I just wanted to make a post on r/networking about Open Hardware and Open Software for switches and was hoping to have a decent conversation about it. There's a lot of Open/White/Brite box hardware manufactures for switches out there and it's a little much to take in.
Open Switch Hardware
What I was hoping we talk about is experiences with hardware from a usability, performance, reliability, and support perspective. I know most all of the Open Hardware runs on the same chips, so usability and performance probably isn't really a thing since it either works or doesn't and it apparently works. I think what I'm getting at here, for example since these switches have the same chips, is buying a HPE Altoline 6960 better or worse than buying a Penguin Arctica 3200c? Should people try to stay away from particular Open Hardware manufacturers? Does price really matter, as in does cheap mean crap? Has anyone been burned by particular manufactures? Is there a list somewhere out there that shows which switches are basically the exact same?
Open Switch Software
Regarding software I was wondering basically the same as the hardware, what experiences do you have with usability, performance, reliability, and support perspective of the major software companies. It appears to me to Cumulus is the top choice for many. Why do you like it? What background did you have when first used it? If you came from Cisco, what was the learning curve like? Are there good "Cisco" like OSes out there? How do people like built in OSes like the Dell Force10 OSes (OS9/OS10)?
I would also like to see if anyone has any recommendations for Web based configuration tools for switches using YANG or the sorts. What I'm trying to get at here is just something where I can see all my switches in one view and easily add a single vlan or something without logging into 30 switches to do so. I'm coming from a Cisco FEX solution here so it's nice to have a simplified view of the network in my opinion.
Any responses are welcomed! Thanks!
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