Choosing gigabit switch

[dotpointer]

Hi!

This is my first post here, but I have been lurking around for abit.

I'm trying to update a 100mbit SOHO network to 1000mbit.

Current network
[ADSL, 8Mbit]
[Server, 10-100Mbit, only PCI]
[3com OfficeConnect 8 port, 100Mbit - 3C16794]
[Clients - 2x 1000Mbit, 1x 100mbit, 1x 100mbit DIR-615 as AP]

Network is used for almost anything but gaming - downloading, uploading, audio, video and photo transfer. Sometimes usage is low, sometimes high. Server is used as network storage, but maybe we'll add NAS in the future.

Planned updates
- Replacing 100mbit NIC in server with Intel PRO/1000 GT
- Replacing 3C16794 switch with 1000mbit switch - which?

Choosen NIC is because it was the best for PCI I could find.
I don't know what switch to buy. It must be 8 port or more.

Based on what I have read some people say it doesn't matter.
The bottlenecks will be elsewhere - disks, NIC:s, cables.
And the difference between switch performance is small.

But based on this test charts it does matter. In the summary there is 262 mbit difference (26% of the 1000mbit connection speed). (I know there are different results for different package size, it's kinda confusing. But I guess the 512MB fits the plan best because of big file transfers...).

And sometime in the future, this new switch can be the bottleneck.
(Think: Sitting with a space helmet with 1000mbit and hypermagic-transfer stuff mounted backwards pumping link aggregation out and in of the poor switch in 2012... wanna be prepared. Or, I'll just want to add a NAS, maybe with link aggregation - not possible with unmanaged ones?)

I see people like ProCurves and I was near buying the 1400-8G, but in the charts this is one of the slowest ones. I also was near buying a Officeconnect 8 as I'm satisfied with the current one. But that one is way down the list too.

Best one is the mystic (rebranded?) LevelOne GSW-0804, which has been followed by other LevelOnes I'm not sure of the performance of.

Stability is a must, cannot have bad ports, crashes and stuff.
But I also want highest possible speed and smart functions, like QoS.
All 1000 mbit computers have support for jumbo frames up to 9k, so that is probably required too, and the 1400 does not seem to behave good with jumbos.

What should I do?

 

[thiggins]

Looking at the single pair test results, I see just shy of 700 Mbps. That tells me that there is something else limiting speed. I'd also like to see a straight-wire reference test before I would even think of relying on those test results.

Any 5 to 8 or even 16 port is going to have enough bandwidth to handle wire-speed switching on all ports. Buy on price, vendor reputation, brand preference and warranty.

 

[dotpointer]

Thanks for the reply.

700mbit/s is slow, I have seen results above 800 and maybe more in other places. Did not see this until now.

In this thread tipstir gives thumb up for my initial choice - the 3com Officeconnect 8, saying this:

3Com OfficeConnect 8-gig Switch (3C1670800B) [...]
HP Pro Curve 8-gig Switch (1400 series)
SMC SMC8508T EZ 8-gig Switch

[...]

I think the best one here is the 3Com OfficeConnect feature wise as it was the only one that was heavy duty can detect which port was using more load handling feature. Ports are in the Rear in this dual function switch.

This (marked in bold) confuses me, as the ProCurve also support QoS (802.1p).

Is it some kind of other load handling feature tipstir mean that is included in the Officeconnect?

 

[thiggins]

I have no idea what tipstir meant..

 

[dotpointer]

Okay.

The test results, are they totally unreliable - or can they give any guidance?

For instance, the LevelOne 8-port is quite far up, both in turn 1, turn 3 and 4 for 512mbit-test.

Even if running at lower speeds such as 700mbit, won't it show throughput capability in some way?

 

[thiggins]

It's not that the result are unreliable. It's just that they are not an accurate test of a switch's bandwidth. Meaningful switch testing requires specialized gear that is able to exercise all ports simultaneously at reliable wire-speed.

In a home setting, the devices you attach to this switch, especially the performance of their network stacks, are going to be more of a factor in network performance than the switch.

Pick one using whatever criteria make you comfortable and get on to worrying about other things.

 

[dotpointer]

Okay, thanks.

Just realized my raid1-server "only" reads data upto around 70-75mb/s (~600mbit).

It has been enough for 100mbit, but for 1000mbit it's a bottleneck.

Didn't think I would experience when the network speed ate up the system speed.

You learn new things everyday.

I looking at the Linksys SLM2008, was planning to use 2 cheap PCI cards to use link aggregation of 2gbit-> 250mb/s. But with a 133mb/s PCI bus and 75mb/s disks, it's waste of money. I better go with a cheaper nic maybe...