Network advice needed

[snaw]

Sometimes you are better to strap the inter server / switch links to 1000mbs full duplex than allowing them to remain on auto. – file transfer test will prove.

Umm, 1GB can only be full duplex. You're thinking of duplex mismatches with 100MB links ... and a simple show on the switch will prove (It'll tell you what it's set at and if you see a tonne of FCS, alignment & runts on the port.

[Sysman]

I don't assume anything.

http://www.hp.com/hpinfo/newsroom/pr...8/080527a.html

"According to the analyst firm’s data, ProCurve, the world’s second largest enterprise LAN networking vendor, grew worldwide port shipments by 28.4 percent in the first calendar quarter of 2008 compared to the same period in 2007. The industry growth rate for this same period was 7.82 percent."

They are doing all-right, can't see them being that bad - value for money most likely, just the kind of purchase I personally like.

That stuff is marketing BS. They are simply saying that in 2008 "port shipments"* grew faster than the rest of the industry (wouldn't be hard if they had only recently started with the ProCurve brand), and agressive pricing obviously helps.

* a "shipment" does not necessarily mean a sale - see what I mean about marketing speak?

Edit:- quoting "port shipments" is misleading too

But I've seen HP completely stuff up major clients over recent years so I am biased. I wasn't surprised to see this lawsuit recently.

[Board Game Geek]

Just to jump in with my own experience of the HP Procurve kit.

We had 60+ sites, and each site had a 24 port 10/100 hub, mostly Netgear, but some Linksys and a few other brands I cannot even recall.

Some of these sites had perhaps as many as 22 PC's on a hub, and some had as few as 3.

We wanted to upgrade our network infrastructure, with the main purpose being to get switches so we could set SNMP on the devices and add them to a piece of SNMP monitoring software that we have back at HQ.

We didn't have the funding to go with fully Giga switches (just 2 ports per switch). Besides, most of the cabling in the 60+ sites is Cat 5.

We opted for the Procurve 2650 range, and they have achieved the objective. I can now troubleshoot the sites, from HQ if necessary, rather than have to drive to the site.

I get full stats on each port, can see collisions, and various other bits of info necessary to solving many network issues.

More importantly, I would estimate that in over 30 sites we have deployed these, the Procurve has flagged up Duplex Mismatch errors on our Internet Routing equipment which BT manage and put in (and we have no access to those Routers).

Armed with the error logs from the Switches, we have been able to present a solid argument to BT, and they have dialled in and fixed their Router. Net result has been a major increase in speed to and from the internet for the site.

Had we still be using hubs, we would have never known. Nor would the users at the sites, since they had go used to the slow speed and didn't tell us.

Out of the 60 sites, I've seen 3 Procurves replaced in 3 years, so not a bad failure rate.

Of course, other folks may have horror stories with the Procurves, and if so, then of course you'd be loathe to recommend them.

However, for our network size, the Procurve's have been ideal.

4 years ago, when the Procurves we're being ordered, I must admit I was a bit dubious and thought that we should go Cisco, like we do in the HQ Datacentre and BackBone, but for the smaller, remote sites, HP's have worked out ok.

YMMV

[Sysman]

BGG,

Thanks for the other side of the coin.