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Small Business Switch Selection Guide

Author: Bo Zhou from Dell SMB Social Media Working Group

Preface: This article introduces the role of switches in a simple way, expounds the ways and methods of purchasing enterprise switches, and roughly introduces the classification and case applications of Dell switches, and analyzes the future direction of Dell network products.

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What is a Switch?

Second, the switch purchase guide

III. Classification of Dell switches

Dell Switch Power Connect 6200 Series Introduction

V. Brief introduction of Dell Force 10 network products

1. What is a switch?

To find out what a switch is, we must first distinguish between: hub, switch and router; but these three devices have similar ports and appearances, and are often placed in the same cabinet, so it is difficult for unfamiliar people to distinguish what a switch is.

The switch is also called a switching hub, which regenerates the information and forwards it to the designated port after internal processing. It has automatic addressing capability and switching function. Because the switch transmits the destination address of the information packet, each information packet is sent independently from the source port to the destination port to avoid collision with other ports. A generalized switch is a device that performs information exchange functions in a communication system.

We want to distinguish between router and switch concepts. A router is a network device that connects multiple networks or segments, which can "translate" data information between different networks, segments or VLANs so that they can "read" each other's data to form a larger network. Routing refers to the movement of information from a source location to a destination location through an interconnected network. The switch is divided into access layer (layer 2 switch), and then there are aggregation layer and data center core layer in the middle and high end switches.

The following table shows several ways in which the industry classifies switches.

partition switch type network structure access layer aggregation layer data center core layer manageable unmanaged OSI 7 layer network model two layers three layers four layers five layers six layers seven layers

For small and medium-sized office networks, if performance, stability and future scalability are considered, it is best to select 10/100Mbps adaptive switches to build a local area network. What are switches for?

The purpose of using switches is to reduce and filter the data traffic in the network as much as possible. If the switches are not properly configured and set, they will not be able to optimize the network performance, but reduce the data transmission speed and increase the network delay, thus affecting the transmission of the entire network data.

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Second, the switch purchase guide.

If we decide to buy a switch, what factors should we IT pay attention to when choosing a switch?

1. Manageable. Does the switch support intelligent management technology? This is the primary consideration when purchasing, convenient intelligent management page, for enterprise IT administrators, can greatly reduce the workload of network management and maintenance.

2. Number of ports. The choice of switch ports needs to be determined according to the number of PCs in the enterprise, taking into account the amount of personnel usage, and also taking into account redundant ports. General access layer switches are divided into 24 ports and 48×× switches, of course, there are 4 ports, 8 ports and 12 ports specifications.

3. Speed and stability. The importance of switch speed and stability is beyond doubt.

5. Brand. Switch brands in the domestic market are more professional brands: Huawei, Cisco, Dell (including Force10). What brand of switch is appropriate? In addition to the manageable type mentioned above, the number of ports, and stability, other devices should also be considered. The general computer room architecture is a holistic solution. Consider using servers, switches, etc. of the same brand. Choosing a unified brand can sometimes save procurement costs and also save maintenance manpower and costs.

6. Good after-sales service is also a very important factor. Generally good brands can usually provide good after-sales service. When the switch fails, does it have the ability to solve the problem immediately? This is a question we have to consider when purchasing. Dell's 24*7 service has a clear advantage.

7. size. The external size of the switch is also usually one of the factors to be considered when purchasing a computer room. Therefore, when ordering, you need to know the exact size with the sales person so that you can put it in the cabinet. Dell's PowerConnect 6200 series comes in a 1U form factor.

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III. Classification of Dell switches

Dell networking products currently include the Power Connect series, B,J,W series and M series switches for blade servers.

PowerConnect 2808PowerConnect 2816PowerConnect 2824PowerConnect 2848 Manageable Fast Ethernet Switch PowerConnect 3524PowerConnect 3548 Managed Gigabit Ethernet Switch PowerConnect 5424PowerConnect 5448 PowerConnect 5524PowerConnect 5548PowerConnect 6224 PowerConnect 6224FPowerConnect 6248PowerConnect-7024PowerConnect 7024FPowerConnect 7048PowerConnect 7048R Power over Ethernet Switch PowerConnect 3524PPowerConnect 3548 PPowerConnect 5524pPowerConnect 5548pPowerConnect 6224PPowerConnect 6248PPowerConnect 7024PPowerConnect 7048PB Series Switch (SAN Switch) PowerConnect B-8000 CE/DCB Network Switch PowerConnect B-DCX 4S Network Switches PowerConnect B-RX Ethernet Switches PowerConnect B-MLXe Series Switches

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Dell Switch Power Connect 6200 Series

1. Dell PowerConnect™ 6200 is Dell's most advanced family of switching products offering advanced switching capabilities, including Ethernet, among Dell's mainstream Access Layer switches

Power over Ethernet (PoE), high-density, high-performance stacking, and 10 Gigabit Ethernet capabilities scale from small to large enterprise switches. Dell™ PowerConnect™ 6200 series switches support communication between Layer 3 switch Vlans.

According to Dell's official website: Because the PowerConnect 6248 delivers high rack density, users have the flexibility to maximize server-workstation connectivity with a 1U switch. A stack of 12 6224/6248 series switches capable of connecting up to 576 servers and/or clients, providing maximum density, flexibility and manageability, is built on top of a 10/100/1000BASE-T Gigabit Ethernet 1 switch. When purchasing, the entire network architecture needs to be determined according to the number of clients.

2. Dell Power Connect6000 Series Switch Datasheet.

The following is a list of Dell Access Layer Switches Power Connect6000 Series specifications collected by the author. Only by making reasonable choices according to different models and port numbers can we truly save costs and ensure future network upgrades:

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V. Brief introduction of Dell Force 10 network products:

From the above introduction, we have a broad understanding of Dell's switch product line. If you have a large enterprise and need switches at the aggregation or data center layer, you might consider Dell's Power Connect 6000 series, or the B series; most IT knows or understands that Force10 networks makes switches that are very influential in the networking product world, with more high-end, very competitive products.

But the big news in the networking industry this year: Dell's successful acquisition of Force10 Networks, a data center networking solutions company. Force10 Networks was founded in 1999 and is headquartered in San Jose, California, with research and development centers in Silicon Valley. Force10 Networks operates in more than 60 countries, but 80% of its business is in North America, where it had revenue of $200 million last year. Force10 Networks is the leading technology vendor in the global data center networking space, and its Open Cloud Networking is based on open standards, automation and virtualization characteristics, consistent with Dell's philosophy. Force10 Networks 'technology is highly complementary to Dell's current data center strategy.

"With Force10 Networks technology, Dell can provide data center-class networking solutions that allow enterprise customers to deliver converged infrastructure," said Cindy Borovick, IDC vice president of data center networking business research. Force10 Networks 'technology architecture will be closely aligned with Dell's virtual data center strategy. "

From the overall strategy, Dell will be stronger in networking products. Dell will leverage Force 10's technical strength in mid-to high-end networking products to begin deepening Dell's networking business, and Dell has since completed its networking product line through acquisitions. We'll see how strong Dell is in the networking market going forward.

The Force10 product focuses on aggregation and data center tiers, with S25n and S25d supporting Dell Storage EqualLogic usage.

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