Cisco Switches: Buying them used on eBay?

[mini4YOU]

I'm designing a new office, all infrastructure is being redone.

Few questions:

Should we go for 100Mbit or 1Gig Switches ?
Cat 5e cabling or Cat 6?

The computers are used for Word processing, Internet, File Sharing, of .doc, pdf, .jpg files, etc.. There is 1 file server hosting these documents. There will be nothing like video editing, voip, etc..

Next Question:

Would you buy cisco switches from ebay? Pro/Cons? A 24 Port C2950 costs $100 vs $900 for a brand new switch. Are switches reliable? I can buy 9 used switches at the price of a new switch.

I know this is a discontinued model, been replaced with C2960. But is there any significant difference in performance?

 

[mini4YOU]

Oops. I forgot to mention. only about 45 devices connected to the network.

 

[Cluebird]

Big thing about buying off e-bay is licensing. Cisco licenses don't transfer on resale unless you're buying from an authorized reseller or Cisco directly. If you run unlicensed devices on your production and Cisco lawyers find out, you'll be in for a major legal problem. It's the same as running unlicensed copies of Office or Windows; you open your company up to significant legal exposure.

If you want to be legal, you can re-license the gear but often that's just as expensive as buying new stuff anyway.

Another thing to consider is the Chisco gear on e-bay; the knock-off stuff from China that isn't really Cisco but reproductions. You'll regret getting that.

For your size network, don't play games and just get a 2960 for $900. If you just want cheap stuff, look at another vendor.

 

[VinceWhirlwind]

Yes - buy new and get the proper maintenance etc....

Your options are Cisco/Nortel/HP Procurve/Juniper - have a look around.

I don't see the point of paying extra 1Gb, personally - most applications on PCs don't push though antyhing even remotely approaching 100Mb, and the PC hardware itself can't do more than about 200-300Mb.

 

[vipergg]

HP procurves are generally cheaper and you get lifetime warranty and software updates for the price of the equipment with having to get an extra contract.

 

[w4nn4b1337]

You didn't mention budget. If you have the budget for CAT6 and Gig switches then by all means "future proof" your site. You didn't mention phones. Will you need POE for IP phones? Are distributing your network to 1 building or more?

Since you mention 2960's I'll assume you dont' need POE but I would avoid using ebay for production network gear. As stated above you will run into warranty and licensing issues.
I don't know your expertise with Cisco products but they are "managed" devices which require an "IOS" to run. They are not like a the plug and play "unmanaged" Linksys switches.

However, if all that you require is distributing signal and not managing multple VLANS, or other advanced switching techniques then maybe look at a Dell or Linksys business class switch. The Linksys SRW2048 10/100/1000 comes with 4 mini-GBIC ports (for your fiber needs) and will cost you about $800-900 per switch. It is considered a managed switch so you will have some advanced switching capability if needed.

The bottom line is I wouldn't trust your production network to used gear. When it comes to layer 1 infratstucture I would think 10 years out or so. If you put in CAT5e and in the years to come you have a 10GB requirement you will be out of luck. CAT6 is supposed to support 10GbaseT but may not support the full 100m distance limits of 802.3.