Gigabit network, uplink speed

Kaka · 18 Jan 2017 at 12:42

Hello all,

We are looking to do a bit of a refresh on our infrastructure and upgrade our HP 100Mb switches to HP Gigabit. Had a quote back but looking for some feedback.

The supplier's suggestion is something like this:

HP Procurve gigabit switch --1Gb uplink (1Gb SFP)-- HP Procurve gigabit switch --1Gb uplink (1Gb SFP)-- Fibre panel (OM3 50/125).

Does their suggestion seem wrong to you, as I assume you will want to have 10Gb uplinks?

Kaka · 18 Jan 2017 at 14:10

Okay

The network is medium sized one (approximately 650 computers) in the education sector. I suppose the main reason for the upgrade is due to the planned IP camera system and according to an online calculator, that alone will use approximately 615Mbps. My worry is whether it will have an adverse effect on the rest of the network services. I've also been led to believe it is good practise to have the uplink greater than the switches. Currently we have 1Gb uplinks with 100Mb switches.

Kaka · 18 Jan 2017 at 17:05

Thanks for all the replies so far. Bear with me a little as I'm no longer technical, but do have oversight of the network and general IT facilities.

Our core switches are HP Procurve 5406zl which is running 1Gb. There is provisions to have this upgraded sometime in the summer. We have approximately 25 HP L3 switches dotted around the building in several comms room. The upgrades will be done in phases due to network availability and downtime and the plan is to replace a quarter of the 25 switches by the end of Easter. In an ideal environment I would do the 2 core switches first but can't bring these down until the summer, which is why i'm starting on the L3 switches first.

I'm just little unsure of why the 1Gb uplink is recommended. For current network traffic it will be more than adequate, however with the introduction of IP CCTV and future proofing I think it might be an oversight on their part.

Kaka · 18 Jan 2017 at 18:05

Possibly due to budget, but then we'll be looking at paying two lots of equipment and labour costs (plus additional downtime) if we find network performance is substandard and later upgrade again, whereas getting 10Gb in the first instance will avoid this expense.

The current edge switches are HP Procurve 2610 (J9088A) I believe.
The proposed replacements are HP Procurve 2530 (J9775A).

I'm not entirely sure why L3 switches are required (in truth I don't really know the difference), they were specified and installed before my time here. Thanks for the link, I'll have a look through that later this evening.

Kaka · 19 Jan 2017 at 11:08

The quote was from our managed service company.

Kaka · 25 Jan 2017 at 12:25

Thanks for the advice and suggestions mrbios. The project is still in the planning phase so there's still quite a few things to consider.

We currently have VOIP and wireless on our network so we're utilising POE already.