[75518] in North American Network Operators' Group
Summary of 3Com switches
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Dan Lockwood)
Sun Nov 14 20:18:57 2004
Date: Sun, 14 Nov 2004 17:18:22 -0800
From: "Dan Lockwood" <dlockwood@shastacoe.org>
To: <nanog@merit.edu>
Errors-To: owner-nanog-outgoing@merit.edu
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These responses capture the essence of the messages that I received on =
the topic. Thanks for all your input.
=20
=20
"If your looking for big dumb cheap devices to just move data around a =
big switched network, 3com is your vendor. If you plan on doing=20
anything fancier than SNMP, best look elsewhere. "
=20
=20
"I worked with 7700 and 7700Rs, along with the new 3xxx series, and=20
all I can say summarizes to simple: don't do it. There is Cisco,=20
Enterasys, Allied Telesyn, but 3COM is just tumbling down.=20
Line cards for 7700 are seriously limited in functionality, current=20
Supervisor can't do wire (8Gbit/s FD) duplex on all cards simultaneusly, =
and the 7700R marketed "few seconds failover" goes up to 5-6 minutes=20
which is actually longer than booting the switch from cold dead state.=20
The BGP sucks, and OSPF sucks even more (it can kill whole switch in=20
certain situations I can't speak of at the moment).=20
Same thing is with the routers - 3000 and 5000 suck, the 6000 suck=20
even more (1 ATM OC3 interface with 30Mbit/s worth of traffic=20
generates 85% of CPU load on 6080 and router begins to drop traffic..."
--------------------^ This guy went and bought C gear.
=20
"Well, they aren't service provider switches - they are enterprise =
focused, and have a very iffy SP feature set. They are also Huwei boxes, =
rebadged. This means they may (or may not) possess stolen intellectual =
property. "
=20
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<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN"><HTML =
DIR=3Dltr><HEAD><META HTTP-EQUIV=3D"Content-Type" CONTENT=3D"text/html; =
charset=3Diso-8859-1"></HEAD><BODY>=0A=
<DIV><FONT face=3D"Courier New" color=3D#000000>These responses =0A=
capture the essence of the messages that I received on the topic. =
Thanks =0A=
for all your input.</FONT></DIV>=0A=
<DIV><FONT face=3D"Courier New"></FONT> </DIV>=0A=
<DIV><FONT face=3D"Courier New" color=3D#000000></FONT> </DIV>=0A=
<DIV><FONT color=3D#000000><FONT face=3D"Courier New">"If your looking =
for big dumb =0A=
cheap devices to just move data around a</FONT><FONT face=3D"Courier =
New"> <TT>big =0A=
switched network, 3com is your vendor. If you plan on =
doing</TT></FONT><FONT =0A=
face=3D"Courier New"> <BR><TT>anything fancier than SNMP, best look =0A=
elsewhere.</TT> "</FONT></FONT></DIV>=0A=
<DIV><FONT face=3D"Courier New"></FONT> </DIV>=0A=
<DIV><FONT face=3D"Courier New"></FONT> </DIV>=0A=
<DIV><FONT face=3D"Courier New">"<TT>I worked with 7700 and 7700Rs, =
along with the =0A=
new 3xxx series, and</TT> <BR><TT>all I can say summarizes to simple: =
don't do =0A=
it. There is Cisco,</TT> <BR><TT>Enterasys, Allied Telesyn, but 3COM is =
just =0A=
tumbling down.</TT> </FONT>=0A=
<P><TT>Line cards for 7700 are seriously limited in functionality, =0A=
current</TT><FONT face=3D"Courier New"> <BR><TT>Supervisor can't do wire =
(8Gbit/s =0A=
FD) duplex on all cards simultaneusly,</TT> <BR><TT>and the 7700R =
marketed "few =0A=
seconds failover" goes up to 5-6 minutes</TT> <BR><TT>which is actually =
longer =0A=
than booting the switch from cold dead state.</TT> </FONT></P>=0A=
<P><TT>The BGP sucks, and OSPF sucks even more (it can kill whole switch =0A=
in</TT><FONT face=3D"Courier New"> <BR><TT>certain situations I can't =
speak of at =0A=
the moment).</TT> </FONT></P>=0A=
<P><TT>Same thing is with the routers - 3000 and 5000 suck, the 6000 =0A=
suck</TT><FONT face=3D"Courier New"> <BR><TT>even more (1 ATM OC3 =
interface with =0A=
30Mbit/s worth of traffic</TT> <BR><TT>generates 85% of CPU load on 6080 =
and =0A=
router begins to drop traffic..."</TT></FONT></P>=0A=
<P><TT>--------------------^ This guy went and bought C gear.</TT></P>=0A=
<P><TT><FONT face=3D"Courier New"></FONT></TT> </P>=0A=
<P><TT>"<SPAN style=3D"FONT-SIZE: 12px"><FONT size=3D3>Well, they =
aren’t service =0A=
provider switches – they are enterprise focused, and have a very =
iffy SP feature =0A=
set. They are also Huwei boxes, rebadged. This means they may (or may =
not) =0A=
possess stolen intellectual property. "</FONT></SPAN></TT></P>=0A=
<P><TT><SPAN style=3D"FONT-SIZE: 12px"><FONT =0A=
face=3D"Courier New"></FONT></SPAN></TT> </P></DIV></BODY></HTML>
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