[Beowulf] Gigabit switch recommendations (again)

[stephen mulcahy]

Hi,

Thanks to everyone for their responses to my KVM query - I need to 
digest those a bit more but the general picture I'm getting is that KVMs 
are expensive and don't add much to the overall management.

On a related note, I'm also looking at a gigabit switch for the same 
cluster. I saw some discussions in the archive from back in 2006 that 
make it clear that all Gigabit switches are not created equal.

I've been doing some research but good performance data is pretty scarce 
from the manufacturers (they mostly claim full 96Gbps switching 
bandwidth but as was pointed out previously, this may be a) untrue or b) 
partially true in that it refers to the bandwidth between ports 
connected to the same switch ASIC).

What I'm seeing in my research is that there are a bunch of switches 
around the €600 mark (such as D-Link's DGS-1248T) and then a bunch of 
switches around the €1300 mark (such as HP's Procurve 2810-48G). If you 
want to spend more, there are plenty of options above and beyond also. 
What I can't see is a clear difference between the €600 switches and the 
€1300 switches on the performance side.

Has anyone any direct experience of switches in these different price 
ranges and has anyone seen significant performance differences? Or do 
the low prices simply reflect the competition and the increasingly 
commodity nature of gigabit switches?

Thanks,

-stephen

-- 
Stephen Mulcahy       Applepie Solutions Ltd.      http://www.aplpi.com
Registered in Ireland, no. 289353 (5 Woodlands Avenue, Renmore, Galway)