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1. CMP United Business Media MAY 12 2005 WWW NWC COM Offiputing rITBylIT LOW END SWITCHES NICE PRICED SWITCHES How We Tested Our tests were straightforward We unboxed the gear and included sundries set the base IP over a serial connection to the console port one contender didn t have a management get you in the switch market NETWORK COMPUTING put out a call for inexpensive managed Ethernet switches with enterprise features specifically a 24 port y It s amazing what a modest amount of money will 10 100 switch with at least one Gigabit Ethernet uplink port that retails for less than 750 Administrative tools were an important consideration in terms of quality and type especially with respect to VLAN virtual LAN and port configuration Although we weren t looking for raw throughput or per formance we did want easy setups support coverage and management and monitoring options such as SNMP sup port We weren t expecting the world with these switches But an administrator with only a basic understanding of network concepts should be able to set up and maintain these products using only publicly available sources such as the user manual and vendor Web site Adtran Allied Telesyn Netgear ProCurve Networking by Hewlett Packard and SMC Networks rose to our challenge with Allied and Netgear shipping us two models each for a total of seven switches The ProCurve 2626 wins our Editor s
2. offers easy access to system management making it the best management interface among the products we tested Our favorite GUI feature is the pop up warning that cautioned K ETG A rere ee ee es Fe oo Netgear s nanny guard provides warning prompts for important and potentially dangerous configuration changes against altering critical settings as by changing VLANs trunking or setting the SNMP community string see screen page 2 The FSM 726S requires an administrator to enable SNMP through the Web interface then set up both community names and the SNMP host name This three step process makes for smart secur ity but it might be tricky for a novice As with most of the prod ucts we tested the FSM 726S supports SNMP1 and SNMPv2c returning interface and traffic stats system description and full information from our snmpwalk ProSafe 24 Port 10 100 L2 Managed Stackable Switch with 2 GB ports FSM726S ProSafe 24 Port 10 100 Smart Switch with 2 GB Ports FS526T Netgear 888 NETGEAR 408 907 8000 www netgear com AT 8524M Allied Telesyn sent us two offerings the economy AT 8026T with two fixed copper Gigabit uplinks at 529 and the B midrange AT 8524M with two empty module slots for 649 plus an AT A46 Gigabit copper uplink module for 95 which let it squeak in at 6 under our 750 cutoff Both models come with a limited lifetime warranty We wouldn t want to be th
3. Choice award deliver ing the best overall value with a sweet lifetime warranty rea sonable pricing flexible uplink options and an excellent man agement interface However if you have minimal functionality needs the Netgear FS526T is a good choice at an exceptional price If you know your users will be running VoIP voice over IP or some other application that requires QoS quality of service also consider Allied Telesyn s AT 8524M port connected a test workstation and ran the Web inter faces through the ringer over Internet Explorer Firefox and Safari browsers to set up virtual LANs review port status and activate SNMP monitoring We tested uplinks where available and all units connected to our core switch with no problems Ciri es pan ar ta LED ed Pera sish w ie Hey ee a cer Poll cee ee CT tate a RC CA de ee hT EDAS TESS PS PETE SE 6 BS Web client offers setup configuration and testing tools via HTTP or HTTPS We used Dartware s InterM apper to test SNMP probes with consistent results in compatibility support of SNMP1 and SNM Pv2c and reporting of interface traffic statistics and switch description Our testing relied on SNMP get requests and queried the ifNumber value of the MIB 2 subset to report the number of interfaces on the switch We also ran a full snmpwalk from a BSD Unix client to check out the informa tion offered Among the participants only one switch N
4. ES TOTAL SCORES AND WEIGHTED SCORES ARE BASED ON A SCALE OF 0 5 Customize the results of this report card using the Interactive Report Card a Java applet at www nwc com Netvanta L2245T Adtran NetVanta s GUI makes it simple to set up features such as virtual LANs and port controls Adtran s Cisco speak carries over during the SNMP setup We activated SNMP using the Web interface then had to go to a command line to set community name you don t get menu options or assistance But a novice could learn the OS by using the online Adtran Operating System Command Ref erence Guide 9 1 Once configured all SNMP probes and snmpwalk functioned as expected returning stats and description On a positive note the whisper quiet fan is the stealthiest of the lot and the overall industrial design of the case is top notch NetVanta 1224ST Adtran 800 SADTRAN 256 963 8000 www adtran com SMC s TigerSwitch 10 100 finished last mainly because D of its scant 90 day warranty and quirky inter face In SMC s favor it was one of the few partici FEATURES pants to provide paper documentation the switch s front console port is useful and the unit runs quietly Although we didn t see anything that would immediately lower our confidence if SMC only has enough faith to provide three months of support you might want to spend your 399 elsewhere This box had the s
5. closest thing to a plug and play product in this review Netgear s entry level FS526T is a basic managed switch that s well suited to a large home office or B small office setup The FS526T lacks a console port and it uses a bundled Windows application Smartwizard Discovery to set the base configura tion Although the setup application worked we initially managed the product using the default IP listed in the documentation with a browser In keeping with its dollar store theme the FS526T doesn t support SNMP Although this bargain box earned only a C grade its ludicrously low cost per port should make it an attractive option for anyone looking for basic functionality from a small switch As a bonus it has the fastest boot time of any product we tested at less than 13 seconds If you just need to wire up a small workgroup the FS526T will take care of your needs without any bells and whistles The FSM 726S has a lot going for it with a front mounted console port 24 10 100 ports 2 Gbps copper ports and two empty GBIC slots The console interface includes a well thought out menu based wizard for the initial setup Its auto mated assist the only one among the products tested was a welcome touch that more vendors should emulate It s espe cially helpful to novices setting up small networks With the base configuration in place the Java based GUI is snazzy It provides real time graphic updates of port status and
6. e admin setting up either of these switches in a remote office There are no quick start guides and the incomplete CD manual actually directs you to the compa ny s Web site for model specific setup documentation We downloaded the documentation and from there the setup for each unit using the menu based console was straightforward if cumbersome We used the AT Web management tool to enable SNMP and set community names without a hitch Both support SNMP1 and SNM Pv2c and returned interface and traffic stats system description and full information from the executed snmpwalk command We were impressed with the clear straightforward Web man agement interface see screen above and aside from the setup snags the AT 8524M is a solid product with a strong feature set It is the only product we tested that offers Layer 2 QoS The included Gigabit Ethernet module provides autoconfiguration and is hot swappable The AT 8026T uses the same management interface as its IUES z E za z iram Se sesseeeeeeme gt J 7 oe ee eee eee a d Allied TeleSyn s straightforward Web interface provides a clean and clear management environment more expensive sibling but lacks QoS and ACL access control list support More disturbing the product specs claim SSH Secure Shell support but we couldn t get it to work If you don t need QoS the less expensive AT 8026T switch with it
7. empty slots two mini GBIC for 1 000 or GBIC mini GBIC slots empty GBIC slots for 1 000 or GBIC Console port Rear female Rear Rear Rear None Front Front Interface options FTP HTTP FTP HTTP FTP SSH HTTP HTTPS HTTP FTP HTTP RMON HTTP SSH SNMP telnet SNMP telnet SNMP telnet SSH SNMP telnet SNMP telnet SNMP telnet MSRP 711 529 649 699 187 380 399 744 as tested Warranty Five years Lifetime Lifetime Lifetime Five years Five years 90 days Notes Quiet sharpest Had to go to ACLs and QoS Testing tools Small office Best Web Slowest boot looking case Web site for but had to go to ping trace switch interface time setup docs Web site for included in Web setup docs interface Copyright 2005 by CMP Media LLC 600 Community Drive Manhasset NY 11030 Reprinted from NETWORK COMPUTING with permission 5905
8. et gear s FS526T doesn t support SNMP Our ratings are based on ease of setup feature set ongoing management physical design warranty and overall value of the switch Because this is an Affordable IT review we rated pricing as most important The ProCurve 2626 had consistently solid scores keeping it at the head of the pack At 699 the cy ProCurve wasn t the cheapest of the lot but the life time warranty fills us with warm fuzzy feelings Out of the box the ProCurve s excellent paper and CD ROM manu als clear installation guide bundled serial cable and rack mounting hardware gave us everything we needed to get up and running quickly without any hassles whatsoever Console management is straightforward We opened a tel net session logged in with the default settings switched to the menu system and easily set up addressing The Java based Web client is intuitive and provides excellent management and testing tools over HTTP or HTTPS see screen on page 1 We installed our security certificate with no problems over the Web client to get SSL in place Although SNMP community names had to be set using the com C ifiputing Editor s Choice mand line menu system instead of the Web client the ProCurve played nicely with our monitoring tools speaking SNMP1 and SNM Pv2c The switch returned interface status and traffic stats provided a self description and gave us LOW END SWITCHES If your
9. hardware infrastructure isn t strictly single vendor and you don t have too many enterprise oriented management needs inexpensive Ethernet switches have more to offer than you might think In this installment of Affordable IT we explore budget friendly switches from Adtran Allied Telesyn Netgear ProCurve Networking by Hewlett Packard and SMC Networks each with a retail price of less than 750 We tested these switches for ease of setup and manage ability and determined which features meet enterprise needs We also evaluated SNMP support and even found an inexpensive model that supports QoS Finally we discovered which have user friendly interfaces and which require a little more adminis trative finesse HP s ProCurve 2626 earned our Editor s Choice award for its superior management interface reasonable pricing and lifetime warranty You can find all our Affordable IT articles at www nwc com affordable_it verbose detail from an snmpwalk command The ProCurve was one of the quietest switches in the test and in the middle of the pack for boot up speed passing packets about 43 seconds once it got running You can stack it with other ProCurve family switches and or uplink over the 1 000 Mbps or mini GBIC Gigabit Interface Converter ports to integrate into your existing infrastructure ProCurve 2626 ProCurve Networking by HP 800 975 7684 281 370 0670 www procurve com ProSafe 24 Port 10 100 Smart Switch FSS26T The
10. lowest boot time of the lot It was so lethargic on start up that we initially thought we had a defective console port or cable Boot time isn t as crucial in a seldom bounced device but all the other switches we tested booted in less than 65 seconds while the TigerSwitch took 157 seconds before it began passing packets The switch offers telnet SSH and HTTP switch manage ment but its console is a bit clunky Cisco esque command line only and the Web interface is neither well organized nor intuitive Another oddity The quick start information wasn t in the installation manual but in the included management guide SNMP setup was straightforward we set up community names using the browser interface SM C s product was the only switch in our tests with public and private already set to defaults This might be a convenience for some but it s a secu rity risk After resetting access passwords we were up and run ning with SNMP 1 and SNMPv2c receiving expected results from probes and snmpwalk Two expansion ports are available no GBIC or uplink cards were provided for our tests TigerSwitch SMC6724AL2 SMC Networks 800 SMC 4YOU 949 679 8000 www smc com JOE HERNICK PMP MS is director of IT at the Loomis Chaffee School DEAN ELLERTON MS is the CIO at Suffield Academy Write to them at jhernick nwc com Uplink ports Two 1 000 Two 1 000 Two empty slots Two 1 000 two Two 1 000 Two 1 000 two Two
11. s two built in Gigabit ports is the better value of the two Both Allied Telesyn products were in the middle of the pack on noise output and boot times AT 8026T AT 8524M AT A46 Allied Telesyn 800 424 4284 www alliedtelesyn com The NetVanta 1224ST was one of two products we tested that uses female serial ports for con sole management but Adtran doesn t supply a cable G with its kit so we had to track down a gender changer The NetVanta box offers the standard 24 10 100 ports as well as 2 Gbps T ports and two mini GBICs for 711 The five year warranty shows confidence in the product and anyone familiar with a Cisco command line will be comfortable with the console on the 1224ST If you ve never typed conf t base setup might be tricky on this switch but manageable with the manual in hand The 1224ST supports telnet but not SSH The excellent Web interface has a clean GUI that allows easy setup of VLANs port controls and other features see screen page 4 REAL WORLD REPORT CARD PRICE 23 3 5 4 35 COMMAND LINE AND INITIAL 4 7 4 CONFIGURATION 18 FEATURE SET 18 4 5 4 4 5 HTTP MANAGEMENT 18 4 5 4 8 WARRANTY 18 5 4 PHYSICAL DESIGN 4 5 3 3 5 AND UPLINKS 5 TOTAL SCORE 100 4 40 4 09 395 o 1 25 4 5 25 3 3 3 2 5 32 5 1 3 4 4 25 1 5 4 4 1 3 5 8 1 25 3 47 3 34 2 98 1 96 A24 3 B23 5 C22 5 D21 5 F lt 1 5 A C GRADES INCLUDE OR IN THEIR RANG

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