Cisco or HP

[gparrish]

I have a customer planning to move from Cisco to HP switches (2600, 4100, 5300) and I wanted to ask the community here if they had any experience with HP switches - good or bad. I prefer Cisco myself but the cost is affecting the customer and they plan to change so they can buy more hardware within their budget.

I heard some buzz about HP Procurve switches having a higher than normal failure rate but I have not experienced that myself. Can anyone provide their thoughts on these items please!

Thanks,
Greg

 

[lgarner]

We have 4 Procurv 4000M units mostly populated (72 or 80 ports each). We've had them for a few years and have had zero problems. I do like the high density chassis design.

We just purchased a couple of Cisco 2950T-24 switches a few months ago, so I can't really comment on them.

 

[vipergg]

Cisco certainly carries a premium . HP's carry a lifetime warranty I thought i read . Cisco can certainly be less than reliable , we have a large population of Catalyst 4000's on the account we work on and frankly the reliablity has been extremely poor on those models , we have replaced literally dozens of supervisor cards on these models.

 

[baddos]

HP's are pretty good.... I guess it depends on what the customer wants down the road. If they plan on implementing a Cisco VoIP solution or something similar, then simplify it with the Cisco network gear. All in all though, the HP switches are pretty good for their price.

Another option might be to buy used Cisco gear, but buy SmartNET contracts for them. You'll be covered by Cisco warranty, but not have to pay a high price for the gear.

viperegg... What supervisor cards have you had go bad?

 

[computerhighguy]

Cisco gives thier switches a lifetime warranty. That might actually mean the lifetime of the switch, but it is still a lifetime warranty. Can't imagine why you would want to change, but I am sure there is a good reason. Cisco owns 80% of the Internet for a reason. We have a ton of 5500s, 3500s and 3550s (and maybe a few 2950s) and frankly, I have a problem with a switch about once very other year. We always keep 1 switch on backup just in case.


It is what it is!!
__________________________________
A+, Net+, I-Net+, Certified Web Master, MCP, MCSA, MCSE, CCNA, CCDA, and few others (I got bored one day)

 

[BuckWeet]

It more sure if its still this way, but cisco had tons to do with HP, if you look at HP switches they have features such as CDP..


BuckWeet

 

[vipergg]

Baddos the one we have had the problems with is Sup II's . So far we haven't seen a problem with the Sup II+ 's we are now installing . These are the new IOS based ones . We run just about every kind of switch Cisco has had to offer since about 95 . The 5500's have been stellar , 2924's have had few problems , not sure if we have ever touched the old 1924's . We have a few 3550's ,2950's also now and so far no problems . Quite a few 6500's , those have been ok , we have replaced a few cards in those . The only real bad one has been the Cat 4000 Sup II's . Honestly we had a streak awhile ago that we we literally replacing one of these like every other week . I bet we still get one every month to month and a half .

 

[gparrish]

Here is another message I got from someone out there that is using HP Procurve switches.

"We have not experienced any high failure rates with the HP.
However, we found the Top Tools monitoring software difficult to install and configure. I believe HP has a new tool to replace it. In my opinion they are a day late and dollar short on that."

Greg

 

[vipergg]

Don't know anything about top tools from HP but I consider the Ciscoworks suite mediocre at best .

 

[krr]

HP Top Tools" have been replaced by "HP ProCurve Manager". Less complicated and less resource eating. Still comes for free in a limited, but very useful version. You can upgrade to "HP ProCurve Manager Pro" for a small price to get full functionality like VLAN management.

"CiscoWorks for Windows" has been replaced by "Cisco Small Network Management Solution", basically being the same bundle of CiscoView and Ipswitch's WhatsUp Gold, but now including Cisco Resource Manager Essentials. At an even higher price :-(

In general I like HP ProCurve products. You get a lot for the money and they have a Lifetime Warranty which deserves the name, including advanced replacement next business day.

Cisco's Limited Lifetime Warranty is indeed limited. First, it is return to factory (meaning you wait 6 weeks for a replacement). Second, it is limited to 5 years for power supply and fans. And when Cisco sets the product to end-of-life, all you get is a refund and you can buy a new switch - which costs more than you got back.

Which do I prefer? Well, we sell and support both Cisco and HP network products. I cannot say that one is more reliable than the other. They are both very good compared to other vendors.

HP has a much simpler design and is easy to setup and configure. Nevertheless, the switches perform very well and are suitable for small to medium sized networks. For large networks HP OEM's the quite impressive Foundry Big Iron switches.

So, why buy Cisco anyway? Cisco truely has advantages. Technically as well as - of course - in market shares. But when you are low on budget, you start thinking about which features you really need. Does it have to be a Mercedes or will VW get you there as well?

Please, get me right. I don't want to start a flame war about Layer 8 and 9 (Politics and Religion ). This is just my personal opinion.

Cheers *Rob

 

[Dlweeksjr]

I use Extreme switches because for the cost of a Cisco 2950, I get Vlans and routing.

 

[baddos]

Extreme switches are nice if you can get over the purple and green.

 

[Dlweeksjr]

One of the best experiences I ever had was when we were conducting a joint demo with Cisco and thier equipment was in one of our racks. At the top of this rack was one of my Extreme switches. It promptly got used as a holder for thier network drawings. I used to take the drawing off every morning and they would put it back before the customer arrived. Very funny experience.

 

[baddos]

lol... torturing Cisco salesman... Sounds like fun.