Dell PowerConnect 8024F 24 Port 10gb SFP

[Mirfster]

Who's got one? Was wondering about the noise level? My "Hardware Dark Passenger" is telling me I need to get one...

But, my Server Room (aka closet ~7 feet away w/Dell 42U Rack) wants to know if this puppy is loud? Right now, I can easily chat on speaker phone and no one is the wiser so it this thing going to spoil that?

 

[BigDave]

I have a Dell N2024 switch. When first fired up the twin 38mm fans scream until fully booted and the switch settles
down for normal operation. My fan's speeds are controlled by temp sensors, so when all is idle, the fans are very
quiet. If your traffic volume goes up, so does your temps and the fans ramp up accordingly. This is AFAIK
true with all managed enterprize switch equipment. If your switch is used, the fans could be wearing out and
will be noisey even at idle. I ended up replacing mine with new Dell factory part numbers and I'm very happy.
Keep in mind that my home setup sees very light network useage 95% of the time.

 

[Mirfster]

Thanks, switch will be used since I pretty much get most of my stuff from eBay. Will see about some new fans as well.

 

[jgreco]

Who's got one? Was wondering about the noise level? My "Hardware Dark Passenger" is telling me I need to get one...

But, my Server Room (aka closet ~7 feet away w/Dell 42U Rack) wants to know if this puppy is loud? Right now, I can easily chat on speaker phone and no one is the wiser so it this thing going to spoil that?

The 8024F is a good switch but not likely to be quiet. The N4032F's seem to run somewhere near 100 watts each (warning:from memory), and since the 8024F was the prev generation I'd expect somewhat higher.

Dissipating that in 1U is rough, and you don't want to bake your silicon. Replacing the fans with new ones of the same type is fine and smart of course, but I don't suggest trying to re-fan the thing unless you're okay with the prospect of cooking your silicon (which can present as odd flakiness rather than outright failure). IOW "don't do that" and instead look for a more power efficient switch.

 

[Mirfster]

instead look for a more power efficient switch

Thanks, agreed that a 1U anything is not that great at heat dissipation. The 8024F looked like a great marriage with the 4x Combo Ports; especially since I am already kinda heavy in the SFP+ side of 10GB. Will look around a bit and see what else there may be out there.

 

[Mirfster]

Hmm... Just read up a bit on the "Please help - 10gb-10gb-1gb setup without 10gb switch" thread... Might get around to tying this and seeing about at least giving bridging a whirl (but I will want at least 2 systems to chat with the FreeNas Server).

 

[jgreco]

Thanks, agreed that a 1U anything is not that great at heat dissipation. The 8024F looked like a great marriage with the 4x Combo Ports; especially since I am already kinda heavy in the SFP+ side of 10GB. Will look around a bit and see what else there may be out there.

I keep hoping Santa Claus will put a nice low power inexpensive 10/40GbE switch of new design under the Xmas tree, along with layer 3 routing and filtering and all the other bells and whistles. Maybe something like the Mellanox SX1012 but at about a sixth of the cost.

 

[Mirfster]

I guess if one is going to dream, they should dream big. :D

 

[jgreco]

That's more like dreaming small. I could have two of them next week if I could justify the expense, they're not that horribly expensive. But I'm very disappointed that we're not seeing commodity 10GbE stuff for a few hundred dollars... because that could be a lot of fun.