switches

HOORAY

Thu, 30 Oct 2008 12:16:20 -0400

I LUV ME SUM SWITCHES. SHOOP DA WHOOP.

Traffic rerouting on a single crossbar switch ?!?

Mon, 13 Oct 2008 13:41:32 -0400

I assume the TRX-200 uses the Fulcrum 24-port chip, just like Arastra, Force10 and others. In this case, what is the point of the Dynamic Congestion Avoidance for this switch ? There is only one path between two ports in a single crossbar, so where do you reroute to ? Even for large switches, 10ms to adjust to congestion is a very long time at 10 Gbps. That's 12.5 MB worth of traffic. Only HPC has sustained flows that last that long, in some micro-benchmarks...

Network Behavior Analysis at the switch

Sun, 28 Sep 2008 11:42:28 -0400

Hello Adam, I am seeing a pattern with hardware vendors which support NetFlow or sFlow putting Network Behavior Analysis with mitigation features into their switches. Cisco NBA http://www.networkworld.com/community/node/22284 HP NBA http://www.networkworld.com/community/node/23105 Enterasys NBA http://www.networkworld.com/community/node/26538 I think the consumer gains considerable control on traffic when NBA is done in hardware by the switch. This is in lieu of course of a flow collector analyzing data every 5 minutes which, I do feel serves its purpose as well. Also, I think reporting on Top Talkers/applications is very important, lets take it a step further: Our Flow Analytics solution not only provides NBA abilities but, it also provides information on: * devices sending the most flows vs. unique destinations - useful when trying to identify poorly written applications that aren't triggering alarms. * top conversations/hosts/applications across hundreds of routers/switches sending flows * internal machines communicating with known compromised internet hosts * machines using BitTorrent excessively * network scans, DoS attacks, etc. Thanks for the great read. Sincerely, Mike at plixer.com http://www.plixer.com/products/scrutinizer_alarm.php

S8730 -- still just a TDM switch.

Mon, 08 Sep 2008 14:20:36 -0400

If the S8730 scales to 36,000 TDM users but only 18,000 IP users, doesn't this tell us it's not really an IP switch but rather a TDM (36,000) legacy switch in new clothes? And doesn't the requirement of SES (SIP Enablement Services) for SIP routing point again to legacy TDM technology enhanced with bolt-ons? It appears as if architecturally Avaya has put lipstick on the 35-year-old Dimension/G3. Finally thanks for the rip-roaring guffaw. "component will appreciate the variety of interoperable components." Oh yeah, wheel in a few more boxes. Customers LOOOOVE more boxes. There's a grace and elegance to a well-tuned Server Farm. LOL

Just to be fair...

Mon, 01 Sep 2008 11:44:53 -0400

Certainly NetworkWorld will be fair and publish similar testing for Juniper's MX switch/routers? And the EX-8200 when it comes out? Don't forget to sell the future of these products (you know... capabilities and features that don't exist yet) just as you have done here!

802.1s is MSTP, not Port Security

Wed, 27 Aug 2008 03:10:45 -0400

I think you mean 802.1X, not 802.1s for port security. 802.1s is MSTP...

Getting help in JUNOS

jdoyle — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 09:05:21 -0400

I discussed in the previous post how candidate configurations, explicit commits, and rollbacks greatly increase the reliability of configuration changes in JUNOS and reduce the risk of configuration mistakes. Heaven knows if there is a mistake to be made, I'm likely to make it.

Another nice feature for klutzy typists such as myself is that rather than waiting until you hit return at the end of a configuration statement to check for syntax errors, JUNOS checks syntax word-by-word – that is, every time you enter a word into a line and hit the space bar, it checks the syntax.

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What's the point?

Tue, 12 Aug 2008 12:14:22 -0400

Couldn't have Amazingmail.com simply swapped out the two 6500's with Cisco stackables that have an included warranty with them and saved the same amount of money? Was their problems with the Cisco switches and ASA's (outside the fact they weren't trained on the equipment) causing them to swap out? If they had support from Cisco, and couldn't get a feature to work, did they open a case with Cisco (who's support organization is the best in the industry if you know how to work with them). The article seems like a shameless plug Network World as been posting for lots of vendors these days (I seem them for Cisco as well on other products). It would be nice to see something with much stronger analysis and understanding that readers can actually get value out of.

The Weather Channel goes HD with Cisco

Cisco Subnet — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 16:42:36 -0400

This week, The Weather Channel began broadcasting weather reports in High Definition format, with assistance from Cisco routers and switches.

Cisco has been working with TWC over the last year to upgrade its infrastructure to power a 24-7 live HD operation. Catalyst 6500 switches and Cisco routers shuttle digital shots of meteorologists reporting live from the new studio to the control room over 800 cables winding through the studio's raised floor. Cisco MARS security products are used for encryption between the studio, control room and other locations.

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Nortel Data Networking Equipment

ylnahar — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 20:15:33 -0400

Nortel has long been a manufacturer of quality networking equipment. But looking at the numbers mentioned in the article, it doesn't surprise me one bit that the enterprise data networking sales have taken a hit. Being a reseller of Nortel networking products as well as Cisco equipment, I am well aware of Nortel's position in the market right now but I still believe Nortel products provide excellent value for money and only hope they can pick themselves up from here onwards. yogesh@infinit-tech.com http://www.infinit-tech.com/Nortel-Switches.php

Nortel vs. Cisco

Tue, 03 Jun 2008 17:42:50 -0400

I see in a recent white paper that tests were done on the the Nortel 8300 vs. the Cisco 4500. the results seem to point more toward chosing the 8300. As a reseller of both items, is there any data as to the reliability over the life of the product that I could use for a successful ROI argument for our customers? Yogesh http://www.infinit-tech.com/Nortel-Switches.php yogesh@infinit-tech.com

Market Share

Tue, 03 Jun 2008 16:36:01 -0400

It will take quite a while for Juniper to significantly erode at Cisco's market share in Enteprise Switching.

Smartpath

Thu, 15 May 2008 08:52:13 -0400

Hello, Smartpath exists within Juniper WX/WXC for years, it's policy based multipath.

Nortel Energy Efficient Switches

Sat, 03 May 2008 23:25:08 -0400

I saw the Nortel 4548GT beating the Cisco 3750 at Interop in May08... It was just 56 watts idele...I guess you didn't ask them to join?>

An alternative to Cisco, other network-centric data center players

Cisco Subnet — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 17:57:16 -0400

BLADE Network Technologies has unveiled a method for virtualizing data center resources that's an alternative to Cisco's network-centric approach.

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Commit Based Model

Thu, 17 Apr 2008 08:20:10 -0400

Another thing to consider is that Juniper's JUNOS allows changes to the configuration to occur to candidate configurations and then validation checks are performed on the whole of the committed configuration. IOS changes happen line by line, and thus leave more room for network configuration failures.

Who has the best Security Switch Solution for your network? We asked major manufacturers, Part One- Enterasys Networks

Larry Chaffin — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 19:58:35 -0400

Many customers have asked me when looking at network switching manufacturers, who has the best security solution for my network? Rather than posting a very long story and having everyone bash me for my views, I took it to the people who build the switches. That's right, we sent each major manufacturer a list of 10 questions that customer ask me on a consistent basis. Below are the companies who replied to me and will be part of this multi post story:

HP ProCurve, Enterasys Networks , Juniper Networks , Foundry Networks

A few companies did not give us a reply those companies were:

Cisco, Nortel, 3Com, Force 10, Extreme Networks

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DELL is not all it should be

Wed, 26 Mar 2008 18:21:11 -0400

We are using all DELL in our later-2 and layer-3 world. Personally their tech support is not up to par, their price is what drove us to buy them. We should have looked at something a bit more expensive like Cisco, or HP. All in all the DELL switches do the switching just fine, but do not support the majority of commands that other switches have in their cli.

How to reset the VLAN and VTP information back to factory defaults in Cisco Catalyst switches

Brad Reese — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 02:10:16 -0500

How to reset the VLAN and VTP information back to factory defaults in the following Cisco Catalyst switches: G-L3 - 2900XL - 2940 - 2950 - 2955 - 2970 - 3500XL - 3550 - 3560 3750 - 3750 Metro - 4000 - 4500 - 5000 - 5500 - 6000 - 6500 In order to reset the VLAN information to the factory defaults, delete the vlan.dat file from the Flash or NVRAM and reload the switch. On the Cisco Catalyst 6000/6500 Series switches running Cisco IOS Software, the vlan.dat file is stored in const_nvram On the Cisco Catalyst 4000/4500 Series switches running Cisco IOS Software, the vlan.dat file is stored in cat4000_flash: On the Cisco Catalyst 2940, 2950/2955, 2970, 3550, 3560, 3750, and 2900XL/3500XL fixed configuration switches, the vlan.dat file is stored in flash: For more information refer to: Resetting Catalyst Switches to Factory Defaults

In order to reset the Virtual Trunking Protocol (VTP) information when a switch is added to an existing VTP domain, the best option is to change the VTP mode to transparent. To do this, issue the vtp mode transparent command. This changes the config revision number back to 0 and when the current VTP server has a higher revision number then this, the device is updated with the latest VTP information. For more information refer to: VTP Configuration on Catalyst Switches http://www.BradReese.Com

Cisco Power Supplies

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RE: IP phones, bandwidth needs forcing LAN switch shift

Thu, 07 Feb 2008 11:26:03 -0500

For our company the higher reliability of a chassis (dual suupervisors and dual power supplies) switch for 5 nines availability is a big factor replacing our very reliable legacy PBX's.