Rack Diversification...

TE,

Wasn't sure where to post this... so I decided to put it here where I mostly lurk (mod, please move if its deemed unfit for this forum).

I was looking at my rack today and thought to myself... why is every device in my rack cisco?

With the exception of my PDU

all of my devices are cisco... So my question to the forum is... How many folks are using non-cisco routers or switches in their labs? I've had some exposure to Dell switches a few years ago, but nothing for my home lab and nothing recent. I'm clueless when it comes to other vendors "IOS"

and I plan on changing that. Does anyone have good suggestions for different vendors routers/switches for lab use? I'm not looking to get anything that's going to "break the bank"... heck if I can find something equivalent to a Cisco 2600 router (price and features) and a 2950 (price and features) I would be ecstatic!! Your thoughts?!?! Thanks!!

-Peanut

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Comments

networker050184

Juniper would be my first suggestion, but that depends on what you consider breaking the bank because they are not cheap. Some other suggestions would be Foundry, Dell or HP switches. Adtran is also pretty popular for provider CPE.

ColbyG

Put a server in there and run Dynamips and some Olives.

tiersten

peanutnoggin wrote: »

I was looking at my rack today and thought to myself... why is every device in my rack cisco? With the exception of my PDU all of my devices are cisco... So my question to the forum is... How many folks are using non-cisco routers or switches in their labs?

I've got a craptastic Netgear L2 managed GigE switch because it was cheap. The actual design of the hardware and firmware is by a company called LVL7 which was bought out by Broadcom a while ago. The firmware is trying to be IOSlike but not quite there. Some of the Dell switches did/do use a similar LVL7 design but a lot of the higher end ones are apparently HP ProCurve based now. I assume that HP will be using 3com designs as well at some point.

The rest of my networking equipment is pretty much Cisco only.

peanutnoggin wrote: »

Does anyone have good suggestions for different vendors routers/switches for lab use? I'm not looking to get anything that's going to "break the bank"... heck if I can find something equivalent to a Cisco 2600 router (price and features) and a 2950 (price and features) I would be ecstatic!! Your thoughts?!?!

Juniper if you want routers and switches.
HP or Dell if you want the lower end switches like top of rack.

Huawei is an up and coming competitor in the routing and switching world. They're pretty big in the mobile telecoms sector but still relatively small in the general networking sector. I've heard mixed opinions about their gear and it mainly depends on what sector their gear is deployed in. The mobile telecoms guys all love it. The networking guys have really mixed opinions. Some good some bad.

I've left out people like Foundry, Extreme and Force10 because Juniper gear is already pretty expensive on the secondhand market.

mikej412

peanutnoggin wrote: »

How many folks are using non-cisco routers or switches in their labs?

When you're a cat, everything is a cat toy. So I now use the cat toy budget to buy Juniper hardware -- and if anyone ever asks about the Juniper hardware I can blame it on the cats.

mikearama

peanutnoggin wrote: »

So my question to the forum is... How many folks are using non-cisco routers or switches in their labs?

I'd answer that question with a question... given the choice, why would you want to have anything other than a Catalyst in your rack????

When I was building my lab, and money was tight, I threw in a couple Nortel Baystack switches. Damn cheap, those bricks. But as soon as I could afford to replace them, 2950's went in.

fly351

mikearama wrote: »

I'd answer that question with a question... given the choice, why would you want to have anything other than a Catalyst in your rack????

That's how I feel

jovan88

I've got a computer running Linux with Quagga as one of my routers, Cheap alternative

peanutnoggin

mikearama wrote: »

I'd answer that question with a question... given the choice, why would you want to have anything other than a Catalyst in your rack????

When I was building my lab, and money was tight, I threw in a couple Nortel Baystack switches. Damn cheap, those bricks. But as soon as I could afford to replace them, 2950's went in.

I would like to learn/see how other vendors equipment perform compared to cisco. That's why I wanted something low-end (layer 2) comparable to a 2950 just to see how the differences. I know there will not be much difference, but configuring something as simple as port-security... that's easy enough for me on a cisco switch... but not every organization is going to deploy cisco switches everywhere. Again, I'm just trying to diversify my networking knowledge.

peanutnoggin

ColbyG wrote: »

Put a server in there and run Dynamips and some Olives.

I've been hearing about the Olives (to emulate juniper)... does it have to have Dynamips in order to run or can it run in a standalone? I'm curious gaining curiosity in Olives more and more each day... Thanks.

-Peanut

notgoing2fail

I have some leftover equipment from my company, only one is in my rack but it's never been turned on.

It's a D-Link DGS-3100-24 managed switched. I also have a 24 port LinkSys PoE switch that I don't dare turn on (not worth the power it uses).
I have three Juniper Netscreens sitting in a closet collecting dust and some Sonicwalls as well as a Barracuda Load Balancer.

I just don't desire to have these devices/vendors in my rack since it's only a 20U rack.

One day though when I can put up a couple 48U racks, they will find a spot as I think it's fun to see how other vendors work with Cisco. Why not?

I also hear Juniper's CLI is elegant....

tiersten

peanutnoggin wrote: »

I've been hearing about the Olives (to emulate juniper)... does it have to have Dynamips in order to run or can it run in a standalone? I'm curious gaining curiosity in Olives more and more each day... Thanks.

An Olive is an install of FreeBSD and the Juniper software on non Juniper hardware or a VM. Dynamips isn't involved as that is only a Cisco hardware emulator.

peanutnoggin

tiersten wrote: »

An Olive is an install of FreeBSD and the Juniper software on non Juniper hardware or a VM. Dynamips isn't involved as that is only a Cisco hardware emulator.

From what I had read so far, this was my impression... I think ColbG was suggesting to virtualize the cisco routers with dynamips and the juniper routers with Olive. Again, many thanks... I'll do some more research on the topic.

tiersten

peanutnoggin wrote: »

From what I had read so far, this was my impression... I think ColbG was suggesting to virtualize the cisco routers with dynamips and the juniper routers with Olive. Again, many thanks... I'll do some more research on the topic.

Yeah. ColbyG means run Dynamips and a VM system with Olives.

stuh84

tiersten wrote: »

Yeah. ColbyG means run Dynamips and a VM system with Olives.

Yep, and then you can use tap interfaces, or UDP tunnels or other methods to connect between the two. It isn't an entirely intuitive system, but once you get used to it, its not that bad.

tanix

peanutnoggin wrote: »

TE,

Wasn't sure where to post this... so I decided to put it here where I mostly lurk (mod, please move if its deemed unfit for this forum).

I was looking at my rack today and thought to myself... why is every device in my rack cisco? With the exception of my PDU all of my devices are cisco... So my question to the forum is... How many folks are using non-cisco routers or switches in their labs? I've had some exposure to Dell switches a few years ago, but nothing for my home lab and nothing recent. I'm clueless when it comes to other vendors "IOS" and I plan on changing that. Does anyone have good suggestions for different vendors routers/switches for lab use? I'm not looking to get anything that's going to "break the bank"... heck if I can find something equivalent to a Cisco 2600 router (price and features) and a 2950 (price and features) I would be ecstatic!! Your thoughts?!?! Thanks!!

-Peanut

My friend did a lot of work overseas with defense contracts and they used a lot of HP procurve stuff mixed with Cisco. He said it was due to cost efficiency. I am not sure how common HP's stuff is in the industry though.

Personally, I do not know much about them, but I hear they are heavy on the GUI. /shrug