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Re: Procurve 2900 series and stacking / management.. failures and how it is handled?

 
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markm75
Frequent Advisor

Procurve 2900 series vs 2920,2930 and other options for stacking (and non stacking) 7 switches?

I have another general thread ongoing here but i had come to the conclusion for our business the best upgrade might be to go with 2900 series switches, stacked.. easier management etc..

But in digging, it sounds as if the stack would just be a virtual stack and may still be prone to cascading failures?

My other question is.. to link the 2900 series together, do i use a cx4 cable (or cx4 cable + transceiver) or another means?

With the 2900 series at least.. if one entire switch fails.. does connectivity keep going and if so how.. ie: if the failed switch had the only server connection going to it, wouldnt that server be inaccessible.. or does this require the server have multiple ports going out to multiple switches for redundancy.. this is what i was trying to avoid by going procurve?

Or.. is the only real solution to jump to a 2920 series ..

thanks in advance

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parnassus
Honored Contributor

Re: Procurve 2900 series and stacking / management.. failures and how it is handled?

Go with Aruba 2920 or 2930M Switch Series for backplane stacking (Stacking Modules/Cables), Aruba 2930F Switch Series for frontplane stacking (VSF Virtual Switching Framework)...that's if you plan to use ArubaOS-Switch based Switch Series (note that HP ProVision operating system of some existing HP ProCurve Switch Series has been rebranded with the new name ArubaOS-Switch).

OTOH you can try to follow another route: to deploy IRF (Intelligent Resilient Framework) using HPE Comware 5/7 based Switch Series instead of above mentioned Aruba Switch Series (note that IRF is available on "entry level" HPE OfficeConnect 1950 Switch Series).

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markm75
Frequent Advisor

Re: Procurve 2900 series and stacking / management.. failures and how it is handled?


@parnassus wrote:
Go with Aruba 2920 or 2930M Switch Series for backplane stacking (Stacking Modules/Cables), Aruba 2930F Switch Series for frontplane stacking (VSF Virtual Switching Framework)...that's if you plan to use ArubaOS-Switch based Switch Series (note that HP ProVision operating system of some existing HP ProCurve Switch Series has been rebranded with the new name ArubaOS-Switch).

OTOH you can try to follow another route: to deploy IRF (Intelligent Resilient Framework) using HPE Comware 5/7 based Switch Series instead of above mentioned Aruba Switch Series (note that IRF is available on "entry level" HPE OfficeConnect 1950 Switch Series).

Not sure i completely followed some of that.. (not familiar with some of those terms just yet).. i can say that when i checked pricing on the 2920, even for refurbs.. it pushed us out of the ability to do that level of an upgrade.. i was only looking at $3000 for the 2900 with all its cables/transceivers needed total for 7 switches (48 ports each).. the 2920 make it more like $6000 plus cables.

parnassus
Honored Contributor

Re: Procurve 2900 series and stacking / management.. failures and how it is handled?

Is HP ProCurve 2900 Switch Series still supported? I ask because latest available Firmware is 3 Years old...2014.

2900 is not comparable with 2920 (and viceversa) just because its name starts with "29"...they're totally different product series with totally different lifespan, features, development, options and prices (2920 is basically new - still in development - and probably refurbished units have still high values compared to residual value of refurbished 2900).

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markm75
Frequent Advisor

Re: Procurve 2900 series and stacking / management.. failures and how it is handled?


@parnassus wrote:
Is HP ProCurve 2900 Switch Series still supported? I ask because latest available Firmware is 3 Years old...2014.

2900 is not comparable with 2920 (and viceversa) just because its name starts with "29"...they're totally different product series with totally different lifespan, features, development, options and prices (2920 is basically new - still in development - and probably refurbished units have still high values compared to residual value of refurbished 2900).

Yeah I have moved on from thinking about a 2900.. I'm trying to grasp the features of the 2920 though (and maybe in comparison with the sg500 cisco vs cisco 2960-x).. i guess the cisco 500 is limited to 6 in a stack, whereas the more expensive 2960 is limited to 9 (we need likely 7-9), 7 for now..

Is there limitations on the 2920 48 port switch like this.. to the number strung together in one stack.

What do you do when beyond this.. just link one stack to the other i assume and link via the web config in some way?

markm75
Frequent Advisor

Re: Procurve 2900 series and stacking / management.. failures and how it is handled?

I came across this graphic, unsure if its accurate or not.. for some reason it lists the hp 2920 as virtual stacking?

justinnoonan
HPE Pro

Re: Procurve 2900 series and stacking / management.. failures and how it is handled?

Hi markm75, 

The Aruba 2920 switch series stacks up to 4 switches using dedicated backplane stacking hardware and cables, similar to the Cisco 2960-X.  

The Aruba 2930F, released last year, comes in 24 and 48 port models (POE and non-POE) as well as an 8 port POE model.  The 2930F Switch Series uses our frontplane stacking technology called Virtual Switching Framework (VSF), with that, we can stack up to 4 members.

The newly released Aruba 2930M (last month),  uses dedicated backplane stacking, similar to the 2920, and can stack up to 10 members. 

Here are the datasheets for the 3 platforms:

http://www.arubanetworks.com/assets/ds/DS_2920SwitchSeries.pdf

http://www.arubanetworks.com/assets/ds/DS_2930FSwitchSeries.pdf

http://www.arubanetworks.com/assets/ds/DS_2930MSwitchSeries.pdf

It is extremely simple to setup stacking on our switches.

Hope this helps.

Regards, 

Justin

JUSTIN NOONAN
TECHNICAL MARKETING ENGINEER – ARUBA CAMPUS TECHNOLOGIES
O: +1 916 540 1748   |   justin.noonan@hpe.com

8000 FOOTHILLS BLVD  |  ROSEVILLE, CA 95747 USA

Vince-Whirlwind
Honored Contributor

Re: Procurve 2900 series and stacking / management.. failures and how it is handled?

The lesson there is you can't trust Cisco sales brochure misinformation.

I saw a similarly misleading Cisco comparison of their 4500 with the HP 5400.

This is what Cisco are reduced to as a result of people blessed with sense realising that almost any other vendor is a better value option.

markm75
Frequent Advisor

Re: Procurve 2900 series and stacking / management.. failures and how it is handled?

Is there a major benefit to going from the 2920 to 2930f or m series? are the 30s considered truly stacking as well. So server A connected to switch 1 of 7, switch 1 dies server A still has connectivity? Do the 30s require the additional stacking cards? It's not obvious to me in the pdfs
parnassus
Honored Contributor

Re: Procurve 2900 series and stacking / management.. failures and how it is handled?

Aruba 2920, 2930F and 2930M are all truly stackable (forming a virtual switch): Aruba 2920 and 2930M use backplane stacking technology (so stacking is deployed through special Hardware stacking modules and stacking cables), Aruba 2930F instead uses frontplane stacking technology like the modular switch Aruba 5400R zl2 (so the stacking is deployed through software via the VSF feature using 1G/10G ethernet ports with normal cabling).

Server A must be connected via Port Trunking (possibly using LACP) to all stack's members concurrently to ensure that in case of any stack member goes down (considering stack is deployed using the resilient ring topology) its connectivity against the stack (so against remaining members) is granted...that's the dual/multi homing.

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