HP ProCurve Switch 2650

As Ethernet switching moves further out to the edge of the network, the devices needed to deliver these services to the workstation require an ever-increasing port density. The diminutive ProCurve Switch 2650 takes this to new levels, as HP proudly claims its slimline 1U chassis offers an unbeatable port count. There's little to argue with here - as well as being endowed with 48 dual-speed ports, the 2650 offers a pair of Gigabit uplinks.

The dual-speed ports are spread across the front panel, with a single multifunction status indicator provided for each one. To the right, is a pair of fixed triple-speed copper Gigabit ports, and fibre is supported too as below are two mini-GBIC slots that accept 1000BaseSX, LX and long-haul LH modules. HP refers to these as 'dual personality' ports, meaning you can use either the copper port or the corresponding fibre port below, so only two can be in action at any one time. Stacking options are similar to those offered by Cisco, as up to 16 ProCurve switches may be placed in a virtual stack without the need for expensive stacking modules and extra cabling.

As expected, installation is a cinch - you assign an IP address to the 2650 via the CLI (command-line interface) and serial port connection and then abandon this for the sophisticated remote web browser console. Despite being introduced a number of years ago, this remains one of the best interfaces around. It provides easy access to switch and port settings and offers plenty of performance details from a large bar graph showing traffic throughput on all ports. An alert log is also displayed underneath, and any problems are accompanied by links to screens offering advice on likely causes and possible actions to remedy them. The drawback is that the bar graph only displays all 50 ports if your monitor resolution is at least 1,280 x 1,024.

The bundled copy of HP's TopTools for Hubs and Switches delivers even greater detail, bringing into play full traffic monitoring and analysis. Network performance and throughput data can be saved for use in reports, and TopTools is able to analyse traffic trends, identify potential bottlenecks and offer recommendations on where improvements to the network can be made.

For testing local switching performance, we called in our standard test rig, which comprised a SmartBits SMB-6000B test chassis. With 24 dual-speed ports connected to the chassis, we saw the 2650 deliver a perfect score, returning a zero frame loss with 64- and 1,518-byte frame sizes at 50, 75 and 100 per cent traffic loads. Latency - the time taken for a frame to traverse the switching fabric - was also good at high traffic loads, as 64-byte frames were switched in only nine microseconds, while 1,518-byte frames passed across the backplane in 124 microseconds. As a comparison, the 2650 would have easily held its own against any of the products featured in our last dual-speed switch group test (see Enterprise, issue 84, p203).

The 2650 certainly offers an extremely low cost per Ethernet port, making it a tempting proposition as a high-density network edge device. Performance across a variety of traffic loads is good, while standard management and monitoring facilities are among the best.

Author: Dave Mitchell