OOB 'Management' switch recomendations

[MartinD]

Looking to get a switch for IPMI/Management/OOB stuff that's all sitting behind pfsense. Doesn't need to be anything fancy, 10/100 is fine obviously. Any recommendations?

 

[VPSCorey]

If 10/100 is fine then cisco 3550's should do the trick.

 

[fizzyjoe908]

I would agree. You can get Cisco 3550's or 2950's for next to nothing and they work for IPMI very well.

 

[devonblzx]

Netgear Prosafe all the way.  You can get used FE models for very cheap.  They are reliable and useful if you don't need a lot of features.  I have had an FE model running for 6-7 years.

The best part: power consumption.  Used Ciscos use anywhere from 60-100W.  The newer FE models use anywhere from 15-30W.

 

[MartinD]

Thanks guys. I had looked at the Cisco's previously but for something that will spend most of its time doing nothing the power consumption was a little high.


I've heard mixed stories about Prosafe stuff. I'd seen a few for relatively cheap but couldn't help think it was for a reason!

 

[Jack]

Dell PowerConnect 3424 go for about £40 on Ebay.

 

[KS_Phillip]

We use old 3com superstack iii's, can be picked up from ebay for a tenner.  No issues thus far.

 

[Wintereise]

We use 2950s, no issues either.

 

[devonblzx]

I've heard mixed stories about Prosafe stuff. I'd seen a few for relatively cheap but couldn't help think it was for a reason!

Well they are pretty cheap new as well.  A new FE 24-port was like $150 about 6 years ago when I bought it.  So them being about $50 on ebay now seems about right.  The ones selling for less than $50 are an even older model so I can't comment on those but if they work, thats all you really need for your purpose.  The regular prosafe smart switches don't do much, they are bare minimum, but if it's only for IPMI, I don't see an issue with that.  If you are worried about it, buy two used ones to have a backup, it will still run you about the same as a used cisco plus you'd be saving on power.

 

[datarealm]

We've had good luck with HP ProCurves, and thus far HP has honoured lifetime warranties even on used gear.

 

[MartinD]

We've had good luck with HP ProCurves, and thus far HP has honoured lifetime warranties even on used gear.

Yep, we use them for our in-band traffic. Just wanted something cheaper/throwaway for the oob stuff.

 

[notFound]

Managed to pick up some HP 1910 24G's last year quite cheap (£20/piece off eBay IIRC), was a heck of a deal and they've been very solid. In my experience and which is shared by many others, the older Cisco's can go for dirt cheap on eBay and still be very reliable. That is probably your best bet, unless you stumble across something else.

 

[Oliver]

Cisco 2811 are fine. You can get them on eBay with 16 port switch modules built in pretty cheap.

 

[George_Fusioned]

Cisco 2811 are fine.

Why use a router?

 

[Oliver]

I don't know. My upstream provider recommended and configured them for me with a VPN server. Connect in then am on a 10.x network with my IPMI/DRAC interfaces as well...