set a backbone

[arie_5]

about 550 desktops and servers are connected to 9 ProCurve 8000m. the swiches connect to eatch other a 100baseT copper. we desided to set a backbone of ProCurve 2824 and connect all the existing switches to it by GB copper module.
please give you remark or suggesting for this setup.

[Les Ligetfalvy]

IMHO, the 28xx is not designed to be a core switch. If memory serves, the 28xx has a very small buffer and can have some serious throughtput issues. Some things to consider is to NOT mix 100 and 1000 on the switch and to disable QOS. If you plan to use QOS, I think you best look to another switch and to stick the 28xx somewhere less important.

[Les Ligetfalvy · Accepted solution]

If you already purchased the 2824, download the latest firmware and read the release notes, in particular:
Pass-Through Mode
Release I.07.52 introduced a new command to enhance the performance of line-rate traffic transfers through the 2800 Series switches. This feature should only be used in environments where Quality of Service (QoS) is not of major importance, but where lossless data transfers are key. This command essentially disables any discrimination of QoS queues for traffic, consolidating packet buffer memory to provide line-rate flows with no loss of data.
General Operation
The port buffering design for the Series 2800 switches has been optimized for gigabit-to-gigabit traffic flows. For this reason, some flows from Gigabit-to-100Base or even 100Base-to-10Base may not perform as well as would be expected. The QOS Pass-Through mode enhancement can provide a significant performance improvement for high-bandwidth traffic flows through the 2800 switches, particularly when running traffic flows from 1000Base to either 100Base or 10Base connections.
QOS Pass-Through mode is OFF by default, and must be enabled via the â configâ context of the CLI by entering the CLI command qos-passthrough-mode, followed by write memory and rebooting the s

[arie shenar_1]

Thanks for the profound respond.
I am going to have 1Gb copper module for each 8000m switch, therefore the 2824 will see 9 * 1Gb connector.
I donâ t need any QOS.
What are the problems that might occur with this switch that wonâ t happen to a designed core sw

[Les Ligetfalvy]

I suggest you read the entire section I quoted from. It is your network and the decision is yours. If you are just looking for an interim solution to buy a little more time from your End-Of-Life switches, the 2824 would do fine but you might want consider where you will place it after the interim. Given that your 8000m switches are at EOL, you will probably want to work on a long range plan.

[arie_5]

i just install the 2824 switch and connect it to 9 4000/8000 switches with cupper. it worked fine.

[Shiraz Malik]

Hi arie,
2824 is a good switch with 48Gbps backplane but obviously not to act as a core for some networks. Although I feel that it will improve you current network infrastructure as you were just running your whole network on 8000m before placing this switch. the 1000base-t will imporve your backbone connectivity and you can also tweek 2824 for better performace as it supports the CoS based on IP address, UDP/TCP ports, source ports etc.
But, i would still b interested in knowing the exact number of end nodes (both the clients and servers). If you don't have enough servers (8 - 10 max), you can put them on 2824 to further increase the prformace.
Regards,
shiraz