48 Port Gigabit Switch Recommendations?

ReelMcCoy

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Jun 10, 2004
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I know I've seen a fair amount of 24 port gigabit switch recommendations. How about for 48 ports for a home network that's 99% gigabit. Need at least 6 link aggs (2 ports per - static or LACP capable). Something nice and stable. Under $600 or so.

Fun part of looking on-line is most places have reviews on 24 port switches. Not so much with 48 ports. I've had good luck with Netgear GS724s (v2/v3) so was steering to the GS748v5. Haven't touched Zyxel is the U1496+ analog modem days (best modem I ever had and still sits in my closet) but see their 24 port switch is highly regarded by a few here.

Thanks for any info.
 
I'm in the market too. Do you need POE? What are you most interested in?

Performance?
Interface? (UI/CLI)
Power Consumption?
Price?
Noise?

I've got a Ubiquiti Unifi Switch 24port 250W and tempted to go the obvious step to 48port 500W...
 
Forgot to include those additional details.

Performance should be decent especially to the link agg enabled ports where data is moved to/from regularly.
PoE not needed.
Web UI although I could live CLI.
Not too concerned about power consumption or noise.
And price can be < $700. This should cover most smart switches but perhaps not L3 fully managed switches.

LACP can be optional as the devices I have doing link agg can do either static or LACP. I know Dell's 2848 says it'll only do static.
 
Thanks, diizzy. You're recommendation of the Zyxel 24 port switch in another thread is what had me looking at their 48 port version.

Decisions! Part of me started thinking full but not far out expensive L3 switch just to play around with. Bad for the pocket book. Good for the brain. :)
 
The Cisco's do have a web interface although some stuff has to be done through CLI, but I really doubt you would even need to get into the CLI for home use.

That being said, there are lots of other brands out there that would be fine for home.

The last one I bought for somebody was an older model 48 port Gb fully managed switch that I picked up for $75 shipped off of Ebay.

Edit: Here is a Quanta LB4M 48-port gb managed switch for $100 + shipping on Ebay:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/HP-Quanta-LB4M-48-Port-Gigabit-Ethernet-Switch-Dual-10GB-SFP-Dual-Power-Supply-/171976789505?hash=item280a9d8e01:g:NZAAAOSwKIpWCVjT

And another listing for $125 shipped:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/HP-Quanta-Open-Source-LB4M-48-Port-Gigabit-Switch-Dual-SFP-10GB-Ports-2x-AC-PSU-/161550910560?hash=item259d2f4460:g:dD8AAOSwKrhVcMt3

Or a Cisco 2948G for $195 shipped:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/CISCO-Catalyst-2948G-10-100-1000-Ethernet-48-Port-WS-C2948G-Switch-/301792444993?hash=item46443b4241:g:akoAAOSwDFNWFUUh
 
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The HP 1820-48G switch will be at the upper end of your budget purchased new. Can't argue with going with a used Cisco though for the price.
 
I may be over-complicating things as usual. Entertaining pricier layer 3 options like the HP 2920-48G. Researching performance/stability gains not that I've ever had issues with the Netgear layer 2 options, multiple link agg enabled ports, mixed MTU, etc. before.

Part of me wants to try Ubiquiti's EdgeMax switches (and routers) but not sure how much I want to "experiment" vs just plug in, configure and leave alone. But I confess the savvy and responsive Ubiquiti forums makes me want to try.
 
The UBNT products outside their APs are a bit "experimental" so I would be a bit careful unless I wouldn't mind having a few things broken or unstable.
 
A used Cisco 4948 10gig . it has 48 ports of 1g and 2 10g fiber card slots.

It may very well be the fastest switch you will ever lay your eyes on and in fact be so fast that if you threw everything on your entire network at once on all 48 ports and literally ran EVERYTHING at 100% power you would only use like 1% of it's capability. I know I own one and when they were the hotness about 6-7 years ago they were about $35,000 brand new. Now on ebay they are like 300-600 depending on the seller. I run both 10gb links on mine one link to my desktop and one to my NAS so between my desktop and NAS I have a 10GB link and still have access to everything else on my network. Adding 10g definitely adds insult to injury in the absolutely badass combat arena.

I would just immediately stop all your research effors, screwing every thing else on the market, and order one of these..

here is a link for an example

http://www.ebay.com/itm/CISCO-WS-C4...352055?hash=item3d07f2b6b7:g:cb4AAOSw~bFWL58M
 
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To the above, yeah that's all well and good but unfortunately it's cisco, and cisco treat 'standards' like there own personal proprietary plaything. Much better going with a brand that isn't quite so far up its own backside.

Check out the icx Brocade ICX 6450.
 
To the above, yeah that's all well and good but unfortunately it's cisco, and cisco treat 'standards' like there own personal proprietary plaything. Much better going with a brand that isn't quite so far up its own backside.

Check out the icx Brocade ICX 6450.

You do realize Cisco created many of the first iterations of today's standards? Inline Power (POE) being a good example.

They also support "Open Standards" as well.

Your point is moot.
 
For the price, the Dell Switches are really solid (sounds odd for me to say that as I am not a Dell fan at all).
 
Thanks for all the suggestions. May end up going layer 3 route even though it's wicked overkill. I haven't played with layer 3 switches since my days at Alcatel/Xylan. The HP 2920 is still high on the list.

I did give a D-Link DGS1210-48P a shot. Random reviews looked good but I did have some issues with random disconnects on my main system during large backups. That and a Brother MFC did not like 100mb/full duplex off of it. Put a Netgear GS724T-v3 back in and issues went away.

Thanks again. Now back to pfSense tweaking.
 
You can try updating the firmware you haven't done so. Thanks for the feedback although what you're reporting is pretty much in-line with what I've heard about D-Link switches.
 
Not going to recommend one. As I haven't done enough research.
HOWEVER, DEFINITELY look at the switch's documentation for the backplane.

Betting some of the less expensive ones are getting by because they skimped on the backplane.

Sure, you have 48 gigabit ports. But if the total throughput of the backplane is only 24-30 gigs, if the switch is full and/or really busy, you're going to see performance degradation.

So look at the specs of the switch's backplane. Betting that the less you spend, the lower the bandwidth of the backplane you're going to see.
 
I'm in a similar boat here as the OP. Does anyone have any experience with the HP quantas? They have a 10gbe port for uplink, I think?. Can I plug a 10gbe card into that 10gbe sfp port?
 
My main beef supporting clients with HP switches is that they only support HP transceivers/DAC - which is utterly daft and anti-competitive.
 
Thanks for all the suggestions. May end up going layer 3 route even though it's wicked overkill. I haven't played with layer 3 switches since my days at Alcatel/Xylan. The HP 2920 is still high on the list.

I did give a D-Link DGS1210-48P a shot. Random reviews looked good but I did have some issues with random disconnects on my main system during large backups. That and a Brother MFC did not like 100mb/full duplex off of it. Put a Netgear GS724T-v3 back in and issues went away.

Thanks again. Now back to pfSense tweaking.

I'm highly considering the HP2920 as well (POE variant, J9729A) - would be curious if you end up going that route.

Similar boat as you - looking for 48port Gb switch for home that's reliable and fast. HP warranties are pretty awesome. I had a 1810G for a while which was their lower end but still a nice switch.
 
I did go with the HP 2920-48 non POE version. It's currently installed and running. A bit louder fan noise wise (power supply fan) than the D-Link DGS-1210-48 but I'm used to fan noise. :) Simplistic management can be done via the web ui but the real meat is all command line. I haven't gone crazy with configuration yet other than set up link aggs. She's been working for the last 10 hours w/o issues. No complaints so far. I just need to explore documentation and the command line and get comfortable with it.

This was a bit of a jump from the consumer layer 2 options I was looking at but I felt very comfortable going HP. So far so good.
 
I need POE and one of my primary concerns is power consumption but it seems really hard to get that info for the majority.
 
I need POE and one of my primary concerns is power consumption but it seems really hard to get that info for the majority.

I'm looking at the HP2920 48port POE+ switch (J9729A) and it states:
Max power rating - 487W (total capable)
Idle - 46W (no ports connected)
POE power - 370W (deliverable)

Compare that to the same 2920, 48 port non-POE+ switch (J9728A):
Max power rating - 70W
Idle - 27W

The HP 2530, 48G port, POE+ (J9772A):
Max power rating - 476W
Idle - 40.1W
POE Power - 382W

All theoretical maximums so real usage would be less. Is there a target you're looking for or recommend on a POE switch? I can't say if this is typical or not.
 
I need to recheck the figures, but think my NAS idles around 20W now and ESX hosts about 35W so ideally i'd be looking for less but that sounds a little optimistic...

I just found a post saying the Ubiquiti EdgeSwitch ES-48-750W idles at about 44W.

I have a Unifi Switch 24 at the moment but i'll need to take the network down, plug it into one of my monitors and remove all devices from it to get a reading... then it's anybody's guess how that compares to the 48 port version.
 
I did go with the HP 2920-48 non POE version. It's currently installed and running. A bit louder fan noise wise (power supply fan) than the D-Link DGS-1210-48 but I'm used to fan noise. :) Simplistic management can be done via the web ui but the real meat is all command line. I haven't gone crazy with configuration yet other than set up link aggs. She's been working for the last 10 hours w/o issues. No complaints so far. I just need to explore documentation and the command line and get comfortable with it.

This was a bit of a jump from the consumer layer 2 options I was looking at but I felt very comfortable going HP. So far so good.

ReelMcCoy - In regards to noise - how loud would you consider it? I think startup has them at full blast momentarily, but what about general operation? My rack is in a dedicated closet in my home and wanted to check how bad the noise was. Also - check your PM.
 
Fan noise wise, she'll put out some noise when booting up but after booting, the chassis fans whisper leaving the power supply fan to be heard. More like a woosh of air though and even still seems quieter than the D-Link 48 port switch I tried. I hear the exhaust and CPU fan of my old ReadyNAS Pro Biz over the HP switch power supply fan. Inside a closet, shouldn't be too bad.

I don't regret the purchase. I hope to get to explore the features when I get some time.
 
I know I am late to the party, but I have a dell x1052 switch on my desk at the moment and it is really quite good. Clearly a step up from the 2800.

I also has 4 SFP+ 10 gig ports which I consider a bonus. You are only 2 ebay cards and some cables away from 10Gig for 4 servers. Beats LACP any day.
 
Fan noise wise, she'll put out some noise when booting up but after booting, the chassis fans whisper leaving the power supply fan to be heard. More like a woosh of air though and even still seems quieter than the D-Link 48 port switch I tried. I hear the exhaust and CPU fan of my old ReadyNAS Pro Biz over the HP switch power supply fan. Inside a closet, shouldn't be too bad.

I don't regret the purchase. I hope to get to explore the features when I get some time.

Thanks ReelMcCoy - I'm teetering back and forth if this will be too noisy; looking at the specs, the power supply comes in at 62db which seems loud on paper (48port POE model). As mentioned, being in my rack inside an isolated closet may make it a non-issue but tough to tell if this will be audible outside in the hallway.
 
Finally got round to taking the network down to rewire the comms cabinet and ran the ubiquiti unifi switch 24 with nothing connected; it idles at about 25W. When it boots it's only using about 17, which seems weird, most devices spike whilst booting.

Still debating ordering the 48port model...
 
I know I am late to the party, but I have a dell x1052 switch on my desk at the moment and it is really quite good. Clearly a step up from the 2800.

I also has 4 SFP+ 10 gig ports which I consider a bonus. You are only 2 ebay cards and some cables away from 10Gig for 4 servers. Beats LACP any day.

How loud? I take it if the X1052 is on your desk it can't be unbearable.
 
It's doable, but long term I would try to move it. It makes roughly the noise of a desktop computer, albeit a bit higher pitched. The pitch is more annoying then the sound level. It's a total screamer when it boots, but settles down after that.

I just had one to configure. I have since delivered it to the customer. 2 servers on the SFP+ ports. about 20 clients using the other ports and a handful of phones on another vlan. No problems whatsoever. It was an ideal core switch for that SMB.
 
It's doable, but long term I would try to move it. It makes roughly the noise of a desktop computer, albeit a bit higher pitched. The pitch is more annoying then the sound level. It's a total screamer when it boots, but settles down after that.

I just had one to configure. I have since delivered it to the customer. 2 servers on the SFP+ ports. about 20 clients using the other ports and a handful of phones on another vlan. No problems whatsoever. It was an ideal core switch for that SMB.

Dell X1052 spec sheet shows 56.7dB (max) acoustic noise which I assume is the boot up scream.

I really wish I could hear these things in person - the HP2920 @62dB (which I also assume is boot up) is the loudest in its price range. I may end up going with the HP2530 which comes in at 36.4dB, but wanted the L3 functionality of the 2920... decisions, decisions.
 
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