Hardware Request

[Rogean]

Typically I like to purchase our hardware new, to make sure it is reliable, but I figure I'll throw this out there to see what people might have laying around at work or otherwise. (This type of purchase would most likely be a used item off ebay anyways, due to price).

We are currently in need of either a Cisco or Procurve Layer 2+ switch, 12+ (24 Preferred) Gigabit ports. Our current switch is giving off alerts (Fan failure), and I'd like to utilize LACP as well.

Anyone that could help can PM me on the forums.

Thanks!

[fouts85]

If I had the spare coin atm Rogean , it would be yours and on the door step ASAP.

[Brad_mo123]

Wheres big Eashan when you need'em?

[Tecmos Deception]

What the hell. I guess I might as well join in the "np dude, I'll send you the 4000 dollar switch next day air. it ain't no thang" crew.

[SamwiseRed]

ill see what i can swipe at best buy. wish me luck.

[Combobreaker]

think its like $150 on amazon

[Tecmos Deception]

think its like $150 on amazon

I'm pretty sure he wouldn't spend time trying to buy one used from players, or used at all, if the thing only cost 150 bucks.

[gotrocks]

Yes, these switches generally cost upwards of 2000 brand new. 4000+ easy for a really nice one.

Just a heads up for anyone saying they'd buy one brand new before they get too deep =P

[shwally]

I have a Foundry 48 switch port laying at my house. I can ship it if needed.

[Nastinate]

I hate to be that guy but couldnt u try replacing the 5 dollar fan and see what happens?

[Rogean]

I hate to be that guy but couldnt u try replacing the 5 dollar fan and see what happens?

It's not like a PC where the parts are easily replaceable.

I don't like this switch anyways. Some crap dell.

[Langrisser]

if you got 4 grand to just give away you know what im gonna say...

thanks for working on upgrades.

thats what.












(and dont rmt)

[radditsu]

I have a couple of fairly old, but reliable, procuves lying around after our system upgrade last year. I think one ran for two years straight. If you are desperate I can ship em.

[Blink]

I also have a Cisco still in the box we had as a backup but never needed it.

I will check to see if it's still there next time I am at the office.

[Rogean]

Getting a couple PM's so want to clarify.

Obviously the type of switch we need brand new runs for over $1k (Procurve) or over $2k (Cisco). We're not talking about your average 10/100 Netgear. I wouldn't put this request out there if it was simply purchasable for less than $1k (otherwise I would have just bought it, like we did with the hard drives a few weeks ago).

I'll probably need to buy one used, but I'm checking to see if anyone has one laying around first since I know many of you do work in IT.

To give a better idea of the types of models, I'm looking for something like these:

Procurve
J9021A
J9776A
J9279A

Cisco
2960G

[Tradermule]

Procurve
J9021A
J9776A
J9279A

Cisco
2960G

I love those HP 2810 series. Good stuff.

[Isic]

I just put in a pair of Cisco Nexus 5k's at work but I think they would miss them from the data center.

[Rogean]

I just put in a pair of Cisco Nexus 5k's at work but I think they would miss them from the data center.

Now you're getting into overkill, lol.

[Masakizt]

can send donations towards this via the normal link through nilborg?

[Pringles]

I just put in a pair of Cisco Nexus 5k's at work but I think they would miss them from the data center.

Ugh, we experienced an awesome bug (and subsequent outages) with one of these once.... there was a bug in the firmware that was triggered simply by executing a show command... yes.... a show command.... effectively locking up the switch, requiring a hard reboot.

We didn't know what caused the lockup the first time.... so it happened a few more times over the course of troubleshooting the first outage.

That was not a fun weekend.

Took us months to trust touching those switches outside of a scheduled downtime change window because of that.....

[Isic]

Now you're getting into overkill, lol.

Go big or go home!

They came with our 2 new ucs chassis full of blades. 4TB of ram in our cluster now.

[mgellan]

We have 2960s and 3750s coming off racks in schools in the next month or so (replacing Cisco with ADTRAN), I'll see if I can pull one off the recycling pile for you. Depends on whether our vendor will take them all in trade or not...

Regards,
Mg

[mgellan]

Ugh, we experienced an awesome bug (and subsequent outages) with one of these once.... there was a bug in the firmware that was triggered simply by executing a show command... yes.... a show command.... effectively locking up the switch, requiring a hard reboot.

Sounds like HP wireless, we got a whole system with controller and access points on eval and couldn't save a configuration in the controller without it locking up... bye bye HP, cheapest wireless on the block (<$400/ap) but not impressing me.

Regards,
Mg

[Rogean]

We have 2960s and 3750s coming off racks in schools in the next month or so (replacing Cisco with ADTRAN), I'll see if I can pull one off the recycling pile for you. Depends on whether our vendor will take them all in trade or not...

Regards,
Mg

Would love me one of those 3750's.... full gigabit?

[enjiel]

Someone mentioned donations; I'd love to pitch in. I'm a fan of supporting awesome free stuff. Do you have a donation thread with paypal account info?

[Thulack]

Someone mentioned donations; I'd love to pitch in. I'm a fan of supporting awesome free stuff. Do you have a donation thread with paypal account info?

on the main page at Project1999.org is paypal link

[Winol]

Now you're getting into overkill, lol.

Indeed ...

if you need a pure L2 switch, have a look at Cisco Catalyst
2960S-24TS-S . If you want more throughput, take a 3560 (you don't need a 3750 because it is basically the same as a 3560 minus stacking)



Don't buy the HP crap for god sake

[Rogean]

Don't buy the HP crap for god sake

HP is fine, it will do what we need. And frankly, I work with procurve a lot at work, and I'm more familiar with it than cisco. But I'm willing to learn cisco as well. So I'd take either really.

What is differences from 2960S vs 2960G?

[Joroz]

HP is fine, it will do what we need. And frankly, I work with procurve a lot at work, and I'm more familiar with it than cisco. But I'm willing to learn cisco as well. So I'd take either really.

What is differences from 2960S vs 2960G?

2960S has the Flexstack feature... basically making all switches connected think they are part of the same switch, all have to flexstack for this work... probably not a added feature if all the gear is in a single rack.

The 2960G switch is solid, does have a non replaceable fan but the switch is reliable and rarely fails, our data center has thousands in production. I would avoid the HP procurve series if possible.. the failure rate we saw on them warranted us to remove all production traffic off them and put it in cicso switches. Currently the procurves are just handing ilo/drac traffic and failure rate is still high.

[Artaenc]

I think I have a couple of 3750s or close to it they're 1Gbps for sure, I don't have GBICs but it has the slots for it. I was going to use it on my house network but decided that it drank too much power for me to keep it on 24x7. You can have them if you are still in need. I'll check exactly what I have when I get home today.

[Winol]

Agree with Joroz.

If you need help with Cisco gear, let me know . I am a Cisco Junkie.

Of course this will cost you the following :

Staff of the serpent and instant lvl 60 :D


Just kidding man but I am serious about letting me know if you need any help with any network related project.

[ncapatina]

Agree with Joroz.

If you need help with Cisco gear, let me know . I am a Cisco Junkie.

Of course this will cost you the following :

Staff of the serpent and instant lvl 60 :D


Just kidding man but I am serious about letting me know if you need any help with any network related project.

Same here, it's what I do for a living. Do yourself a favor and get Cisco over the HPs. Switch IOS upgrades are free as well so you can get 3rd party maintenance for really cheap if you care about that sort of thing.

You probably don't need the 2960S over the G model but the flexstack feature is awesome. I use it at all of my locations. It gives you 10 Gbps between switches and you don't tie up a port, plus a single management interface. You can only stack up to 3 with flexstack though.

I checked my inventory and I only have a single 2960S 24 port left. I have 3 more coming back the first week of next month and I could send you one, but unfortunately the earliest I can get it to you would be likely the 2nd week in September.

Rogean: I'll hit you up after I get the pile of stuff back from our 3 closed location to see if you have any needs at that time. Sounds like between between Winol and myself you have plenty of expertise on getting the configuration done.

[Rogean]

Akkadius has also been very helpful and offered his assistance with Cisco configurations. I just need to actually get a 2960G-24TS. (or 3750G)

[ncapatina]

Akkadius has also been very helpful and offered his assistance with Cisco configurations. I just need to actually get a 2960G-24TS. (or 3750G)

Yep, from what you've told me that would satisfy your needs. The 2900 series of switches is an access layer switch though, but will likely be fine for the kind of traffic I assume proj99 generates. The 3750-Xs can probably do as a access or distribution layer switch, not sure I'd run one as my core. Is this the only switch in the data center or are you running something bigger as a core switch?

The 3750 isn't really needed for what you're doing, unless you want to utilize the layer 3 features. You should always gateway through a L3 Cisco switch if it's possible to take advantage of CEF, so if you aren't doing that now (not sure what type of core switch you're running off of) I'd push for the 3750, but probably should aim for an E or X model. This is of course assuming you have multiple VLANs setup.

Hard to give advice though without knowing what you're doing though! I can say that in our Minneapolis data center we're all virtualized on HP enclosures with fiberchannel going into our core switch which sounds fairly similar to what you're doing. We are running a 4507 there as a core which is basically bare minimum in Cisco terms.

[Eashan]

Wheres big Eashan when you need'em?

Sorry Kids I am retired good luck though

[Artaenc]

The switches are catalyst 3560G, not sure if that will work, 4 GBICs ports and 24 1Gbps port switches. Let me know, it's yours if you need them.

[ncapatina]

The switches are catalyst 3560G, not sure if that will work, 4 GBICs ports and 24 1Gbps port switches. Let me know, it's yours if you need them.

Again, I will say that without knowing a lot of statistics on the traffic you're passing I can't say for this this will be good enough. Can you also post the full model# not just the 3560G part? There are v1's and v2's, different capabilities, etc within that same line.

The 3560G is a good unit, but there are a few things to consider:
1. This unit is EOL. If support is something you care about, that ends January of next year aside from security vulnerability patches which extend a few more years. But you wouldn't be able to get a part for it under a support contract.
2. The backplane speed of a 3560G is only 8.8 Gbps. That may or may not be important in the Project1999 environment.
3. Perhaps more importantly the 3560G has a 6.6 million packet per second max capacity. I imagine that in this environment there are lots of small transactions per second (i.e. database updates every time someone gains exp, loots something, etc). This may or may not be an issue.

Compare that to a 2960G for example and it has 32 Gbps throughput with 35.7 mpps.

This may be a huge dealbreaker or it may mean nothing at all, it depends on the environment, what this switch is being used for and the amount of traffic being passed.

[Rogean]

8.8 gbps and 6.6mpps seem like plenty to me.

If those are the only differences then I would say a 3560G would be great for what we need.

[Artaenc]

Again, I will say that without knowing a lot of statistics on the traffic you're passing I can't say for this this will be good enough. Can you also post the full model# not just the 3560G part? There are v1's and v2's, different capabilities, etc within that same line.

The 3560G is a good unit, but there are a few things to consider:
1. This unit is EOL. If support is something you care about, that ends January of next year aside from security vulnerability patches which extend a few more years. But you wouldn't be able to get a part for it under a support contract.
2. The backplane speed of a 3560G is only 8.8 Gbps. That may or may not be important in the Project1999 environment.
3. Perhaps more importantly the 3560G has a 6.6 million packet per second max capacity. I imagine that in this environment there are lots of small transactions per second (i.e. database updates every time someone gains exp, loots something, etc). This may or may not be an issue.

Compare that to a 2960G for example and it has 32 Gbps throughput with 35.7 mpps.

This may be a huge dealbreaker or it may mean nothing at all, it depends on the environment, what this switch is being used for and the amount of traffic being passed.

Cisco WS-C3560G-24TS-S Media & Performance

Connectivity Media: Category 4 UTP 10Base-T
Connectivity Media: Category 3 UTP 10Base-T
Connectivity Media: Category 5 UTP 10/100/1000Base-T
Performance: 64Gbps Switching Fabric
Performance: 38.7Mpps Forwarding Rate for 64-byte Packet

specs taken from: http://www.usedcisco.com/cisco/WS-C3560G-24TS-S

looks like they're 64Gbps switches? The full model number is WS-C3560G-24TS-S V03

[ncapatina]

Cisco WS-C3560G-24TS-S Media & Performance

Connectivity Media: Category 4 UTP 10Base-T
Connectivity Media: Category 3 UTP 10Base-T
Connectivity Media: Category 5 UTP 10/100/1000Base-T
Performance: 64Gbps Switching Fabric
Performance: 38.7Mpps Forwarding Rate for 64-byte Packet

specs taken from: http://www.usedcisco.com/cisco/WS-C3560G-24TS-S

looks like they're 64Gbps switches? The full model number is WS-C3560G-24TS-S V03

My bad, I pulled specs from the 10/100 model. This would put it on par with the newer 2900 series model.

[ncapatina]

8.8 gbps and 6.6mpps seem like plenty to me.

If those are the only differences then I would say a 3560G would be great for what we need.

There are other differences but it is doubtful any apply to your environment Rogean (stacking tech, EOL maintenance etc). This seems like a nice fit!

I deployed literally hundreds of the 3560 series while at my last job doing implementation, they are really solid units.

[Rogean]

Going to be taking Artaenc up on his offer. This is a nice contribution that he is making, saving us Hundreds (used) to thousands (new) of dollars on one ourselves.

Thanks Artaenc!

[amos]

Great community we have

[Winol]

Rogean.

Can you please tell us a little bit more about your architecture ?
how many servers ? Troughput ? etc etc


3560 are a great products ! it is basically the same as the 3750 without the stackwise technology. You do not need a ring a 64Gbps like the 3750 has.


Let us know how can we help

Winol - aka CCIE 29410#

[Blancah]

Yay! Thanks Artaenc (+ everyone else who offered hardware/expertise) and grats project.

[Dalven]

Artaenc still a top drawer dude.

Come back and play :(

[ncapatina]

Rogean should never go wanting for decent gear with all the IT nerds that play EQ!

[formallydickman]

Way to go Artaenc!!

[Artaenc]

Artaenc still a top drawer dude.

Come back and play :(

One day I'll find time to play again and I hope soon. It seems that all positions I get at work end with slave no matter how many times I get promoted.

[Lanzellot]

thx arta for this great community ;)

[Messie]

Going to be taking Artaenc up on his offer. This is a nice contribution that he is making, saving us Hundreds (used) to thousands (new) of dollars on one ourselves.

Thanks Artaenc!

dont know ya Artaenc, but thank you for the contribution! you rock.

[lecompte]

Thanks Artaenc. "Free" gear / PLs from me when you have play time again as thanks. This has nothing to do with giving the server stuff, you just happen to be a long lost friend.

[petecory]

Rogean.

Can you please tell us a little bit more about your architecture ?
how many servers ? Troughput ? etc etc


3560 are a great products ! it is basically the same as the 3750 without the stackwise technology. You do not need a ring a 64Gbps like the 3750 has.


Let us know how can we help

Winol - aka CCIE 29410#


Was about the say the same thing.. The guy comparing this to a 2900 (2960) is way off. The 3560 is a Layer 3 switch with the same power as the 3750 with no stacking.