Kyle T
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Registered: 11th Sep 04
Location: Selby, North Yorkshire
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I need some cheap switches, they need the following:
At least a couple of PoE interfaces
Support VLANs and Spanning-Tree
Have two interfaces to allow SingleMode LC fibre
I've basically got a site with 8 buildings, all connected via fibre. My Network/IT/CME equipment is in Building 1, I've got an additional switch in building 2 as this will become the office environment, but for safety purposes I may need an IP phone in every other building.
It may be a SINGLE phone in the other buildings, and based on the 2960 switches I usually buy it's probably going to be $2k per building, just for one phone 
I thought about Fibre convertors, but they're not very scalable - though you can get PoE ones apparently.
I mention two fibre interfaces because the buildings are in a Fibre ring, so for redundancy I'll be linking the whole lot around - also hence the Spanning Tree.
I've NEVER shopped for non-Cisco stuff before, but wondered if there are any cheaper solutions around for what I need. I'm pretty sure it's the fibre that's killing me, as the bloody GBICs cost as much as some of the smaller switches.
Lotus Elise 111R
Impreza WRX STi
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willay
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Stick with Cisco if you can get away with, if there is only one phone per building why not just fork out the £15 for the power block?
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willay
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for non Cisco stuff, a HP E2610 might do the job if they still sell them. We have them here as edge switches (I hate them), but they do 24/48 port configs with or without PoE, and all the other stuff you need. Very cheap in comparison and have lifetime warranty (though I read in some places that cisco do lifetime warranty if you bought it new?)
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Kyle T
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Registered: 11th Sep 04
Location: Selby, North Yorkshire
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Yeah Cisco is lifetime too.
Power blocks are an option, but I get the feeling that PoE isn't driving my price up much - it's the fibre uplink ports (or capability of running them).
GBICs are just a stupid amount of money, there are non-cisco ones for a bit cheaper but had a few of those fail on me, or just not even work in the first place.
In hindsight, I should have had them run 2pair copper to the satellite buildings and then run an ATA or similar and some crappy analogue phones. Hey-ho.
Lotus Elise 111R
Impreza WRX STi
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Nismo
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Registered: 12th Sep 02
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Cisco small business 300 series?
http://www.comms-express.com/categories/cisco-10-100-switches-300-series-with-poe-poe/
[Edited on 02-09-2014 by Nismo]
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Kyle T
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Registered: 11th Sep 04
Location: Selby, North Yorkshire
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Crikey, good find - never looked at the small business stuff before, why is it so cheap?!
Lotus Elise 111R
Impreza WRX STi
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pow
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Registered: 11th Sep 06
Location: Hazlemere, Buckinghamshire
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There are problems with the 300 series stuff...
One site where cost is an issue I'm using netgear prosafes and they are good as gold.
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willay
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the small stuff isn't 'proper' cisco, afaik there isnt much access to IOS (its quite cut down), its just not what you'd expect from standard IOS devices imo.
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willay
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quote:
Originally posted by Kyle T
Yeah Cisco is lifetime too.
Power blocks are an option, but I get the feeling that PoE isn't driving my price up much - it's the fibre uplink ports (or capability of running them).
GBICs are just a stupid amount of money, there are non-cisco ones for a bit cheaper but had a few of those fail on me, or just not even work in the first place.
In hindsight, I should have had them run 2pair copper to the satellite buildings and then run an ATA or similar and some crappy analogue phones. Hey-ho.
Lots of people use third party gbics with no issues, I cant comment personally but its in wide use.
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Kyle T
Premium Member
Registered: 11th Sep 04
Location: Selby, North Yorkshire
User status: Offline
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quote:
Originally posted by willay
quote:
Originally posted by Kyle T
Yeah Cisco is lifetime too.
Power blocks are an option, but I get the feeling that PoE isn't driving my price up much - it's the fibre uplink ports (or capability of running them).
GBICs are just a stupid amount of money, there are non-cisco ones for a bit cheaper but had a few of those fail on me, or just not even work in the first place.
In hindsight, I should have had them run 2pair copper to the satellite buildings and then run an ATA or similar and some crappy analogue phones. Hey-ho.
Lots of people use third party gbics with no issues, I cant comment personally but its in wide use.
Seems even Cisco stuff ain't reliable anymore, had an ASA just drop dead at a satellite office today meaning no internet, no DHCP and no VPN back to base. Luckily I happened to be at that Satellite so swapped it out for a 1921 I just happened to have knocking around...
Lotus Elise 111R
Impreza WRX STi
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pow
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Registered: 11th Sep 06
Location: Hazlemere, Buckinghamshire
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I had an ASA that used to shut the Fa ports down whenever it felt like it. Never got to the bottom of it.
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John
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Registered: 30th Jun 03
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I've got some newer lower end Cisco phone system/router things and I greatly dislike them. They aren't that much more stable than another random brand.
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Nismo
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Registered: 12th Sep 02
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Ive never really had any issues with the 300 series.
I have in the last 18 months deployed over 700 Netgear GS110TP in to a retail environment and had all but 2 failures (6 months after install) good switches for a good price.
http://www.comms-express.com/products/netgear-gs110tp/
And lifetime warranty 
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John
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Registered: 30th Jun 03
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Cisco phones/systems are funny with non Cisco switches.
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willay
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We use exclusively Cisco POE phones with HP PoE switches, we have 0 issues.
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John
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Registered: 30th Jun 03
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Cisco guys setting it all up must have been idiots (completely plausible)
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Kyle T
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Registered: 11th Sep 04
Location: Selby, North Yorkshire
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quote:
Originally posted by willay
We use exclusively Cisco POE phones with HP PoE switches, we have 0 issues.
I've been told that Cisco phones CAN be flakey on non-Cisco networks but never witnessed it myself, as we keep buying Cisco!
I'm not sure if it's just something I've noticed, but Cisco "people" seem irrationally brand loyal and it doesn't surprise me that rumours circulate about things without it ever being the case in a production environment!
A wee update on my situation, I've talked the options through with the business and although 8 x $2000 is not a large amount of money on the scale of the project - they've opted to settle for radio comms in those buildings. Yay for me, but I imagine I'll be revisiting that decision in a few months...
Lotus Elise 111R
Impreza WRX STi
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Bart
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Registered: 19th Aug 02
Location: Midsomer Norton, Bristol Avon
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without necessarily needing a "cheap switch", any recommendations for a specific switch to the following specs;
-48 Port gigabit
-POE (for VOIP phones to be connected)
-Stackable (with a decent transfer rate).
I think I should be looking at Procurve or Cisco, but any particular models?
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VrsTurbo
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Registered: 8th Jun 10
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Layer3?
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Bart
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Registered: 19th Aug 02
Location: Midsomer Norton, Bristol Avon
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quote:
Originally posted by VrsTurbo
Layer3?
Not sure.... Currently using 3x GS748T's (without the VOIP equipment).
What benefits do layer3 bring?
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VrsTurbo
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Registered: 8th Jun 10
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If you want to segregate the VoIP traffic into it's own vlan for network qos etc. if you don't have it already then I wouldn't worry as you'll be needing to reconfigure a few things
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Bart
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Registered: 19th Aug 02
Location: Midsomer Norton, Bristol Avon
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Is there any real benefit to segregating the VOIP traffic for say.... 30-40 users?
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willay
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Registered: 10th Nov 02
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easier management, voip devices don't have to listen to all the broadcast shite happening in the 'main' vlan
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