Hello.

I’m looking for a good reliable dell switch for my servers however I don’t need all the features listed in the powerconnect 5300 switch. Does the powerconnnect 2700 switch have the same reliable as the powerconnect 5300 but with just fewer configuration options?


My main concern if they are both have the same reliability for basic switching needs and if the only difference between the powerconect 5300 switch is more options.

The main differences I can see are:

1. Spanning tree
2. SMNP
3. Few more configuration options.

I'm really looking for is a good quality switch that is not going to break or cause network delays. I don't really need the features in the 5300 switches. Does this seem like the Dell powerconnect 2700 would do the trick or is the Powerconnect 5300 substantially better in reliability as well over the powerconnect 2700?

Then just get a cheap switch from any number of online sites. SMC, Linksys, Netgear, the list goes on and on for unmanaged switches.

~r

I would look into the trendnet switches. I haven't had any trouble with these and they are a good price as well.

The one thing I would say about an unmanaged switch is that it can make network issues a little tougher to trouble-shoot. There's been many times I've needed to check stats on a switch port to see which system is sending large amounts of data, or if there's a bad switch port or configuration mismatch causing problems. This can be done from a server as well, but if you have a lot of them it makes it a bit tougher.

I use mostly Cisco switches in my shop, though I suppose any managed switch would do. I just happen to know a little about the Cisco IOS, so its what I use.

Having said all that, I do have 1 Dell PowerConnect 2616 switch in place that I reluctantly used since it came free with a Dell equipment rack. I've had no problems with this switch, though I've lost the direct management that I like.

The 2700 series will function as a manged or unmanaged switch. By default it is unmanaged but you can boot into managed mode by using the management button. This switch does not have SNMP but it does implement RMON which is more robust than SNMP and can be used for troubleshooting and monitoring. It also supports link aggregation so you can bond mutiple trunks together and therefore increase the avalable bandwidth to and from the switch over those trunks. It also does support VLANs and port mirroring. The reviews on this series look to be good.