Netgear FSM726 v HP ProCurve 2626

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Hi,

On our network, we run a fair amount of HP 2626 ProCurve switches but are looking for some cheaper solutions to re-kit out a cabinet as these weigh in at around £250 each so it would cost £750 for this new cabinet on switches alone. It is important that they are managed so I've been looking at the Netgear FSM726 as it is layer 2 managed and has 2 gigabit uplink ports just like the 2626's however the netgear's cost only half that of the 2626.

Just looking for some opinions basically on how they compare- obviously they are not going to be quite as good as the 2626 because of the price difference but are we going to have problems with performance and stability because so far, not one of our 2626's have failed. To be honest though, anything is better than these crappy surecom things we have at the minute and one of them has just died :D

Anyway, any opinions will be much appreciated :cool: :)

Thanks

Ben
 
They are cheap for a reason... Netgear stuff is junk, and apparently the web interface randomly disappears (among other problems).

Stick with what you know, we use HP networking kit extensively and haven't had a single problem.
 
Thanks. I guessed they were going to be cheap for a reason but wasn't sure how much worse than the HP one's they are.

Can't recommend anything in between those two then can you that is slightly cheaper than the 2626? The 2524 is slightly cheaper but has no gigabit uplink which is needed. If not then it'll have to be the 2626, they are great quality switches though.

Thanks for your help :cool:

Ben
 
Only other switch I'd recommend would be a Cisco 2950T, but that's a lot more expensive than the 2626, and doesn't come with a lifetime warranty.

3Com stuff is meant to be okay, but I've not got any first-hand experience of it.

We have a few 2626's and they're faultless - I'd stick with them, personally ;)
 
Okay, thanks. I'll have a look at some 3com stuff as well- anyone else have opinions on these?

Just as a matter of interest, we are soon to be running video conferencing and stuff like that- is having crappy unmanaged switches like our surecom and layer1 devices going to cause a performance hit on it at all?

Thanks again,

Ben
 
I guess it depends what backplane and switching capacity they have, but generally decent quality kit will outperform cheapo generic junk.
 
I don't think you could really class what we have as a backplane to be honest if I'm understanding you correctly. It's a bit messed up- some of the switches and the fiber links come into a HP 2824. The servers are on a HP 2626 linked into the 2824. We've then got a few HP 2626's and some Cisco thing in the IT room cabinet coming into the 2626 in the server room. From the IT room cabinet, the library is linked into those switches and it's the cabinet in the library we're sorting out at the moment. It needs to be right because it has a fair bit of load on it- the library obviously, the english block cabinet, the music suite and the entire science floor comes into it as well as languages :D

Anyway, I've been looking at these: 3COM Baseline Switch 2226 (Think I'm okay linking to that). Does this look okay for what we want?


Sorry for rambling. Hope I made some sense :)

Ben
 
The 3Com looks fine, I don't have any first-hand experience of them, but I know a couple of people who use them and swear by them.

I still think you'd do better getting the HP's, personally - remember you get a lifetime warranty with the HP, plus if you already use them elsewhere...
 
I run both HP and Netgear at work and find that thr HP one's are more reliable, faster, or seem it at transferring files to other machines. I also find them easier to manage.

HP have a lifetime warranty so if they ever go bang you ring them up and have a new one next day. Netgear don't, Buy the HP and you won't need to buy a replacement in the far future IMO
 
Trigger said:
I don't think you could really class what we have as a backplane to be honest if I'm understanding you correctly. It's a bit messed up- some of the switches and the fiber links come into a HP 2824. The servers are on a HP 2626 linked into the 2824. We've then got a few HP 2626's and some Cisco thing in the IT room cabinet coming into the 2626 in the server room. From the IT room cabinet, the library is linked into those switches and it's the cabinet in the library we're sorting out at the moment. It needs to be right because it has a fair bit of load on it- the library obviously, the english block cabinet, the music suite and the entire science floor comes into it as well as languages :D

Anyway, I've been looking at these: 3COM Baseline Switch 2226 (Think I'm okay linking to that). Does this look okay for what we want?


Sorry for rambling. Hope I made some sense :)

Ben

Get the servers plugged into the 2824. That has all gigabit ports as would you servers. I've got a 2824 as a main server switch and feed the other switches off that and it certainly has made a difference.

Ste
 
[Darkend]Viper said:
Get the servers plugged into the 2824. That has all gigabit ports as would you servers. I've got a 2824 as a main server switch and feed the other switches off that and it certainly has made a difference.

Ste

Ahh, we never knew that the 2824 was a gigabit switch- thanks :) We'll get the servers into that switch then because they're all HP ML350 G4p's and have gigabit controllers. I think I've been steered away from the netgear switches now but what about the 3COM one? Anymore opinions on this would be good :cool:

Thanks

Ben
 
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