Help Me Pick A Switch

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piako

[H]ard|Gawd
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$238.76 for a switch. Requirements: copper Ethernet, jumbo frames, gigabit. It took over two months, but DLINK decided to refund me for a DGS-1024D which didn't offer JF on that revision. They are sending me a refund check for $238.76. Now I need a new switch! Related thread.

edit: Linksys SR2016 looks like an option.
 
The Dell 2716 is also in the price range -- it's often discounted.

Some love it, some hate it... I think it's OK for usage and comparison as a more-or-less unmanaged switch (with some management features thrown in), esp. when you consider the price. You need to enable management and use it to enable jumbo frames. Delta Networks Inc. makes the switch, and Dell sells them by the pound (in other words support is probably not deep).

The 2724 is similar, but has a (supposedly not so loud) fan.

At around double the cost, you could look at Linksys SRW20xx and HP Procurve 1800-24G.
 
I am selling a brand new 3com switch. I'll get you the model number later, but its a fantastic switch. We bought it, waited a month to install it, then realized it didn't have POE. We need POE for our VoIP phone system. Anyways, I'll give it to you for a good price. I have two of them. They are going on ebay otherwise. Unused. Mounted once. Still have original boxes, manuals, serial interface cords.

They have 24 port 10/100 + 4 port module
 
Heh, passive cooling is often more desired -- for silence; complaints about the Linksys sometimes mention noisy fans. I haven't noticed that the lack of active cooling in the 2716 to be a problem yet, but I suppose that in might be in more challenging environments / last longer with active cooling / whatever.

Newer revisions of the Netgear GS116 support jumbo frames. Search Netgear support for "jumbo frames" for details. Newegg mentions jumbo frames in their notes.

GS116 Serial number starting 19E or 140x5B or 140x5C 10240
Click to expand...

I'd expect this one to be passively cooled as well.
 
I run a HP ProCurve 1800-24G switch.

24 1000mb ports
Rack mountable
Jumbo Frames
Supports VLans, Trunking and QoS.
2 Fiber ports
Can be operated without the fan (as long as it isn't in a hot room)
 
Madwand said:
Heh, passive cooling is often more desired
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I can't see how passive cooling is something you'd want if it means the item will die faster.
Madwand said:
Newer revisions of the Netgear GS116 support jumbo frames. Search Netgear support for "jumbo frames" for details. Newegg mentions jumbo frames in their notes.
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That's exactly the problem. It seems some switch revisions do support JF and some don't. I don't really want to get into that bed again.
brom42 said:
I run a HP ProCurve 1800-24G switch.
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Yeah that's nice but outside my price range. The Dlink DGS-1224T is similar (and more in my price range) but the reviews seem bad on the net GUI.

The ProCurve 1800-8G might be my best bet as it'll save me some cash from the refund check. Nice. Only $170 at CDW. But I'll probably still get the linksys SR2016.
 
piako said:
I can't see how passive cooling is something you'd want if it means the item will die faster.
Click to expand...

I don't think it's that simple. If the design is such that active cooling is not necessary, then adding a fan would just add more noise, and additional power consumption, and not necessarily do anything positive for component life. OTOH, if the design is such that active cooling is necessary, then a fan failure can lead to a more serious failure.

From casual observation, the Dell 2716 doesn't run very hot, so passive cooling is likely to be appropriate for that model.
 
Madwand said:
I don't think it's that simple. If the design is such that active cooling is not necessary, then adding a fan would just add more noise, and additional power consumption, and not necessarily do anything positive for component life. OTOH, if the design is such that active cooling is necessary, then a fan failure can lead to a more serious failure.

From casual observation, the Dell 2716 doesn't run very hot, so passive cooling is likely to be appropriate for that model.
Click to expand...
That's a good point. It's amazing that switch is only $200. How's the interface?
 
Madwand said:
From casual observation, the Dell 2716 doesn't run very hot, so passive cooling is likely to be appropriate for that model.
Click to expand...

Same with my HP 1800-24G. They put a fan in it because they expect it to be able to run in a hot network closet getting a ton of activity. If it is sitting in a room that has normal temps (even better a cool basement) and it undergoing casual home usage, they do not get hot at all. I removed the top of my switch to give it better ventilation and it runs slightly warm, the only time it ever got hot is when I moved 70gb of media between 2 computers. Even then it was well within specs.

The manual on my switch even says that you can keep running if the fan fails as long as the room is at ambient temperature.
 
piako said:
It's amazing that switch is only $200. How's the interface?
Click to expand...

It meets the basic requirements, and looks fine, but is a bit clunky and quirky in practice. I wouldn't want to have to do a lot of work through this interface. Luckily, for most uses, you don't have to do much there -- enable management, set the IP/password once, enable jumbo frames, and get out of there is what I'd recommend to start.

It does give you some features and the possibility of field firmware upgrades, which are potentially big plusses, and performs fine as far as I've seen, but it has its limitations.
 
I was eyeing the HP 1800-8G around the time that I bought the 2716. I thought that the Dell offered better value (and I might have some use for its ports), and wanted to have some experience with it, but was hoping to find something really bad about it, and return it and get the HP. I did find a couple of quirks, but nothing big enough to get over my laziness for the return process / etc. Maybe it'll burn itself out and I'll have a reason to try something fancier. At this time, I'd want to try one of the Procurves or web-managed Linksys.
 
Options so far

Dlink DGS-1216T managed, jf, rackmountable, qos, 5yr warranty, $273.99
linksys SR2016 unmanaged, jf, rackmountable, lifetime warranty, $272.99
HP 1800-8G managed, jf, NOT rackmountable, lifetime warranty, $169.99
Dell 2716 managed, jf, rackmountable, 1 yr warranty, $202
 
piako said:
Options so far

Dlink DGS-1216T managed, jf, rackmountable, qos, 5yr warranty, $273.99
linksys SR2016 unmanaged, jf, rackmountable, lifetime warranty, $272.99
HP 1800-8G managed, jf, NOT rackmountable, lifetime warranty, $169.99
Dell 2716 managed, jf, rackmountable, 1 yr warranty, $202
Click to expand...

I also have 2 HP 1800-8G switches. They are also excellent switches. As you pointed out the downside it is not rack mountable. I would get one of those if you only need the 8 ports.
 
brom42 said:
I also have 2 HP 1800-8G switches. They are also excellent switches. As you pointed out the downside it is not rack mountable. I would get one of those if you only need the 8 ports.
Click to expand...
Yeah I might do that and get a rack shelf for my router, dsl modem, and this HP switch. The nice thing is if you get two 1800-8G HP has a kit that will mount two to a 19 rack.
 
Bought the 1800-8G from newegg. About $150.
Image for your enjoyment. Only thing that is odd is to configure the swtich you need to change a bunch of NIC settings.

 
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