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  1. #1

    Question Extreme Networks gear

    Anyone had experience w/ Extreme Networks Black Diamond 6808 or similar Extreme gear? Stuff looks pretty cheap on eBay, but is it crap? How about failure rates and performance? Will the P/S die in 6 months? Will it melt under a DoS attack?

    Comments appreciated
    Garry Dolley @ ARP Networks | gdolley _at_ arpnetworks . com | #arpnetworks on Freenode | @arpnetworks, @bsdvps
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  2. #2
    Join Date
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    Depends what you want to use them for. We happily use BD6808s with multiple MSM64i and Dual AC i-Power. A couple of years back, there were a spate of dodgy line cards, due to a problem with memory from a certain supplier (I forget who).
    Karl Austin :: KDAWS.com
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  3. #3
    I personally like Extreme Networks gear. But that is just my preference.
    Jeffrey Nikoletich
    Xfernet - http://www.xfernet.com

  4. #4
    Join Date
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    Canada
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    42

    Re: Extreme Networks gear

    Originally posted by garrycc
    Anyone had experience w/ Extreme Networks Black Diamond 6808 or similar Extreme gear? Stuff looks pretty cheap on eBay, but is it crap? How about failure rates and performance? Will the P/S die in 6 months? Will it melt under a DoS attack?

    Comments appreciated
    I've worked with Extreme stuff for a few years. A couple Summit switches stopped working, modules had dead ports, but no problems with chassises. BD6808 is just a chassis, no modules, no ports.

    We've gone through 2 power supplies over the last year on our 10 BDs, but they're a couple years old (2002?), so they last pretty long... they support dual redundant power supplies. Wire speed switching, no problem with DoS attacks. We don't use their routing features so I can't comment on how that will handle in a DoS. On the same 10 BDs, we seem to lose the modules the most... from what I've heard, we lose 2-3 per year but service contract's covering the replacements. (I don't know how much we're paying for that).

  5. #5
    Join Date
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    We use Extreme gear, and it seems to work quite well. I guess you could say, it just does it's job, and thats it.

  6. #6
    Originally posted by JTY
    We use Extreme gear, and it seems to work quite well. I guess you could say, it just does it's job, and thats it.
    What gear is it exactly you use? From what I'm hearing, some gear is alright and useful, but some can be a headache (e.g. Black Diamond).
    Garry Dolley @ ARP Networks | gdolley _at_ arpnetworks . com | #arpnetworks on Freenode | @arpnetworks, @bsdvps
    State of the art services, strong community and friendly support
    FreeBSD, OpenBSD, Linux VPS • ARP Metal™ Dedicated Servers • Colocation • IP Transit
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  7. #7
    Join Date
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    We've got several Summit switches, and recently added a Black Diamond.

  8. #8
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    As I say, a lot of module failures on the BDs you'll here about, are usually fairly old modules from the time when Extreme had a dodgy batch of memor, or at least that's what it seems like, reading around.
    Karl Austin :: KDAWS.com
    The Agency Hosting Specialist :: 0800 5429 764
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  9. #9
    The BD 6808's I run have been nothing but reliable. Originally, they were configured with 2 MSM64's, 2 G8Xi's, and F48Ti's and we never lost a module.

    A few things to be aware of:

    1). Prior to ExtremeWare 7.3, the L3 routing was pure host cache and was vunrable to random scr/dst attacks, IPFDB thrashing. 7.3 introduced a new feature called IPDA, which is sort of a Quasi-LPM routing method. With this feature enabled, the IPFDB thrashing is not a problem.

    2). ICMP prior to the Cyclone based modules are all done in software, although there are anti-DDOS protection methods built into EW.

    If you plan on doing heavy L3, add the MPLS module or ARM modules. These are essential advanced routing cards that will take the L3 load off of the MSM's, and support LPM routing as well as Hardware ICMP.

    We recently upgraded from a single 6808 as configured above to 2 x 6808, Each with 1 MSM-3, MPLS Module, and 4 16 Port Gig-e Cards and they are working just fine. Prior to firing up the second chassis, I had both MSM-3's in one chassis and have to complement on how well the hitless failover works.

    DD

  10. #10
    Extreme 6808 equiptment is very good, just make sure you have inferno series cards only! (i-series).
    Neil R Bowen - WHC
    All posts are of my own personal view and not neccesarily those of any company, this is a personal forum account and all comments are assumptions and may not be fact.

  11. #11
    Originally posted by neilrbowen
    Extreme 6808 equiptment is very good, just make sure you have inferno series cards only! (i-series).
    What's special about the i-series? (newer? more reliable? etc..)
    Garry Dolley @ ARP Networks | gdolley _at_ arpnetworks . com | #arpnetworks on Freenode | @arpnetworks, @bsdvps
    State of the art services, strong community and friendly support
    FreeBSD, OpenBSD, Linux VPS • ARP Metal™ Dedicated Servers • Colocation • IP Transit
    Native IPv6 • VNC Console • Tunnel VNC over SSH • Serial Console over SSH • DNS Manager

  12. #12
    Join Date
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    You have:

    Non-iSeries
    iSeries
    Triumph

    Modules, in order of age, oldest first. Ideally you want iSeries or above modules. If you're looking at GigE/10GE, then you want the Triumph modules.

    The Extreme site is the best place to get info on the differences, as they can be quite numerous.

    Thanks,
    Karl Austin :: KDAWS.com
    The Agency Hosting Specialist :: 0800 5429 764
    Partner with us and free-up more time for income generating tasks

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