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HPE Networking Comware / FlexFabric Switches

Score9.2 out of 10

6 Reviews and Ratings

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What is HPE Networking Comware / FlexFabric Switches?

Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) offers the FlexFabric and Comware product line of data center networking equipment.

Categories & Use Cases

Reviews

What users are saying about HPE Networking Comware / FlexFabric Switches.
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Flex and Relax

Incentivized
Mohammed Javed MansuriView profile
Sr. Manager Presales in Sales at Creative Infotech Solutions Pvt. Ltd. (51-200 employees employees)

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

I have implemented most of the HPE FlexFabric switches for multiple customers. The primary requirement was higher switching capacity and reliable OS, on top of that IRF stacking technology is excellent to have an error-free configuration and long-lasting reliability.

Pros

  • Stacking.
  • Port Security.
  • 1x.
  • vLAN.

Cons

  • Consistent upgrades and updates considering the breaches spreading in the network.
  • Interoperability with third party software.

Most Important Features

  • Multiple variation within the product range.

Return on Investment

  • It's a robust and rugged eco system so ROI is much higher than any other product.
  • To compete the competition, still much more to do.

Alternatives Considered

Cisco Catalyst 9500 Series Switches, Cisco Nexus 9000 Series Switches and Cisco Catalyst 9300 Series Switches

Other Software Used

Cisco Catalyst 9300 Series Switches, HPE Aruba Ethernet Switches, Cisco Catalyst 9500 Series Switches

Experienced networtk architect

Incentivized
Marin Kostadinovic
Director of Infrastructure in Information Technology at CHC Heli (1001-5000 employees employees)

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

We are using it in our Data Center, it provides high-performing reliable connections. It reduces management complexities

Pros

  • Provides high density, keeping a small footprint
  • Reduces management complexities
  • Deliver business resilience and high availability

Cons

  • More intuitive management tools

Most Important Features

  • 10Gb Ethernet
  • Configurable environment
  • Dual-ports in a 10GBASE adapter configuration

Return on Investment

  • Affordable choice for workload-intensive computing environments
  • Increases network throughput by using the HPE FlexibleLOM form factor
  • It simplifies our network and storage topology

Alternatives Considered

Aruba EdgeConnect (formerly Unity EdgeConnect from Silver Peak)

Other Software Used

Cisco 1000 Series Connected Grid Routers (CGR 1000), Nokia 7750 Service Router (SR), Alcatel-Lucent OmniSwitch

FlexFabric Review

Incentivized
Verified User
Engineer in Information Technology (1001-5000 employees employees)

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

I work at a University and we currently use HPE FlexFabric to connect our core infrastructure at our data center as well as our backup data center. We use it as a higher switching capacity than the Aruba switch it replaced.

Pros

  • Switching capacity.
  • High availability.

Cons

  • 3 party Management tools.

Most Important Features

  • Low latency.
  • High availability.
  • 10GbE internet.

Return on Investment

  • Performs well under stress, it is the core of our data center for over 3 years without any failures.
  • Simplified our topology in our data center.

Alternatives Considered

HPE Aruba Ethernet Switches

Other Software Used

SolarWinds Security Event Manager (SEM), SolarWinds Network Performance Monitor (NPM), SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager (NCM), SolarWinds IP Address Manager (IPAM), Aruba Networks Wireless WAN, HPE MSA

Review of HPE FlexFabric

Incentivized
Verified User
Engineer in Information Technology (1001-5000 employees employees)

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

We use it for our primary and secondary data centers and they are very reliable and support 10GbE which we use. It also supports 40GbE which we are trying to implement.

Pros

  • SCSI support.
  • No additional license to unlock features.
  • High availability.

Cons

  • Management tools, we use SolarWinds and had some trouble managing the devices.
  • Interoperability with 3rd party switches had some interface issues with connecting to Juniper switches.

Most Important Features

  • 10GbE internet.
  • 40GbE internet.
  • Low latency.

Return on Investment

  • Easy to manage as we are an HP shop, so it works well with our other HP blades and switches.
  • Works well on heavy load, has been working continuously for over 3 years without error.

Alternatives Considered

Cisco Nexus 9000 Series Switches and HPE Aruba Ethernet Switches

Other Software Used

SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager (NCM), HPE Aruba Ethernet Switches, SolarWinds Network Performance Monitor (NPM)