[CentOS] [OT] Network switches

[Ross Walker]

On Mar 24, 2009, at 10:36 AM, Rob Townley <rob.townley at gmail.com> wrote:

> On Mon, Mar 23, 2009 at 9:05 PM, Christopher Chan
> <christopher.chan at bradbury.edu.hk> wrote:
>>
>>> * vlans
>>> * mstp or some well established form of per vlan spanning tree
>>> * acl's
>>> * port mirroring or what cisco calls span sessions
>>> * snmp
>>> * ssh enabled remote management
>>> * support w/ updates and bugfixes
>>>
>>>
>>> I need at least 48 ports per device and obviously would like them  
>>> to be
>>> "fast".  Most importantly, I'd like to know what you guys prefer as
>>> operations dudes and what pitfalls to avoid.  Also, are there other
>>> features you folks would demand to have in your switches that I  
>>> haven't
>>> mentioned?  I can provide more information if you'd like.  Thanks.
>>>
>>> Oh, cost is sort of an issue (small/medium sized business) but  
>>> right now
>>> insight from you guys is what's important and I can work out the  
>>> cost
>>> issue later.  Thanks again.
>>>
>> D-Link DGS-3100
>>
>>
>> I ordered a number of these for the school where I work to place a
>> number of Cisco 2960 10/100 switches.
>>
>>
>> I am quite happy with them. Some of these switches are connected by
>> multi-mode fibre.
>>
>>
>
> Every time i read these posts they are filled with contradictions in
> that one person loves HP and hates CiscoLinksys while another hates
> HP.  Let's get a more scientific approach.  Switch performance still
> depends on the NICS in the client machines.  We all know a network is
> a complex system.  Some of us claim to be computer scientists so
> shouldn't we act like that instead of advertising for our vendors.
>
> i would like to see real performance data via something like netperf
> with client machines booted from a standardized LiveCD, then
> peformance under their Linux Distribution and performance under
> Windows.
>
> Performance data would need to have details such as the NIC on the
> client machine and other hw characteristics.  How many machines ran
> the benchmark simultaneously.  Cat5e vs Cat6 or Fiber connected.
>
> http://www.netperf.org           ( OpenSource started by HP, )
> ftp://ftp.netperf.org/netperf/    (Looks like 2.4.4 is the latest
> version.  Not sure what 4.0.0 is)
>
> http://sourceforge.net/projects/jnetperf  (java version of netperf)
>
> There may be another project from some Italian Professor, but didn't
> find it in my bookmarks.
>
> Yes, there is the unix way of time dd ... but that wouldn't work for
> windows clients and does not give enough details in terms of metrics.

Look there really are 3 tiers for network equipment. The first two  
tiers all give wire speed performance and have managed layer 2 and 3  
options. The last tier is for consumer home use.

Tier 1 might have high-end Cisco, Juniper or Nortel (and others) that  
have modular enclosures redundant power supplies and heavenly price  
tags. These are typically used in large enterprises that can afford  
them.

Tier 2 might have Dell Powerconnects and HP Procurves and Cisco 2000  
series products. These are good stable well performing products and  
are gobbled up in heaps by small and medium businesses. These are the  
usual choice for small enterprises and come in managed and unmanaged,  
layer 2 of layer 3, power over Ethernet of not or a combination of  
those.

Tier 3 contain your Linksys, DLink and Zyxel brand products. They  
basically just get the job done, but might need reset every now and  
then and probably can't run more then 2 ports at a full 1GBe  
simultaneously. They are for home use and are prices as such. Some  
will be better then others and some might be very good, but they are  
not designed for business use and thus shouldn't be used as such.

-Ross