Hey Anandtech,
I'm looking to buy one L3 switch (either managed or "smart", there seems to be a large price difference between the two). Basically, I work for a small (300 users) non-profit independent ISP that's looking to move away from a non-managed layer 2 network, to a segmented Layer 3 network, for better security, protection from botnets and easier management.
Currently, I'm shying away from Cisco (despite being a CCNA) because of their rather expensive support and short warranty. I'm interested by HP's lifetime warranty and my employer really likes Netgear switches.
I was wondering if anyone here had any favourites or if anyone had any experiences with "smart" vs. managed. If this stuff really interests you, you can check out the details below, but feel free to just share your experiences.
Requirements (if you're curious):
-QoS
-Vlan support (tagging and trunking)
-SNMPv3 management
-One L3 (16-24 100mb/s ports with 4 GigE ports), static routes are fine
-A couple L2's (8-16 ports 100 mb/s)
-Port mirroring
-Easily replaced/maintained
-Good warranty and support
-Centralized authentication
Link to spreadsheet (if you're hardcore):
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Ane4kGv2b1RAdE81dEt1d0FpVGdqMUlZUmFYdEdvQnc#gid=0
Thanks for your help,
Seanny
P.S. Please let me know if I've posted in the wrong forum and feel free to grumble and point me towards where I should be posting.
I'm looking to buy one L3 switch (either managed or "smart", there seems to be a large price difference between the two). Basically, I work for a small (300 users) non-profit independent ISP that's looking to move away from a non-managed layer 2 network, to a segmented Layer 3 network, for better security, protection from botnets and easier management.
Currently, I'm shying away from Cisco (despite being a CCNA) because of their rather expensive support and short warranty. I'm interested by HP's lifetime warranty and my employer really likes Netgear switches.
I was wondering if anyone here had any favourites or if anyone had any experiences with "smart" vs. managed. If this stuff really interests you, you can check out the details below, but feel free to just share your experiences.
Requirements (if you're curious):
-QoS
-Vlan support (tagging and trunking)
-SNMPv3 management
-One L3 (16-24 100mb/s ports with 4 GigE ports), static routes are fine
-A couple L2's (8-16 ports 100 mb/s)
-Port mirroring
-Easily replaced/maintained
-Good warranty and support
-Centralized authentication
Link to spreadsheet (if you're hardcore):
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Ane4kGv2b1RAdE81dEt1d0FpVGdqMUlZUmFYdEdvQnc#gid=0
Thanks for your help,
Seanny
P.S. Please let me know if I've posted in the wrong forum and feel free to grumble and point me towards where I should be posting.
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