Recommend a managed, rackmount switch?

[acole1]

Our network provider allows us to have a 1\2 rack worth of equipment at their CoLo. They have given us 1 public (internet) port and 1 private (MPLS) port.

We currently have two routers at the CoLo, but only one is hooked up because we only have 1 public and 1 private connection.

We would like to use the second router for backup and alternate path to the internet, but the provider is going to charge us more to get another pair of public and private ports. (Not unreasonable.)

So, we would like to put in a managed switch and set up a public and a private VLAN.

Because of this, I am looking for a reasonably priced, reliable, managed, rack mountable switch.

Any recommendations?

Something like this?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833316158

 

[alfa147x]

I have the HP J9028B ProCurve 1800-24G which is what the HP ProCurve J9450A replaced. I use it in my house so I can't comment on it's longevity or performance but can vouch for their customer support.

 

[Cooky]

Could you provide more details about the hand-off from the provider?
Did they run two cables (Internet & MPLS) to your rack for you to plug in?

If so, the only thing you achieve is router redundancy.
You still have single point of failure w/ the provider hand-off, and single switch.

To get better resiliency, why not get two sets of hand-off's from provider, and two switches?

 

[drebo]

Just buy a Cisco 2950 off ebay for $50. Create two vlans, one for internal and one for external, and make the appropriate access ports for all the devices you need. Not perfect, but not horrible.

 

[acole1]

The hand-off from the provider is two RJ45 jacks. I ran a patch cable from each of the jacks to our main router.

We asked them about getting 2 more jacks, but they want to charge us more than we want to pay.

We would like to run our email thru our second router too. We think physical failure of the main router is less likely than a configuration problem, so putting in a switch would allow us to not pay more for more hand-offs, and reduce our dependance on the main router.

 

[drebo]

You still have a single point of failure, though.

 

[alkemyst]

Like many said, adding a switch will not be any redundancy and sort of not needed.

Getting a couple 3550's may work and then you can run HSRP and balance between them.