[nog] Second hand gear from eBay

Boyan Kurtev boby.kurtev at gmail.com
Mon Dec 1 06:49:29 EET 2014


Hello guys,

I really like the fact that Marian's query sparked some interest in (part
of) BG NOG community.
It would be great if more representatives of BG telcos participate in these
discussions.

Back to the topic:

>No I try to stay away from Dell because I had issues with them in two
different DataCenters in the US.
>I'm happy user of 3com/HP :)
>But I bought also one switch from Extreme networks, just out of curiosity
:) I wanted to see their interface.
>
>Marian



@Marian

I have some negative experience with low/mid end Dell switches ( not F10 )

Almost half of our (access) network infrastructure in one of our Canadian
offices runs on Dell switches.
We inherited them from a company acquisition and slowly getting rid of
them. They
are not too bad if you use them as access switches and not doing too many
config
changes. Few of them died and now replaced by Cisco switches. The second
thing I don't like
is that they don't always play well with Catalysts.

I did exactly the same with Extreme and bought one of their switches to see
what ExtremeOS looks like.
Summit x250e-48p (PoE) for just $20 ! - bargain ;-)



>Here's my two cents.
>
>So far we've purchased 2x Dell 8024F (24x 10GE SFP) and 2x Mellanox
>IS5025 (36x IB QDR) switches off ebay. We use them in our testing lab,
>with frequent reconfiguration, but in a closed environment. Here's a
>photo of the IB switches
>https://twitter.com/bkrosnov/status/494775865101017088 . We are
>extremely happy with these purchases.
>
>In terms of using low-cost gear for production environments, I think
>network operators have a lot to learn from web companies. If you design
>your system so that you don't care if a few devices fail, then you don't
>depend on hardware so much. I know this is hard to achieve in complex
>network topologies, but emerging trends/technologies such as OpenFlow
>and "bare metal and white box switches" are coming to help it along.
>
>Best regards,
>BK


@Boyan



You are right - network operators have a long way to go !
Unfortunately they are not as flexible as web centric companies,
like Facebook and Google for instance, which develop their own
hardware - switches, servers, NOS, etc
Bare metal/white box switches also appears to be very attractive to
customers.
Cumulus Networks in particular is one of the interesting players ( also
partnering with Dell ),
but there are also some hidden costs we must be aware.

http://www.networkcomputing.com/applications/white-box-switches-beware-of-hidden-costs/a/d-id/1316664


Regards,
Boyan Kurtev

2014-11-29 4:51 GMT+10:00 Marian Marinov <mm at 1h.com>:

> -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
> Hash: SHA1
>
> On 11/28/2014 03:17 AM, Boyan Kurtev wrote:
> > Hi Marian,
> >
> > My experience with used/refurbished network gear from eBay & Amazon is
> positive as well. Is it a good or bad idea ?
> > Well...it depends ! If you are looking for networking equipment for
> study/training - there is no better/cheaper
> > alternative. But if you are looking for equipment for your
> production/business critical environment - then my
> > simple answer is NO. I always purchase new equipment ( or use existing
> spare ) for new sites, and always with
> > vendor support ( SmartNet in my case )
> >
> > There are a lot more factors than just the price of your your network
> gear. If you or the management is ready to
> > accept the risk of network downtime, that's OK - you can use whatever
> equipment you like. It's your network after
> > all.
> >
> > Another economical alternative is to have hot/cold spare in your office
> ( if you don't have support contract ) and
> > simply replace faulty device.
> >
> > By the way are the switches you bought Dell PowerConnect ?
>
> No I try to stay away from Dell because I had issues with them in two
> different DataCenters in the US.
>
> I'm happy user of 3com/HP :)
>
> But I bought also one switch from Extreme networks, just out of curiosity
> :) I wanted to see their interface.
>
> Marian
>
> >
> >
> > Regards, Boyan
> >
> > 2014-11-28 10:29 GMT+10:00 Marian Marinov <mm at 1h.com <mailto:mm at 1h.com
> >>:
> >
> > Hi guys, I'm curious, what is your opinion about buying second hand
> network gear from eBay?
> >
> > My experience so far is excellent. I bought 3 48port 1Gbit/s switches
> for under 200$ each in very good condition. I
> > have the same ones in my racks and they were more then 1000euro when I
> bought them as new.
> >
> > What type of network equipment would you buy second hand?
> >
> > Marian
> >
> > -- Marian Marinov Founder & CEO of 1H Ltd. Jabber/GTalk:
> hackman at jabber.org <mailto:hackman at jabber.org> ICQ:
> > 7556201 Mobile: +359 886 660 270 <tel:%2B359%20886%20660%20270>
> _______________________________________________ Nog
> > mailing list Nog at nog.bg <mailto:Nog at nog.bg>
> http://lists.ludost.net/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/nog
> >
> >
>
> - --
> Marian Marinov
> Founder & CEO of 1H Ltd.
> Jabber/GTalk: hackman at jabber.org
> ICQ: 7556201
> Mobile: +359 886 660 270
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