2800 or 3400 which one to choose ?

[jan_68]

Hi,
I am going to get a HP switch, either 2848 or 3400-48. Looking for recommendations: the best bang for the $$$, the least problems, etc. Both are within the required specs for my network. The switch will be connected to 4 4160s and a bunch of 4000s. Basic routing. Any recommendations ?

[Mohieddin Kharnoub]

Hi

If your Question is what 3400 does and 2800 can;t ?
Then the question is Alot, because the 3400 is an Intelligent Edge switch, and 2800 is Managed L3 switch.

1- Speed wise, 3400 has almost double.
2- L3 routing, 2800 has basic routing between its vlans and 16 static route, 3400 has OSPF, RIP1,2 ...
3- Switch meshing and XRRP are available on ly on 3400.
4- For QoS, and if you have multicasts, then take 3400.
5- In security, only difference is ACLs.
6- Money wise, if you are going to buy 3400, then i advice you to have 3500, its only 330$.

-Since you are connecting this switch to 4100 series which doesn;t have good L3 functionality, then your choise is 3400, or 3500....

- If your plan is only to have 10/100/1000 at the edge with basic ip routing between Vlans, and interconnecting to 4100 switches, then 2800 is your choise.

- If your Boss will start yell at you because of the 3500 price, then your choise is 2800.

:)

Good Luck !!!

[jan_68]

Thx for your reply. Unfortunately this is going to be my core [:-( switch. Currently I am using 4100 but I've read some not to positive opinions about them at this forum, especially the routing performance. You made me think about issues I haven't before. Thx

[Mohieddin Kharnoub]

Hi

If you are going to use this switch as your Core, they i definitely suggest you to get the 3500yl-48G.

All the ports are 10/100/1000-PoE, with up to 692 Gbps crossbar switching you can have a fantastic life, for L3, just let him do the work, and if you want QoS then its the best choise, people are connecting IPTV coders with this switches because of the QoS and the high throughput.
It has also a very powerful security features.

3500yl-48G is the best for your Core.

Don;t forget to assign points,
Good Luck !!!

[jan_68]

Just a couple of sort of related questions. How do you explain 692 Gbps on the 48 Gig ports ? Wouldn't it be 48 x Gig= 48 Gbps ? I know there must be something to justify this but what ? Even with 10 Gig MiniGBICs the max theoretical throughput would be under 100 Gbps. What about the power consumption / heat issue ? Without utilizing PoE for now do you think it would still be so power hungry ?
Thx

[Matt Hobbs]

It is only the 5412 that has the 692 Gbps switch fabric.

The 3500yl-48G-PWR switch fabric speed is 173 Gbps - http://www.hp.com/rnd/products/switches/ProCurve_Switch_3500yl-5400zl_Series/specs.htm

When not using PoE the switch will not use more power than is required.

If I had a choice I would also be looking at the 3500's and 5400 series.

The only downside is the if you required VRRP / OSPF you would also require the Premium software license which adds to the cost. The 3400 has XRRP and OSPF at no extra.

By the sounds of it, you don't really require this in your network so the 3500 would be a good choice.

[Mohieddin Kharnoub]

Thats true, its my mistake, since the datasheets for 5400 and 3500 are common, its only 173 Gbps, it won't fly more than that :)

[jan_68]

You right about the throughput numbers. It should be 173 Gbps. But how would you ever utilize that at 44 Gig plus let's say 4 10 Gig ? That adds up to 84 Gbps. Of course I understand that in real life you can't even touch 173 on 3500, but just out of curiosity what's the point of making the switch faster than max throughput on all ports ? BTW thanks to you it looks like we are reconsidering.

[Matt Hobbs]

The way it is calculated is by the connections that go into the switch fabric, each connection is 28.8 Gbps. On the 3500-48 there are 3 such connections. You then need to double this as it is a full duplex rate... 172.8 Gbps.

As you can see the routing/switching capacity is 148 Gbps. I believe this is calculated by the 44x 1Gbps ports (full duplex) = 88Gbps + the 4 port 10Gbe module which is limited to 28.8 Gbps full duplex = 57.6 + 88 = 145.6Gpps.

There is more info about this in the reviewers guide:

http://www.hp.com/rnd/pdfs/ProCurve_Switch_5400zl_Series_Reviewers_Guide.pdf