ProCurve switches work well for smaller (but growing) businesses

Every organization has key growth points: earning the first dollar, hiring the first employee, moving from an unmanaged network switch to a managed device. Business consultants offer help with the first two, and HP’s ProCurve Networking wants to help with the third, using its 1800-series managed switches.

[ The ProCurve switch line was selected for a Technology of the Year award. See the slideshow of all winners in the networking category. ]

I looked at two models of the ProCurve 1800 switch line, the 8G and 24G, as well as the larger ProCurve 2810-24G. Each goes a long way toward meeting the goal of substantial management capability in an easy-to-use package.

The 1800-8G and 1800-24G are identical in most respects, differing only in physical size, power cable, and number/type of ports. The 24G has two “multiple personality” ports that can be either 10/100/1000 twisted pair or mini-GBIC. Also, the 1800-24G and 2810-24G both have fans (more on that later).

Switch setup

Configuring the 1800s begins by connecting a computer, typing the device default address into the browser, and telling the switch where it now lives. The Web interface is laid out simply, with navigation across broad topics in a pane on the left, and drill-down information in a larger pane to the right. I was able to walk through basic configuration details quickly by running down the navigation pane and watching the details unfold.

The switches’ management capabilities are quite solid for a product aimed at the “new to managed switches” market. Each of the ports have basic monitoring and statistical breakdowns. Neighboring switches and connection details are sorted out through LLDP (Link-Layer Discovery Protocol). The health reporting continues with SNMP capabilities and a switch-hosted PING test for downstream connectivity checks.

Each port can do rate-limiting from 2,000 to 32,000 packets per second. Here, I have a tiny quibble that is difficult to resolve in SMB-style products such as these: Less-sophisticated network users (and managers) moving up in infrastructure functionality are used to thinking of network speed in terms of bits rather than packets. A conversion table would be useful.

VLANs can be set up on any or all ports (by default, all ports are part of VLAN 1), and trunking is available using both static and LACP (Link Aggregation Control Protocol) methods. Each of these capabilities begins to get into more sophisticated network control, and the documentation tries to walk a fine line between leaving users confused and becoming a “For Dummies” guide. The online documentation provides basic information on what a VLAN or a trunk might do, but if an 1800 switch is going into an organization that is still building its networking expertise, it really should be accompanied by a good book on data networking basics.

Finally, the 1800s allow port mirroring, an important capacity for organizations that want to add solid IDS capability without introducing an in-line failure point. It is possible to mirror all production ports to a single monitor port, though the documentation is kind enough to point out that the monitor port will drop packets if the traffic flow becomes excessive.

Down to details

Both 1800-series units performed well, though the 1800-8G was rather finicky about cable quality. On a couple of my lab cables, it would simply refuse to acknowledge a physical link to either the 1800-24G or a ProCurve 2810-24G at Gigabit or auto-negotiated speeds. If I told it to lock the connecting port to 100 Mbps, then all was well.

I mentioned the 1800-24G’s fan earlier. Here’s why: It bothered me. It’s not that the fan is excessively loud, but the overall pitch profile is high enough to be, for me, truly irritating. Perhaps the 1800-24G is best suited for a firm that’s ready to move to a managed switch — and a wiring closet.

Whereas the 1800 is designed for the move-up market, ProCurve positions the 2810 as a classic workgroup or branch-office switch for organizations that already have a managed infrastructure in place. The 2810 has a nicely organized Web interface, but it also has the CLI that network administrators tend to prefer when making rapid, substantial, production-equipment modifications.

On the physical side, it provides four “multi-personality” ports that can be either 10/100/1000 twisted pair or mini-GBIC (these ports are in addition to either 20 or 44 standard 10/100/1000 twisted pair ports). The basic 1U chassis is shallow enough to mount in a relay rack easily.

I mentioned the fan in the 1800-24G, so I’ll mention this one, too: There is a fan in the 2810-24G, but I found the tonal pitch to be low enough that the switch could sit near my desk without making what’s left of my hair stand on end. In a wiring closet or server room, it won’t be noticed.

The 2810 has the management features you’d expect on a piece of enterprise network gear. Port-user security can be enforced through ACLs, TACACS+, or via pass-through from a RADIUS server. Quality of service and rate limiting are not constrained to mere frame counts as in the 1800 model, but can be tailored by application type and traffic description in multiple combinations.

SNMP possibilities are rich, as are all the diagnostic and reporting tools, including accounting features that will make charge-backs much easier come quarterly closing time. If your needs go beyond the 48 ports available in a larger version of this switch, as many as 16 devices can be stacked and managed as a single unit.

I found the 2810’s performance on par with my expectations. I was never able to load the switch to the breaking point using standard servers and workstations. It dealt with cables of varying lengths and qualities ably, successfully negotiating connections with other HP and non-HP switches in the lab.

When it comes to the CLI, anyone with experience navigating text commands for network infrastructure equipment will be up to speed quickly. It’s not IOS, but much of the logic works in similar patterns, so you won’t need to learn a completely new grammar to become proficient with the 2810’s workings.

Which switch?

The Web interface makes taking care of the basics simple, and the level of available management should more than meet the needs of the vast majority of small businesses. With a list price of $209, the eight-port version is fairly priced, and at $519, the 24-port version can be a great value.

The 2810 is in an entirely different class. It is designed to be a layer in a large, thoroughly-managed enterprise infrastructure. In that role, it should be a very solid player, providing all the features a network architect could want. The Web interface is pleasant, though to be honest, it won’t get a lot of use in most environments — the admin will go straight to CLI and be about his or her business. But business is what this switch is all about, and there it should be a consistent, productive player.