabit, I know the 2 was only 10/100. I don't have any HD content, but my little 8 port Trendnet switch has no problem pushing videos to/from my server at 100MB/s with Realtek nics on both ends.

If they need a bigger switch I would look at fanless options like the HP. I just picked up a Powerconnect 5324 to play with and even after switching out the fans it's still relatively loud.

I haven't personally used the Edgerouter lite but it seems like a good choice for something a step above the typical home offerings. From what I've read though if they want anything more than a basic setup the GUI falls short so you're back to being Mr. FixIt whenever they need something.

Depending on their internet service they may not even need a new router. You say the main issue is streaming from a local server. I would go with a fanless 16-24 port switch and a Unifi or 2 and just keep the Asus for now. Don't fix what ain't broken.
 
ASA 5505 , Cisco 1841, HP 1810G switch, HP Microservers and Cisco VoIP phones at home. All good fun! The ASA is amazing, I don't care what people say.
 
I run a Firefox x700 modified with PFsense, a Dell Power Connect 5224 and a HP Procurve 530 WAP. The only complaint I've got is the Dell switch is a bit loud with the fans.
 
Dell 5324, Avaya C364T-PWR, Dell Whitebox ESXi host, running PFsense in virtual, Unifi AC Access Point here. Soon to migrate over to a RB450G as Gateway.

The only time I tweak is when I'm upgrading or spinning up an new VM.
 
The dell powerconnect switches are very good. They are rock solid and much better than DLink, Linksys, etc. consumer brands.

I have two of the 27XX class web managed switches and they work great. Very quiet, very fast (beat my Netgear GS108 which was one of the fastest "consumer" switches I have tested) and like I said have been rock solid. You can run them in unmanaged mode as well which makes config plug & play on a flat network (if you do not need VLANs).
 
Buy a Woven LB4. 48x1Gbps + 4x10Gbps CX4 for around $200-300. http://www.ebay.com/itm/Woven-Syste...51?pt=US_Network_Switches&hash=item460fd52d03

OS is vxWorks and is relatively easy to use - no, it's not IOS, but it's pretty capable and perhaps a bit easier. Downside is learning it won't be as useful if you want to apply the knowledge towards a job as you will probably not encounter switches running vxWorks in the enterprise very often (though it's similar-ish). Console cable is of Cisco type though they seem to often be set to 115,200 baud so make sure to try that if the default 9600 doesn't work.

^ Not my auction. I already have one (which is currently not for sale).
 
Last edited:
As an eBay Associate, HardForum may earn from qualifying purchases.
I'm terrible for tinkering with things. My wife gets pissed when I keep rebooting the router to test new scripts :p
 
I love enterprise or simply "overkill" gear at home. I'm a big open source fan too, so most of my stuff is open source based, such as pfsense. (not sure if that's actually open source but it's free, and "enterpriseish") Got a 24 port dell managed gigabit switch too. Recently configured vlans and various firewall rules. Got a unifi AP, plan to setup the management software and put another. All my servers are Linux. Recently built a file server using a Supermicro 24 bay chassis. Thing is a beast and cost near 4k.

It's an expensive hobby, but it's nice to see the performance and reliability. My current server is a white box core2quad based box though, it's maxed out at 8GB of ram. Probably the next thing I upgrade. Might get a Dell, or maybe self built using Supermicro.

Let's not get into my UPS, I just got myself some 2 awg cabling that I'll be using to upgrade that too. It aint no home grade APC. :p Though I do have a couple of those too for stuff where uptime is not as important, like my cordless phone... which does get like 4+ hours anyway because it's a light load. The newer consumer APCs are actually really efficient. I remember the older ones would die fast enough even without a load.
 
I don't know whether to laugh or cry that everyone here thinks Dell managed switches and Unify APs are 'enterprise' grade. I'd have been laughed out of the room if I recommended that to my senior director. No, your Dell/Unify/Checkpoint/Firefox/Whitebox pfSense network hardware is hardly enterprise-grade, maybe pro-sumer at best.
 
Easy tiger, it's a damn sight closer to true enterprise than consumer-grade. There's a slight elitist stigma about "enterprise-grade" equipment anyway. If you can justify the investment in Cisco at home then go for it. Personally, I'll sell the "Enterprise" gear to my clients that need the no-games benefits and use what's cheap and reliable at home. And that tends to be what the average Networking/Security forum reader considers as Enterprise-ish. If original MSRP on your equipment if over $1k, then it ain't consumer or even Prosumer stuff.
 
Last edited:
Red Squirrel said:
Let's not get into my UPS, I just got myself some 2 awg cabling that I'll be using to upgrade that too. It aint no home grade APC. :p Though I do have a couple of those too for stuff where uptime is not as important, like my cordless phone... which does get like 4+ hours anyway because it's a light load. The newer consumer APCs are actually really efficient. I remember the older ones would die fast enough even without a load.
Click to expand...

I think it's hilarious that your UPS system (which I read about in another thread) is the same inverter/charger system that I'm using to BBU my sump pump. Nothing like a having 24hrs worth of battery backup while the neighbors complain of flooding. The look on their face is priceless.
 
Nate7311 said:
I think it's hilarious that your UPS system (which I read about in another thread) is the same inverter/charger system that I'm using to BBU my sump pump. Nothing like a having 24hrs worth of battery backup while the neighbors complain of flooding. The look on their face is priceless.
Click to expand...

And if you ever get a clog or backup, you can just use the battery acid :p
 
shade91 said:
I don't know whether to laugh or cry that everyone here thinks Dell managed switches and Unify APs are 'enterprise' grade. I'd have been laughed out of the room if I recommended that to my senior director. No, your Dell/Unify/Checkpoint/Firefox/Whitebox pfSense network hardware is hardly enterprise-grade, maybe pro-sumer at best.
Click to expand...

Plenty of Dell managed hardware in true enterprises. It is actually surprisingly good stuff. (yes it is not Juniper or Cisco, but it is good)

Ubiquiti is also decently regarded for their WISP hardware.

Agree with you on the others, but they are much closer to enterprise grade than DLink, ASUS, Trendnet, etc.
 
Nate7311 said:
I think it's hilarious that your UPS system (which I read about in another thread) is the same inverter/charger system that I'm using to BBU my sump pump. Nothing like a having 24hrs worth of battery backup while the neighbors complain of flooding. The look on their face is priceless.
Click to expand...

Haha yeah it's actually quite a decent setup for the price. I like how I can just keep tacking on more batteries to get more run time and RV/marine batteries are so cheap compared to equivalent "real" UPS batteries.
 
shade91 said:
Some of us (me included) just don't like the constant upkeep, noise, and replacement/support price of running enterprise hardware at home. I sold off all of my Cisco and Aruba hardware as I was getting sick of maintaining/tweaking it constantly. I felt like working on my home network was another job.
Click to expand...

Your doing it wrong... period.


Grentz said:
The dell powerconnect switches are very good. They are rock solid and much better than DLink, Linksys, etc. consumer brands.

I have two of the 27XX class web managed switches and they work great. Very quiet, very fast (beat my Netgear GS108 which was one of the fastest "consumer" switches I have tested) and like I said have been rock solid. You can run them in unmanaged mode as well which makes config plug & play on a flat network (if you do not need VLANs).
Click to expand...
i have 4 of their switches, rock solid for 4 years now with 57 workstations behind them using normal and some PoE switches.

shade91 said:
I don't know whether to laugh or cry that everyone here thinks Dell managed switches and Unify APs are 'enterprise' grade. I'd have been laughed out of the room if I recommended that to my senior director. No, your Dell/Unify/Checkpoint/Firefox/Whitebox pfSense network hardware is hardly enterprise-grade, maybe pro-sumer at best.
Click to expand...

So curious, what hardware is great for "enterprise" firewalls if pfsense is so bad, i ask as %99 of "enterprise" firewalls are nothing but iptables off open/freeBSD with some custom GUI added to it to make it easier to configure and they all do the same thing, what matter is the hardware and how well configured it is for you specific set up,

I would much rather have an openBSD box running on hardware that is overkill that i can control and optimize than a box with some licensing cost with limited functionality and yearly fee's

Don't be fooled.......same crap but 1000x the cost.
 
shade91 said:
I don't know whether to laugh or cry that everyone here thinks Dell managed switches and Unify APs are 'enterprise' grade. I'd have been laughed out of the room if I recommended that to my senior director. No, your Dell/Unify/Checkpoint/Firefox/Whitebox pfSense network hardware is hardly enterprise-grade, maybe pro-sumer at best.
Click to expand...


While I do agree with your sentiment about Dell and Ubiquiti I take exception to your throwing Check Point into that list. I can assure you that you will find Check Point throughout much of the Fortune 100. Further I laugh at notion you would consider CP prosumer class. How many people can afford a $3K 2200 appliance much less a 65000 chassis?
 
What a great thread. I'm all about the enterprise equipment at home (I have way too much of it). My setup: Juniper SRX240H, HP 2910AL, Unifi AP's. Then my "dev" servers are all connected to a Juniper EX4200. Yay, good times!
 
I didn't read all the posts but...

If you really have 10 wireless devices on a single ASUS router that is a problem. From what I understand wifi cuts in half every device added. With that many devices I think you need to figure out how you can wire some of them if possible and add more WAPs.

Call it whatever you want prosumer, value enterprise, I don't care. I use an HP 2410G and it stabilized my network, unifi APs, and routerboard. Was one of the best moves I ever made. Network has run solid without any work for a very long time. And while routerboard is not that easy to learn it can do just about anything a home user would need. Between these you can make temp wifi for guests and whatever else.


Took me a long time to understand that most home networking just isn't what it says it is. 1GB means it can probably only do 1 gb on a single transfer, get any more computers and devices running at the same time and things slow down.
 
Dell 3 series and above is certainly Enterprise grade equipment. I wouldn't argue that Cisco is a better choice for many reasons (ecosystem, support, standardization, accessories, job safety), but that doesn't mean Dell switches aren't enterprise grade. The same could be said for Cisco, if all you consider are their small-business and consumer lines.
pfSense is easily Enterprise grade and is deployed in many enterprises, from test networks to Enterprise edge functionality. The biggest strike pfSense has against it in the enterprise is it has a separate interface from most other network devices. Enterprises use to configuring their entire enterprise network in IOS are certainly going to be thrown for a loop in pfSense. Again, a very valid point, but not one that automatically excludes it from Enterprise use. Uptime, performance, and features are easily enterprise class, along with support.

Jumping into a post and complaining about spank-bank hardware is a losing battle- most are just making emotional decisions. I think it is ridiculous to put this gear in a home, and then complain about fan noise, heat output, expense, and running CAT7a to fix a non-existent problem. (Fast Ethernet has more than enough bandwidth to support BluRay). You might as well debate Enterprise vs Star Destroyer.
 
A cisco 2970 is a gigabit switch, and can be found for $100, not all the time, but I picked one up for $50.00

a 2960 has at least two gig ports, and you can definitely find them for less than $50.00

If you are wanting to spend... a used Juniper SRX210 has two gig ports and is a pretty amazing device, probably even better than the ASA5505.
 
twistacatz said:
What a great thread. I'm all about the enterprise equipment at home (I have way too much of it). My setup: Juniper SRX240H, HP 2910AL, Unifi AP's. Then my "dev" servers are all connected to a Juniper EX4200. Yay, good times!
Click to expand...

:p

And there is at least $1k in equipment, on a good ebay day...
 
RocketTech said:
Dell 3 series and above is certainly Enterprise grade equipment. I wouldn't argue that Cisco is a better choice for many reasons (ecosystem, support, standardization, accessories, job safety), but that doesn't mean Dell switches aren't enterprise grade. The same could be said for Cisco, if all you consider are their small-business and consumer lines.
Click to expand...

I don't understand why you guys keep mentioning the expensive brands when you don't need to go to Cisco, HP OR Dell for a good switch (though at least Dells do often sell for good prices on Ebay - Cisco and HP and Juniper not so much). This is not in a data center. Unless the guy is specifically trying to learn Cisco for a job opportunity, it's not the right choice. I got my Woven LB4 for like $140 or something and it's WAY more capable than anything you guys mentioned. You guys are bringing up switches with only 2 gigabit ports? LOL. Is this 1999? And Cisco's SB/consumer lines are Linksys. As in they are no better than Linksys. In a mission critical data center it makes sense to stick to what you know so you can fix issues WHEN (NOT if) they happen, but for this thread most of the advice so far (from everyone) isn't great.

OP, get a Woven LB4 and forget everything everyone else said in this thread, unless you just happened to forget to mention that (again) you want to learn Cisco for work. Your qualifications should be price, features, and stability. You don't need support, nor do you need to brand-match other equipment, nor do you need to prioritize buying something you already know how to use. Those 3 reasons are why companies buy Cisco (well, Cisco does have features and stability as well, but so do plenty of alternatives... such as the Woven LB4)

If not a Woven then get a similar Broadcomm switch or something, or even just go for an enterprise-grade web-managed switch like a ProCurve 1810. Or really... why do you even think you need a manged switch? It seems you just want something that works and have given up on consumer junk (I don't blame you - I have an 8 port Asus gigabit switch that I need to unhook and throw away soon because it's absolutely awful).
 
Last edited:
Dunno about all that.

Like I said, you can pick up a 24 port GigE Cisco 2970 for under $100 if you look. Does the Woven provide more options than Cisco IOS ?

I signed up for a free cisco account and was able to download 2960 15.0 IOS for free(with HTML mgmt), or a 12.2 version that makes it a limited multi-layer switch.

I haven't checked the 2970's but if you can download that recent of an IOS version, it's a pretty powerful 24port GigE managed switch for under $100.

doesn't seem like a bad deal to me.
 
Last edited:
MurphysLaww said:
Dunno about all that.

Like I said, you can pick up a 24 port GigE Cisco 2970 for under $100 if you look. Does the Woven provide more options than Cisco IOS ?

I signed up for a free cisco account and was able to download 2960 15.0 IOS for free(with HTML mgmt), or a 12.2 version that makes it a limited multi-layer switch.

I haven't checked the 2970's but if you can download that recent of an IOS version, it's a pretty powerful 24port GigE managed switch for under $100.

doesn't seem like a bad deal to me.
Click to expand...

They aren't layer 3 and idk about you but the cheapest is $180 and as of a week ago the cheapest was $200+. You'll be looking a while for one under 100 on eBay.
 
Yeah, the 2970 isn't L3, but if he can get by with just two GigE ports, a 2960 can do static routing, and you can pick them up all day for under $50.00

Or a $75.00 1841, as someone else mentioned, with 12.4T and Zone-based firewalls built-in, and a 2970, which I have seen recent won auctions for under $125.00. If you don't care about cosmetics, you can get EOL Cisco "Enterprise" stuff for a song.

And the OP says he knows Cisco. Most of the Woven stuff I saw ( I don't know much about them, admittedly, I like the 10gig, "now that's a knife", though) looked like it was $200+

Just sayin... There's never just one way, contrary to what some on Hard Forums think. :p
 
Last edited:
MurphysLaww said:
Dunno about all that.

Like I said, you can pick up a 24 port GigE Cisco 2970 for under $100 if you look. Does the Woven provide more options than Cisco IOS ?

I signed up for a free cisco account and was able to download 2960 15.0 IOS for free(with HTML mgmt), or a 12.2 version that makes it a limited multi-layer switch.

I haven't checked the 2970's but if you can download that recent of an IOS version, it's a pretty powerful 24port GigE managed switch for under $100.

doesn't seem like a bad deal to me.
Click to expand...

I have to partially eat my words here - I was actually unaware there were free accounts for IOS upgrades (I should have checked before speaking, yes). That is better than I thought and certainly makes them more worth considering for a home application where support is unwanted (I dunno about you guys, but even if it were free, I don't want another person even thinking about my network, let alone DOING anything with it). If you can get a 2970 for $100 that's fine and all, but that 2960 is a paperweight. Woven prices vary on Ebay a bit. I linked one around $200, but I got mine under $150 shipped. Just gotta find the right deal, same as anything else on Ebay.

The Woven LB4 is actually pretty featureful and even though it runs vxWorks, it's still fairly IOS-like in how it works. As I said before, I personally think it's a little bit easier to use. But I always make sure to throw in the disclaimer that it's not going to teach you for a job where you'd be using other gear. Plus, 4 10GbE CX4 ports... with 10GbE-CX4 cards CHEAP on Ebay (Intel NE020 (often incorrectly listed as "NEO20" because Ebay sellers are dumb) for Windows/Linux or a Myricom card otherwise) it's a neat upgrade for those of us with NAS/SAN servers with multiple clients. The CX4 interfaces (plus the cheap prices of the cards and the switch) are one of the main reasons I got interested in this switch.

I did add a heatsink and replace a couple of fans to quiet it down, though. As with most enterprise gear, it was fairly loud. I've heard louder, but I've also heard quieter. Hard to compare to our Cisco/HP stuff at work, though, since at work it's all in one room with a bunch of other loud things.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top