What Can I Use These Switches For?

[The Old Myron Siren]

I wanted to post about these switches before I started bidding for them, but I wanted to make sure as few people knew about the deal as possible until I had it secured .

I frequent a site that is used by government agencies to auction off their equipment and saw that there was a listing, within a reasonable amount of driving distance, that was simply titled "Networking Equipment". I'm always curious as to what exactly is being sold (I was only a few dollars away from getting UCF's old data servers a few months back). I was delighted to see that they were selling some network switches! However, the description is only:

 

Quote

 

In working condition. hard drives have been wiped.

Pick up Monday - Friday: 8:30 am - 3:00 pm. No weekend pick up.

 

 

 

I then saw that the only bid was for $20, which I felt was absurd. So I did the minimum increase to $25. Some how, no one outbid me and I ended up winning. I feel like I made out good regardless if these things are worthless or not seeing as it was only $25 ($26.25 including fees). Now I have absolutely zero use for this many ports, but hey, what else am I going to fit in my rack? I did notice that there were a few different models as well. I'm not exactly network experienced, especially with managed switches and the like.

 

My main questions here are:

1. Did I get as smokin' of a deal as I feel like I did?

2. What do each of the models do exactly? Are they all just simple switches?

3. There's a port on the switches that I don't recognize. What is it and what can/do I use it for?

 

I'll say again, I'm quite the novice with networking, so please be gentle.  I'll take any and all information on these things. Thanks in advance guys, you're always the best!

 

 

[brwainer]

FastIron switches are an odd category. They are very good hardware wise, very tough and resilient, but their CLI lacks some features and a lot of usability polish compared to Cisco and other brands of the same age. Even today FastIron (now owned by Extreme) isn’t as polished as their competitors. What’s worse for you, is that when Extreme acquired the brand, most of the documentation and firmware files for these older models dissappeared.

 

Are they good hardware you can put to use? Yes. Will they be easy to use and learn? No.

[The Old Myron Siren]

3 minutes ago, brwainer said:

FastIron switches are an odd category. They are very good hardware wise, very tough and resilient, but their CLI lacks some features and a lot of usability polish compared to Cisco and other brands of the same age. Even today FastIron (now owned by Extreme) isn’t as polished as their competitors. What’s worse for you, is that when Extreme acquired the brand, most of the documentation and firmware files for these older models dissappeared.

 

Are they good hardware you can put to use? Yes. Will they be easy to use and learn? No.

I intend to really just use them for home use, so nothing too serious. I wouldn't mind learning some new stuff, but I can see how some serious headaches will be coming my way.

[brwainer]

8 minutes ago, The Old Myron Siren said:

I intend to really just use them for home use, so nothing too serious. I wouldn't mind learning some new stuff, but I can see how some serious headaches will be coming my way.

Your bigger issue is likely to be loud fans. Just like servers, most enterprise switches (and especially older ones) expect to be in data closets where the noise is acceptable, and its more important to cram as much into the rack as possible.

[The Old Myron Siren]

8 minutes ago, brwainer said:

Your bigger issue is likely to be loud fans. Just like servers, most enterprise switches (and especially older ones) expect to be in data closets where the noise is acceptable, and its more important to cram as much into the rack as possible.

Ooo good point! I never thought about that. I do have the rack in its own closet, but lets just hope the thing isn't too loud in general. What else should I be on the lookout for them?

[Jarsky]

52 minutes ago, The Old Myron Siren said:

Ooo good point! I never thought about that. I do have the rack in its own closet, but lets just hope the thing isn't too loud in general. What else should I be on the lookout for them?

If they use 40mm fans and are too loud, I got some replacement Sunon quiet fans off eBay.

They were far better than the original ones in my Linksys 48 port switch which were old and worn. 

 

You can get 40x40x10mm & 40x40x20mm 'quiet' fans for about $5-$8

[The Old Myron Siren]

1 minute ago, Jarsky said:

If they use 40mm fans and are too loud, I got some replacement Sunon quiet fans off eBay.

They were far better than the original ones in my Linksys 48 port switch which were old and worn. 

 

You can get 40x40x10mm & 40x40x20mm 'quiet' fans for about $5-$8

Perfect! Thanks so much! I had to replace all the fans in my server rig with some noctuas because it was just unbearably loud. I assume you dont need anything terribly strong to move air inside a switch?

[brwainer]

9 hours ago, The Old Myron Siren said:

Perfect! Thanks so much! I had to replace all the fans in my server rig with some noctuas because it was just unbearably loud. I assume you dont need anything terribly strong to move air inside a switch?

Depends on how efficient the chips in the switch are. Some switches are known to eat hundreds of watts. If you can find data sheets on those switch models, it would tell you the expected power draw.