LAN Party Chat

[arp]

Here we talk about everything LAN Party so that I can hide the fact that I need help selecting hardware and planning a LAN party.

Rules are very simple:

• Keep it somewhat related to a LAN Party
• Pizza is a REQUIREMENT
• Positivity
• Thats it

I dont know what more to write.

[arp]

So what are the recommended switches for a max 400 person LAN party with each switch needing to be 48 port poe and managed and work with anything. They also need to handle 10Gbe and have a strong backplate. (Also maybe keep them under the 100k pricetag)

[jaslion]

Why poe? If you have some poe devices just split them

 

As for 48 port swtiches just go on ebay and get like for example a few years old hp aruba's for a couple hundred each.

 

10gbe uplink to everyone? That will BLOW the budget and besides a 1Gb uplink is still the most common on most machine and TOTALLY fine.

[Blue4130]

24 minutes ago, arp said:

So what are the recommended switches for a max 400 person LAN party with each switch needing to be 48 port poe and managed and work with anything. They also need to handle 10Gbe and have a strong backplate. (Also maybe keep them under the 100k pricetag)

Have you ever organized a LAN party before? Is this a reality or dream lan config? Starting with 400 people seems foolish if you don't have the basics down first. 400 people is more than what ltx had isn't it?

[arp]

5 minutes ago, jaslion said:

Why poe? If you have some poe devices just split them

 

As for 48 port swtiches just go on ebay and get like for example a few years old hp aruba's for a couple hundred each.

 

10gbe uplink to everyone? That will BLOW the budget and besides a 1Gb uplink is still the most common on most machine and TOTALLY fine.

We plan on running alot of poe cameras, access points and otherthings on the network and it is always nice to have poe. As for the aruba switches they are interesting but not quite what we are looking for. We dont mean 10Gbe for every table but 10Gbe to every row switch. 

[Blue4130]

37 minutes ago, arp said:

We plan on running alot of poe cameras, access points and otherthings on the network and it is always nice to have poe. As for the aruba switches they are interesting but not quite what we are looking for. We dont mean 10Gbe for every table but 10Gbe to every row switch. 

Map out your plan. It will make things easier to give advice. Right off the bat, I can say keep the cameras and potentially the access points on a seperate (v)lan.

[jaslion]

4 hours ago, arp said:

We plan on running alot of poe cameras, access points and otherthings on the network and it is always nice to have poe. As for the aruba switches they are interesting but not quite what we are looking for. We dont mean 10Gbe for every table but 10Gbe to every row switch. 

Yeah just split those off on their own.

 

Best you can do now is first make a map with exactly what you need (or as close as you can get to it) and then it's a lot easier for us to go from there.

[Needfuldoer]

Brocade ICX6610s as your edge switches, two Brocade ICX7750s as your core. Use the 40Gbe ports as your uplinks. Don't waste money on providing PoE to every seat, just get one or two PoE switches for your infrastructure devices. (Cameras should be on a separate VLAN anyway so guests can't get to them.)

 

Or just go all out on a Cisco Nexus fabric infrastructure, if money is no object.  

Edited October 3, 2023 by Needfuldoer
Whoa dang you're serious! I take that back; you wouldn't believe how many times "I wanna make a huge LAN party center" comes up as a teenage fantasy project around here...

[arp]

7 hours ago, jaslion said:

Yeah just split those off on their own.

 

Best you can do now is first make a map with exactly what you need (or as close as you can get to it) and then it's a lot easier for us to go from there.

Mmm. Diagram time it is then.

[mariushm]

You can get Cisco N3k-C3048-FA-L3 (48 x 1g RJ45 + 4 x 10g SFP+) switches for $99 each :  https://unixsurplus.com/Cisco-N3KC3048TP1GE-48Ports-1G-2xPSU

 or https://www.ebay.com/itm/355009201636 (their ebay store)  - if you order 8-10, you may get a better deal at least for shipping.  ASK if the 10g SFP+ ports are enabled - not sure what they mean by BASE LICENSE in the title.

 

or juniper ex4200 for 99$ - 48 Port 1G Switch 8x POE L3 2x PSU w/ Ear | 2x 10G SFP+ 2x 1G SFP : https://www.ebay.com/itm/355009328442

 

$119 for Cisco 4948 48 Port 1Gb RJ45 Switch LAN Base L3 License 2x PSU w/Ear | 2x X2-10GB  (-SR optics) : https://www.ebay.com/itm/354694625062

SR transceivers are around $20 each at fs.com (example https://www.fs.com/products/11552.html)

 

Another option is the Quanta 48 + 4 10g for ~$250 : https://unixsurplus.com/Quanta-T1048-LY4R/ or https://www.ebay.com/itm/354665454149

 

A 52 port 10g SFP+ switch is $250 : https://www.ebay.com/itm/355009221358  - arista Arista 7050S-52-R  - 48 x 10g sfp+  + 4 x 10g sfp+

or $269 for a quanta T3048-LY2 with 48 Port 10Gb SFP+ and 4x 40GbE QSFP+ : https://www.ebay.com/itm/355067123299

 

so you can have 2-4 x 10g cables from each switch go to this master switch and use up to 40 of the 48 ports , use another 2-4 for a steam cache or other games and the remaining ports for connection to router/ internet/ whatever.

 

 

 

[arp]

11 hours ago, mariushm said:

You can get Cisco N3k-C3048-FA-L3 (48 x 1g RJ45 + 4 x 10g SFP+) switches for $99 each :  https://unixsurplus.com/Cisco-N3KC3048TP1GE-48Ports-1G-2xPSU

 or https://www.ebay.com/itm/355009201636 (their ebay store)  - if you order 8-10, you may get a better deal at least for shipping.  ASK if the 10g SFP+ ports are enabled - not sure what they mean by BASE LICENSE in the title.

 

or juniper ex4200 for 99$ - 48 Port 1G Switch 8x POE L3 2x PSU w/ Ear | 2x 10G SFP+ 2x 1G SFP : https://www.ebay.com/itm/355009328442

 

$119 for Cisco 4948 48 Port 1Gb RJ45 Switch LAN Base L3 License 2x PSU w/Ear | 2x X2-10GB  (-SR optics) : https://www.ebay.com/itm/354694625062

SR transceivers are around $20 each at fs.com (example https://www.fs.com/products/11552.html)

 

Another option is the Quanta 48 + 4 10g for ~$250 : https://unixsurplus.com/Quanta-T1048-LY4R/ or https://www.ebay.com/itm/354665454149

 

A 52 port 10g SFP+ switch is $250 : https://www.ebay.com/itm/355009221358  - arista Arista 7050S-52-R  - 48 x 10g sfp+  + 4 x 10g sfp+

or $269 for a quanta T3048-LY2 with 48 Port 10Gb SFP+ and 4x 40GbE QSFP+ : https://www.ebay.com/itm/355067123299

 

so you can have 2-4 x 10g cables from each switch go to this master switch and use up to 40 of the 48 ports , use another 2-4 for a steam cache or other games and the remaining ports for connection to router/ internet/ whatever.

 

 

 

The previous LAN I worked at used quanta switches but I would like to go juniper. What should we use for core and edge switches. Also seeming as we would need aprox. 2 switches per row and there are 12 rows that quickly adds up. And there also needs to be one for crew and one for stage aswell as maybe smaller 24 ports for other services in crew area.

[arp]

1 minute ago, arp said:

The previous LAN I worked at used quanta switches but I would like to go juniper. What should we use for core and edge switches.

And whats the backplate on the juniper switch.

[arp]

I could maybe go for the QuantaMesh T3048-LY8 as the two main core switches and then use QuantaMesh T3048-LY9's for the row switches.

[Blue4130]

13 minutes ago, arp said:

And whats the backplate on the juniper switch.

What do you mean by backplate? The uplink ports?

[arp]

1 hour ago, Blue4130 said:

What do you mean by backplate? The uplink ports?

How much data it can handle in total. Normal is around 56 Gbe

[Lurick]

1 minute ago, arp said:

How much data it can handle in total. Normal is around 56 Gbe

Switches these days aren't limited by their backplane. They're full throughput non-blocking

[arp]

Do i run single mode or duplex to the switches. duplex is expensive as hell.

[arp]

1 hour ago, Lurick said:

Switches these days aren't limited by their backplane. They're full throughput non-blocking

Damn. Techonlogy is evolving faster than my brain can consume networking news.

[Lurick]

1 hour ago, arp said:

Do i run single mode or duplex to the switches. duplex is expensive as hell.

For fiber, I'd do all single mode just to keep it simple but multimode would work depending on distance from ToR to aggregation but under 500m would be fine.

You can do simplex fiber or duplex, they should be about the same cost per run.

[Lurick]

1 hour ago, arp said:

Damn. Techonlogy is evolving faster than my brain can consume networking news.

Yah, these days ASICs are thankfully non-blocking in almost all cases

There are a few exceptions for modular chassis and whatnot when you have backplane interconnect modules and some of them fail then you'll get reduced throughput but otherwise switch ports are considered non-blocking unless called out otherwise.

[mariushm]

7 hours ago, arp said:

The previous LAN I worked at used quanta switches but I would like to go juniper. What should we use for core and edge switches. Also seeming as we would need aprox. 2 switches per row and there are 12 rows that quickly adds up. And there also needs to be one for crew and one for stage aswell as maybe smaller 24 ports for other services in crew area.

The same company I linked to has Quanta and Juniper switches, they were just listed in small quantity on eBay or didn't have 10g ports in the listed configurations.  Use the chat on their website and ask them exactly for what you need, they may have some switches in smaller quantities they don't list yet.

 

If you're in US, you may also want to ask them if they'd be willing to "rent" 20-30 switches to you.. like pay the full price as a deposit of sorts, and when you ship them back after a week, they refund your purchase, minus let's say $500-1000.

 

I personally don't care about Juniper, I'm more partial to Arista, and I've used Allied Telesyn a lot in the past.

 

Anyway, switches are not just the only cost... you need ethernet cables (seriously don't think it's worth buying cable and crimping cable yourself, I'd just get cables in various lengths like 10 meters, 15 meters , 25 meters etc

You could have each switch in the center of a row and route the cables from center in a "star"  formation under the desks so that people won't step on the cables. Have the fiber from the switch to the "core" switch in some plastic or metal pipe/tube so that people won't step on it.

 

You'll want to figure out how much power is available, you'll need to have power strips, or power distribution blocks etc etc see if the electrical panels of the building can handle so much power or maybe you'd have to rent a generator or something outside.. give each pc an average power consumption of 250 watts and with 400 people you're looking at 100+ KW  ... plus 50-100w per switch, power consumption for the scene, projects etc etc

 

Make sure air conditioning can handle 400 people with 400 computers.... check with the firemen if that location has permits or is insured for so much power consumption, to have 400+ computers...

 

 

[TubsAlwaysWins]

On 10/2/2023 at 7:29 AM, Needfuldoer said:

Brocade ICX6610s as your edge switches, two Brocade ICX7750s as your core. Use the 40Gbe ports as your uplinks. Don't waste money on providing PoE to every seat, just get one or two PoE switches for your infrastructure devices. (Cameras should be on a separate VLAN anyway so guests can't get to them.)

 

Or just go all out on a Cisco Nexus fabric infrastructure, if money is no object.  

I got a Brocade ICX 6430-48p and the GUI is dogshit if thats a thing anyone cares about. Stupid cheap tho. Like $80 for 48 ports, POE, 10g SFP

[Needfuldoer]

5 minutes ago, TubsAlwaysWins said:

I got a Brocade ICX 6430-48p and the GUI is dogshit if thats a thing anyone cares about.

The CLI is extremely similar to Cisco iOS. Who uses the GUI to set up managed switches?

[arp]

18 minutes ago, mariushm said:

The same company I linked to has Quanta and Juniper switches, they were just listed in small quantity on eBay or didn't have 10g ports in the listed configurations.  Use the chat on their website and ask them exactly for what you need, they may have some switches in smaller quantities they don't list yet.

 

If you're in US, you may also want to ask them if they'd be willing to "rent" 20-30 switches to you.. like pay the full price as a deposit of sorts, and when you ship them back after a week, they refund your purchase, minus let's say $500-1000.

 

I personally don't care about Juniper, I'm more partial to Arista, and I've used Allied Telesyn a lot in the past.

 

Anyway, switches are not just the only cost... you need ethernet cables (seriously don't think it's worth buying cable and crimping cable yourself, I'd just get cables in various lengths like 10 meters, 15 meters , 25 meters etc

You could have each switch in the center of a row and route the cables from center in a "star"  formation under the desks so that people won't step on the cables. Have the fiber from the switch to the "core" switch in some plastic or metal pipe/tube so that people won't step on it.

 

You'll want to figure out how much power is available, you'll need to have power strips, or power distribution blocks etc etc see if the electrical panels of the building can handle so much power or maybe you'd have to rent a generator or something outside.. give each pc an average power consumption of 250 watts and with 400 people you're looking at 100+ KW  ... plus 50-100w per switch, power consumption for the scene, projects etc etc

 

Make sure air conditioning can handle 400 people with 400 computers.... check with the firemen if that location has permits or is insured for so much power consumption, to have 400+ computers...

 

 

We have had a 370 person LAN there before. 400 is max due to fire restrictions and such. 

[arp]

14 minutes ago, TubsAlwaysWins said:

I got a Brocade ICX 6430-48p and the GUI is dogshit if thats a thing anyone cares about. Stupid cheap tho. Like $80 for 48 ports, POE, 10g SFP

Imagine using GUI lol