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A question about the old 3Com 4800G (3CRS48G-24-91) Switch

 
parnassus
Honored Contributor

A question about the old 3Com 4800G (3CRS48G-24-91) Switch

I need the valuable help (and memory) of a 3Com/H3C/HP Comware based switch historian...

I'm curious about the 3Com Switch 4800G 24 Ports (3CRS48G-24-91) model and, generally, about the entire historical 3Com 4800G Switch family (JD007A was declared EoS some years ago [***] and equivalent JD377A too during 2016): I noticed that that Hardware platform looks still supported through continuous and recent HPE software releases; to me the actual reference - specifically speaking about the 24 ports plus 4 SFP with 2 backplane Slots model - is the HPE A5500-24G EI (JD377A) which was previously also known as HP 4800-24G (JD007A).

Is the hardware platform used on the old 3Com 4800G (3CRS48G-24-91) the same - mainboard hardware engineering revisions apart - of JD007A and JD377A [*]?

If so, can an old 3Com 4800G (3CRS48G-24-91) unit - 3Com branded -  be (re)branded to HP and can it be updated to latest Comware 5.20 R2222P07 (August 2017) software as listed here for HPE A5500-24G EI [**]?

[*] Not to speak about the same family marketed and branded by H3C (Huawei 3Com era): the H3C S5500-EI Switch Series.

[**] Supported products:

  • JD007A HP 4800-24G SWITCH
  • JD008A HP 4800-24G-POE SWITCH
  • JD009A HP 4800-24G-SFP SWITCH
  • JD010A HP 4800-48G SWITCH
  • JD011A HP 4800-48G-POE SWITCH
  • JD373A HP 5500-24G DC EI SWITCH
  • JD374A HP 5500-24G-SFP EI SWITCH
  • JD375A HP 5500-48G EI SWITCH
  • JD376A HP 5500-48G-POE EI SWITCH
  • JD377A HP 5500-24G EI SWITCH
  • JD378A HP 5500-24G-POE EI SWITCH
  • JD379A HP 5500-24G-SFP DC EI SWITCH
  • JG240A HP 5500-48G-POE+ EI SWITCH W/2 INTF SLTS
  • JG241A HP 5500-24G-POE+ EI SWITCH W/2 INTF SLTS
  • JG249A HP 5500-24G-SFP EI TAA SWITCH W 2 SLTS
  • JG250A HP 5500-24G EI TAA SWITCH W 2 INTF SLTS
  • JG251A HP 5500-48G EI TAA SWITCH W 2 INTF SLTS
  • JG252A HP 5500-24G-POE+ EI TAA SWITCH W/2 SLTS
  • JG253A HP 5500-48G-POE+ EI TAA SWITCH W/2 SLTS

[***] especially considering the Switch family longevity permitted by almost continuous software releases (since about 2009, or probably earlier, up to 2017).


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7 REPLIES 7
VoIP-Buddy
HPE Pro

Re: A question about the old 3Com 4800G (3CRS48G-24-91) Switch

Hi Parnassus!

Are you asking from the software standpoint?  As long as the model number you have is mentioned in the release notes you should be ok. 

A lot of the switches had lifetime support so we'll probably have software updates but hardware may be hard to get over time.

I'm not entirely sure what you are asking.

Regards,

David

I work for HPE in Aruba Technical Support
parnassus
Honored Contributor

Re: A question about the old 3Com 4800G (3CRS48G-24-91) Switch

Hi VoIP-Buddy!

Thanks for answering.

I was asking from the pure Hardware standpoint: are internal motherboard and internal power supply basically the same considering each brand separately (3Com 4800G vs H3C S5500 vs HP A5500-EI)?

Basically I'm asking if 3Com/HP product related differences, if any, were only cosmetic (change in chassis Logo) or not...I'm just curious to understand if the HP SKU numbering changes (as example: from JD007A to JD377A) hides something more Hardware related or not.

I came to the conclusion that - I've found a lot of historical documentation about 3Com 4800G and HP A5500-EI and also a good old Community post that clear up my doubts a bit - they should be exactly the same physical Hardware (and Software development follows basically the same branch since 2008!).

I purchased few 3Com 4800G 24 ports (so 3Com branded) for Lab testing so in a few days I will have hands on them!


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parnassus
Honored Contributor

Re: A question about the old 3Com 4800G (3CRS48G-24-91) Switch

Very quick follow-up: hands on a 3Com 4800G, was able to update from factory default system version R2202 to R2222P07 stepping into R2215 (for re-branding from 3Com to HP).

This was the starting points:

<4800G>display version
3Com Corporation
Switch 4800G 24-Port Software Version 5.20 Release 2202P15
Copyright (c) 2004-2009 3Com Corp. and its licensors. All rights reserved.
Switch 4800G 24-Port uptime is 0 week, 0 day, 0 hour, 15 minutes

Switch 4800G 24-Port with 1 Processor
256M    bytes SDRAM
32768K  bytes Flash Memory

Hardware Version is REV.C
CPLD Version is 002
Bootrom Version is 604
[SubSlot 0] 24GE+4SFP Hardware Version is REV.C

<4800G>display device 
 Slot 1 
SubSNo PortNum PCBVer FPGAVer CPLDVer BootRomVer AddrLM Type       State
0      28      REV.C  NULL    002     604        IVL    MAIN       Normal

<4800G>display device manuinfo
slot 1
DEVICE_NAME          : 3CRS48G-24-91
DEVICE_SERIAL_NUMBER : xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
MAC_ADDRESS          : nnnn-nnnn-nnnn
MANUFACTURING_DATE   : 2008-11-08
VENDOR_NAME          : 3COM

Here final results:

<4800G>display version
HPE Comware Platform Software
Comware Software, Version 5.20.99, Release 2222P07
Copyright (c) 2010-2017 Hewlett Packard Enterprise Development LP
HP A5500-24G EI Switch with 2 Interface Slots uptime is 0 week, 0 day, 0 hour, 36 minutes

HP A5500-24G EI Switch with 2 Interface Slots with 1 Processor
256M    bytes SDRAM
32768K  bytes Flash Memory

Hardware Version is REV.C
CPLD Version is 002
Bootrom Version is 721
[SubSlot 0] 24GE+4SFP Hardware Version is REV.C

<4800G>display device
 Slot 1
SubSNo PortNum PCBVer FPGAVer CPLDVer BootRomVer AddrLM Type       State
0      28      REV.C  NULL    002     721        IVL    MAIN       Normal

<4800G>display device manuinfo
Slot 1:
DEVICE_NAME          : 3CRS48G-24-91
DEVICE_SERIAL_NUMBER : xxxxxxxxxxxxx
MAC_ADDRESS          : nnnn-nnnn-nnnn
MANUFACTURING_DATE   : 2008-11-08
VENDOR_NAME          : 3COM

Pretty nice exercise playing with BootROM updates and System Image loading.

Next I will write a little bit more for the records.

Note: I used FTP...forgetting to set binary mode (transfers) was the only issue...


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parnassus
Honored Contributor

Re: A question about the old 3Com 4800G (3CRS48G-24-91) Switch

Quick follow up: R2222P08 is now out!

<4800G>display version
HPE Comware Platform Software
Comware Software, Version 5.20.99, Release 2222P08
Copyright (c) 2010-2017 Hewlett Packard Enterprise Development LP
HP A5500-24G EI Switch with 2 Interface Slots uptime is 0 week, 0 day, 0 hour, 2 minutes

HP A5500-24G EI Switch with 2 Interface Slots with 1 Processor
256M    bytes SDRAM
32768K  bytes Flash Memory

Hardware Version is REV.C
CPLD Version is 002
Bootrom Version is 721
[SubSlot 0] 24GE+4SFP Hardware Version is REV.C

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lorn10
Valued Contributor

Re: A question about the old 3Com 4800G (3CRS48G-24-91) Switch

I know this thread is old, I just want to note here that in February 2020 firmware 2222P12 was released.

Interestingly, the recent firmware builds cannot be found under the HP part number of the former 3Com labeled model. So in my case, it is not listed under JD011A.

But when I enter the HP part number of the later available HP 5500 EI Model, JG240A, build 2222P12 appears under the тАЬPatchesтАЭ section.

Maybe this is one of the last firmware releases for this now quit old switch hardware generation. Larger companies will start to migrate to newer platforms.

It was told me to look for the HPE FlexNetwork 5130 HI switch series as an alternative. That Comware 7 based device seems to have good technical parameters. However, one very important aspect is unfortunately missing, - the support for 2.5GBASE-T and 5GBASE-T.

Also in 2020 it looks that no Comware based switch is supporting these newer 2,5 Gbit/s and 5 Gbit/s Ethernet Standard. Only some Aruba hardware comes with it under the name HPE Smart Rate.

Other companies are in regard to the 2,5 Gbit/s and 5 Gbit/s Ethernet Standard significantly further. I hope HP will accelerate it efforts in that very important topic.

parnassus
Honored Contributor

Re: A question about the old 3Com 4800G (3CRS48G-24-91) Switch


@lorn10 wrote: I know this thread is old, I just want to note here that in February 2020 firmware 2222P12 was released.

Interestingly, the recent firmware builds cannot be found under the HP part number of the former 3Com labeled model. So in my case, it is not listed under JD011A.

But when I enter the HP part number of the later available HP 5500 EI Model, JG240A, build 2222P12 appears under the тАЬPatchesтАЭ section.

Maybe this is one of the last firmware releases for this now quit old switch hardware generation. Larger companies will start to migrate to newer platforms.

Yeah...it's a trick (I reported about this latest R2222P12 software release for 4800G on this thread last Monday and noticed the very same thing). Like you I'm worried too...but not too much. At the same time we should think about of much spectacular is the longevity of such Switch Series, still today...the Hardware started on the 3Com era...and still in 2020 HPE released a new software version, IMHO there aren't many other Switch series which such development longevity (OK, it's mainly a Patch and no new features...but it's better than nothing)...this means that 4800G/5500 EI are far from being considered operationally death even if the marketing's mission is to continuously push us to change assets every few years and move back and forth between switch series (or brands).

It was told me to look for the HPE FlexNetwork 5130 HI switch series as an alternative. That Comware 7 based device seems to have good technical parameters. However, one very important aspect is unfortunately missing, - the support for 2.5GBASE-T and 5GBASE-T.

Also in 2020 it looks that no Comware based switch is supporting these newer 2,5 Gbit/s and 5 Gbit/s Ethernet Standard. Only some Aruba hardware comes with it under the name HPE Smart Rate.

Other companies are in regard to the 2,5 Gbit/s and 5 Gbit/s Ethernet Standard significantly further. I hope HP will accelerate it efforts in that very important topic.


Unfortunately HPE Smart Rate technoloy looks strictly tied & justified to what is happening on the access/campus side with the wireless explosion...in scenario where there are more wireless clients than wired...and where the Wireless APs are powerful enough to break the 1Gbps aggregated throughput barrier and where there is an high wireless users density...more and more often the access is becoming a "mobile affair" (to be honest it is yet)...and with that regard I don't see necessarily that actual HPE branded Comware 7 based Switch series would/should embrace this port smart rate feature any time soon because they were and still are mostly marketed and engineered for a Data Center usage (not only but...mostly) where typical wireless access requirements were perceived as less (or not at all) essential than to what happens at the access layer. IMHO inside a small/medium/big DC one cares about link speeds to other switches or to edge hosts (servers) normally at 10Gbps (or well over that threshold: say 25Gbps, 40Gbps or 100Gbps) and there is less "space" to play with 2,5/5Gbps ports.

Edit: in selecting the successors pay attention to EoL waves...some specific 5130 EI SKUs (EI line is more featured than the HI line) were already declared EoL/EoS and suggested replacement switch series was the Aruba 2930F IIRC (check on the HPE EoS portal).


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lorn10
Valued Contributor

Re: A question about the old 3Com 4800G (3CRS48G-24-91) Switch

Thanks Parnassus for your informative answer.

Yes, the history of the original 4800G switch generation is amazing; - if I remember my right 3Com has released it around 2008 and now we have 2020. (!)

Regarding this example it can be said exemplary that a professional switch has usually a far longer span of life than normal consumer electronics like a smart phone or a normal personal computer.

Whatever, I have also no plan to replace our 3Com 4800G PoE switch in the near future. In the most of the time our switch has only a small load, - no datacenter here. So it runs really fine and almost perfectly stable. This is not really a surprise when you consider the 12 year long Comware 5 firmware development for that switch hardwareтАж

And in regard to the new Wi-Fi 6 standard 802.11ax I will see soon how the ordered Aruba 515 APs will work. Regarding the missing 2.5G Ethernet feature I see in our case no problem because at the most situations the 1.0G link is far enough.

But for larger projects an (additional) Aruba or Cisco 2.5GBASE-T and 5GBASE-T PoE+ compliant switch would be the way to go.

However, in retrospective consideration the 802.3bz gigabit intermediate speeds could have been the perfect choice to take full advantage of the original (non-plus) SFP interface. It's really unfortunate that it didn't come a few years earlier. So it could be used for faster switch to switch connection or (non-datacenter) stacking. And we would have also a SFP based 2.5Gbps and 5Gbps Direct Attach standard.