Cheap switch for internal traffic, is it sufficiently reliable and fast?

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runnerup

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Nov 14, 2009, 10:53:03 PM11/14/09
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Currently I'm using about 6 servers, they all to 2 gigabit LAN ports.

All are hooked up to the external internet on eth0.

Four of them are also hooked up to an internal switch (using ip
10.1.1.1, 10.1.1.2 etc..) on eth1.

I've mostly used the internal network (10.1.1.x) for backup and small
amount of reverse proxying.

Recently I'm thinking of installing mogilefs and letting it use the
internal network for file distribution, and sending files through the
internal network to the outside network. I expect a large amount of
traffic through this.

I'm using a cheap D-Link 5p DGS-1005 switch which has never given me
trouble before for a few years, would this be sufficient for non-
critical large amounts or internal traffic?
Or could someone recommend a different switch(lowend)?

dormando

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Nov 14, 2009, 10:56:44 PM11/14/09
to mogile

It'll work until it stops working... You can look at the max packet
rate/backplane size of the switch. Odds are MogileFS won't overtax that,
especially given the total size is only five ports? No guarantees of
course.

You could probably do an easy load test (with or without mogilefs) and see
how it performs.

Ask Bjørn Hansen

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Nov 15, 2009, 12:12:25 AM11/15/09
to mog...@googlegroups.com

On Nov 14, 2009, at 19:53, runnerup wrote:

> I'm using a cheap D-Link 5p DGS-1005 switch which has never given me
> trouble before for a few years, would this be sufficient for non-
> critical large amounts or internal traffic?
> Or could someone recommend a different switch(lowend)?

I have various "home-office" gigabit switches from the "consumer brands" at my house and they're all sorts of flaky, relatively speaking. On average each of them will die or "crash" every 18 months or so and need to be rebooted or even replaced. At home that's fine, of course, but I wouldn't want them connected to something that results in pages being sent and people woken up at night.

Dell's PowerConnect switches are pretty decent for basic switching (at least I haven't had any problems with the couple handfuls I've used over the years -- and they all came used from eBay! They are a bit odd to manage, in particular the older versions.

HP makes very nice switches; even their low-end ones. They have a 8-port 'web managed only' (no snmp monitoring) gigabit switch that's about $150. We have some of those in the office and they are great. Their higher-end ones are really easy to work with, but costs as much as a decent server, so if you are on a budget it might not be worth it.

- ask

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