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Thread: Dream Network

  1. #11
    cheyenne1212 ,
    like ammo said do you have any idea how much FSO costs you ur trying to set up a network for a simple company not for the pentagon so some thing like that.so plz also consider the costs and the turn over of the company.

  2. #12
    Senior since the 3 dot era
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    Nov 2001
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    1,542
    A note: I see a lot of people propose Cisco. This is indeed very very good equipment, but like said, there are alternatives. Probably for the price of two non-redundant Cisco core switches with fiber modules you can have two core switches from Extreme or Nortel or Alcatel with redundant modules. I suggest let several vendors do a proposal, check out the costs and features of each product. Don't forget TCO (for example there is less warranty on Cisco). Anyway Cisco would be a good choice too.

    Again I strongly suggest to use redundancy. For example when using the fiber modules on the core -> use two and connect core 1 and core 2 not only double but also separated over the two modules, thiw way failure due to cable or module failure is (almost) impossible.

    core1 fiber module1 -------------------------- core 2 fiber module 1
    core1 fiber module1 -------------------------- core 2 fiber module 2

    core1 fiber module2 -------------------------- core 2 fiber module 2
    core1 fiber module2 -------------------------- core 2 fiber module 1

    For the switches on the floor level do something similar if possible, this will cost you a lot more on cabling and fiber optic modules but you will have a high availability network

    switch 1 module 1 --------------- core 1
    switch 1 module 2 --------------- core 2

    p.s. I saw someone state that the Cisco 3xxx serie almost reached wirespeed level 3 switching... the Extreme Blackdiamond does that without problem:
    Wire-speed IP/IPX routing, Wire-speed switching, 4,096 IEEE 802.1Q VLANs, Switch and route jumbo frames ... perhaps the network config I propose is overkill... lol
    a matching Cisco would be the catalyst 4500 or 6500. The company I did the drawings for always had VLAN's short and needed a 99.9% uptime.

  3. #13
    The Iceman Cometh
    Join Date
    Aug 2001
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    1,209
    All I can say is that, so far, you've all been a tremendous help. I just got home (it's about 1:15 am) 'cuz a lot of my friends have been affected by the San Diego fires, so I'm kinda out of it at the moment. I've gotten a great deal of information I need to start looking into now. I especially appreciate the comments which gave specifics. As I said, I'm not familiar with most of the high-end equipment, and some of the suggestions you've given have already gotten me thinking "outside the [small business] box" so to speak. Of course, any further suggestions are always greatly appreciated. As I decide on what I'm planning on doing and I've gotten some bids of the manufacturers I decide upon, I'll definately keep you all up to date. Thanks again for all of your great feedback.

    AJ

  4. #14
    Senior since the 3 dot era
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    avdven -> a note concerning the firewalling, you can either go with a complex central based Nokia and checkpoint solution, but this is very expensive cause checkpoint support is only trough resellers and those tend to have prices that are 50% of the purchasing price / year.
    The checkpoint solution is only interesting when you have a very complex setup (the network we had to upgrade had over 20 outside router connections, also several OC3 lines, remote networks, mainframe connections, small ISP functionality,...)
    The checkpoint has compared to PIX less performance but more functionality
    Cisco PIX is a better choice when your setup is less complex. It's support is less expensive, it's stable and fast, probably best performance in the industry.
    Since you have a less complex environment I suggest going with Cisco PIX for firewalling.

  5. #15
    Oracle for database. Expensive, but it is well worth it.

    -It is I, me-

  6. #16
    Alot of great suggestions already - so I won't go into alot of detail and description as most of it would just be redundant of what others have been saying...

    But I would suggest, if cost isn't a matter, going with Foundry FastIron switches... They have been one of the most reliable fastest switches for some time now - they just cost considerably more then Cisco and most others is their only real downside...

    Also - not mentioned Allied Telesyn 'Rapier' switches. They don't have quite as large of throughput as the Foundry - but they bost cost less and hardware wise is the most reliable switch made. (Not even 1 reported hardware failure)

    Here's a good article from PC magazine that compares Cisco/Foundry/AlliedTelesyn/SMC and more - for Highend, midrange, and cheapy switches...

    http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,4149,34640,00.asp

    RRP

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