[144934] in North American Network Operators' Group
RE: Anyone used Adtran NetVanta 1544?
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Blake T. Pfankuch)
Wed Sep 21 15:18:04 2011
From: "Blake T. Pfankuch" <blake@pfankuch.me>
To: Jay Nakamura <zeusdadog@gmail.com>, NANOG <nanog@nanog.org>
Date: Wed, 21 Sep 2011 19:16:19 +0000
In-Reply-To: <CADs2+OHx4X+_S=nCByWDum23-0FYzHYFcZZ+CHtXpeqB04-mKQ@mail.gmail.com>
Errors-To: nanog-bounces+nanog.discuss=bloom-picayune.mit.edu@nanog.org
We use Adtran switches semi-frequently at work and I have a few pain points=
, but many good things about them.
My biggest complaint is the availability of support if you need something f=
rom them. They operate under pseudo standard business hours which can be a=
deal breaker for some. =20
Obviously AOS is very similar to IOS in the syntax which is a plus, minor l=
ittle differences which drive you nuts when you switch back and forth with =
cisco and Adtran all day, however with some of the more advanced switching =
functions I find them a little lacking. When we have used these for smalle=
r VMware deployments we traditionally build port channels to the VMware hos=
ts for the data connections, and the port channel load balance methods avai=
lable are a little lacking.=20
Past that I don't mind them one bit, and actually push for an Adtran over a=
low end HP/3Com web managed switch when the customer doesn't want to pony =
up for Cisco gear. For the price you cant beat the configuration simplicit=
y for the IOS aware people, and the webUI for end users is not that bad. Y=
ou can't completely mangle the switch config from webUI by mistake anymore =
which most would consider a bonus...
=20
If you are looking at integrating multiple of these devices and building po=
rt channels between them, I would highly recommend manually specifying the =
spanning tree priority on the device. 6 months from now when you reboot a =
switch for an AOS upgrade it might come back up and you end up bringing dow=
n the entire network. I've now seen the 3 times on production networks now=
which are pushing the limits of the SMB NetVanta switches imo.
"Show run verbose" will become a close friend :) and make sure you documen=
t the crap out of everything you set up :)
Also make sure you are getting the G2 switches they are about 1000 times be=
tter than the G1 switches. You can actually get 2 of these in 1u and eithe=
r stack them or vrrp them for more seamless failover. Feel free to ping me=
off list if you have more questions, I can outline some of the deployments=
we have used them for, issues I have seen on individual cases and where I =
have seen them work well.
Blake Pfankuch
-----Original Message-----
From: Jay Nakamura [mailto:zeusdadog@gmail.com]=20
Sent: Wednesday, September 21, 2011 10:39 AM
To: NANOG
Subject: Anyone used Adtran NetVanta 1544?
Has anyone have experience using Adtran NetVanta 1544 as a iSCSI SAN switch=
? Or any Adtran switch in general? Any problems or unexpected issues?
Thanks!
