SGI: Hardware

I need to get a gbit switch that has mostly copper connections, but also at least
a couple of fibre ports aswell. Any suggestions as to a suitable model? Looking
for between 8 and 16 ports.My Octane has a copper card, while my O2 has
a fibre card.

Ian.

Ian,
At the office I use Netgear GS724TS switches. The 'S' on the end is for stackable, something you might not need... These switches have 4 SFP ports, and in my case my two Origins have fibre gig ethernet into these. The GS716 switch might suit you. It has two SFP ports for those pesky fibre cards.

However, you can pick up Intel 510Ts on ebay uk with gig fibre port modules for loose change. The 510T switches don't readily support copper gig ethernet though. We had one of these at a vfx place I used to work at and it performed OK. But then again, we only had Octanes connected to the copper 10/100 ports via their built in ethernet so had no need of anything faster. It was uplinked to a huge Foundry Networks switch via the fibre port.

My most recent ebay purchase was a brand new Octane card cage (still in box!) from Ebay AU (and got a pukka SGI gig copper card bundled in)

fieldframe writes:
> At the office I use Netgear GS724TS switches. The 'S' on the end is for stackable, something you might not need...

Looks ideal, but beyond my price range.


> ... The GS716 switch might suit you. It has two SFP ports for those pesky fibre cards.

That's more like it, though they seem to just come with the module slots empty.

Couldn't find either of them 2nd-hand though.


> However, you can pick up Intel 510Ts on ebay uk with gig fibre port modules for loose change. The 510T switches

I remember MPC in London used those.


> ... don't readily support copper gig ethernet though. ...

Really? That's odd, the ones I saw were all copper, at least at the front.


> copper 10/100 ports via their built in ethernet so had no need of anything faster. It was uplinked to a huge
> Foundry Networks switch via the fibre port.

Ah, now what I want is a switch that can run gbit on all ports, not a 10/100 that just has a couple of gbit ports.


> My most recent ebay purchase was a brand new Octane card cage (still in box!) from Ebay AU (and got a pukka SGI
> gig copper card bundled in)

Ditto. Got 5 a coupla weeks ago, just the cages. Totally unused.

Thanks!!

Ian.

Hello Ian,

there are only 2 choices. Buy something like WS-C4912G or WS-C3508G-XL-EN which offer 8-10 Gbic slots which can befilled with coper or fiber GBICs. As every cicso stuff its fucking expensive also when buying used gear.

The 2nd. way is to buy somethink like the netgears GS716/GS724TS. We have a dozen of these modells and also the bigger ones with 48 ports. The offer standard RJ45 copper based slots and up to 4 SFPs which are the successor of GBICs.

All el'cheapo gigE switches comes only with 8-16 Copper slots.

regards
Joerg

Found something...
Longshine LCS-GS9120 20-Port 19" Switch,16x1000+4xGbic
http://cgi.ebay.de/Longshine-LCS-GS9120-20-Port-19-Switch-16x1000-4xGbic_W0QQitemZ270196420249QQihZ017QQcategoryZ26799QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Hi Ian,

there are also the Netgear GS724T (without the "S", which means not stackable), but also with four SFP-GBIC slots. I have such one and i'm very happy with it. The only issue i had was the web interface, the first firmware versions worked only with IE, but now it works also with Firefox. Also the fan is a bit noisy, but my network distribution is located in a cellar room, so this doesn't matter for me. They are in the range of 270-320 EUR in Germany.
There is also a cheaper version (GS716T) with only 16 copper and two SFP-ports, it's in the range of ~200 EUR.

I would highly recommend a switch with at least basic management functionality, where you can set speed and duplex mode manually per port and watch the error counters. This is very helpful to solve network problems, especially if you want to use tricky NIC's like Phobos E100, ...

Regards,
Michael

A 2nd hand Foundry Bigiron 4000 is also an option. It's a very good switch with a lot of expansion options, both fibre and copper.

Thanks for all the recommendations everyone!!

joerg writes:
> The 2nd. way is to buy somethink like the netgears GS716/GS724TS. We have a dozen of these modells
> and also the bigger ones with 48 ports. The offer standard RJ45 copper based slots and up to 4 SFPs
> which are the successor of GBICs.

Overall, I think the GS716T is the most sensible choice, but the price new is a bit high for me (really
need 2nd-hand I think) and I guess I would also need to get the AGM731F fibre gbit 1000BaseSX module
aswell.


> All el'cheapo gigE switches comes only with 8-16 Copper slots.

Oh I dunno, compared to Cisco/3Com, the GS724T is only 200+ UKP. and the GS748T is 400+.


Btw, the O2 appears to see the card ok, though of course I can't configure it yet, nothing to connect to:



So it's like the EISA card, ie. not seen by hinv. Comes with the command pge_control to set the duplex mode.

Am looking forward to seeing just how fast the O2 can push the thing.

Ian.

mapesdhs wrote:
Oh I dunno, compared to Cisco/3Com, the GS724T is only 200+ UKP. and the GS748T is 400+.


Btw, the O2 appears to see the card ok, though of course I can't configure it yet, nothing to connect to:

And the Longshine costs only 100UKP.

regards
Joerg

joerg writes:
> And the Longshine costs only 100UKP.

I can't bid, will be away by then for the holiday break. To be honest, I've also
never heard of Longshine before.

I'd rather not rush this, will leave it until '08.

Ian.

mapesdhs wrote: fieldframe writes:

> My most recent ebay purchase was a brand new Octane card cage (still in box!) from Ebay AU (and got a pukka SGI
> gig copper card bundled in)

Ditto. Got 5 a coupla weeks ago, just the cages. Totally unused.

Makes you wonder where these pristine card cages have been hiding all this time, no?
Mind you, mines coming from Australia. Where are yours from?

fieldframe writes:
> Makes you wonder where these pristine card cages have been hiding all this time, no?

Probably stored away and forgotten in a company's spares/parts cupboard.


> Mind you, mines coming from Australia. Where are yours from?

Germany.

Ian.