Hi guys,
It has been awhile since my last post, but not because I have nothing to write about, its just I can go crazy while I am writing about the problem and kind of experiencing it again while writing :).
We are using Allied Telesys (Allied Telesyn) switches for some years now. Since we needed and still need only Layer 2 switches we decided to go with Allied Telesis AT-2000/24. Although this model has some really nasty things which annoy me (like 32bit counters on 1G interfaces, which is insane), they were working and doing their main purpose, switching and VLAN support.
However a new series were released, the green AT-9000/28 and AT-9000/52, this is basically 28/52 port Layer2, manageable, gigabit switch.
First we bought 28 port model, it is working, but after a couple of days working the switch os crashes and the switch becomes unmanageable, but still switching, they released a completely rewritten firmware these days, but I have not tested it yet, because they are not supporting backward compatibility of the config and I have the rewrite it manually again. Can you imagine how stupid is this?
The big problem comes with AT-9000/52. We bought 2 pieces, and I have a really hard time making them work with Cisco 76xx router.
The problem is that both of the switches simply refuse to accept ARP reply from the router.
I receive internet from ISP over a tagged VLAN 500. I connect one PC to AT-9000/52. The PC port is untagged member of VLAN500. With arping I am able to see the entire network, I get arp reply from any machine located no matter in which rack, however I am unable to receive arp reply from the ISP router (CISCO 76xx). The router can see my MAC address (which mean it can send arp request and get arp reply from me), but I can not receive the arp reply from the router no matter what I do. If I manually put the MAC address of the router in the ARP table of the PC, I have no problems communicating with it.
Here is what I tried to do in order to resolve the problem, but unfortunatelly without any luck.
1. I connected a PC directly on the cable which comes from the upstream switch, set up a tagged interface on the laptop, I can see the router without any glitches. However If I plug the cable in the switch AT9000/52 I just cant receive a single ARP reply from the router and router only, everything else in vlan 500 is visible (Linux machines).
2. I attached a different switch the same model AT9000/52, he acts exatly the same.
3. I have a switch AT9000/28 which is the same firmware version which is working without problem with the same config.
Considering the fact that the 28 port switch is working and 52 port switches are unable to work using the exactly same config, makes me think, that this is basically a hardware issue.
The Allied Telesis support is trying to reproduce the problem but they say that they are unable to reproduce and refuse to log in and take a look at my test environment, which really drives me crazy. Their inability to reproduce the problem in the lab does not mean that that the switch is working and this can not happen in my network.
I am waiting almost 6 months for any resolution, but honestly speaking I dont expect one. They just dont care.
Since I can not use this brand any more because it simply does not work I decided to switch to Juniper switches. I hope I will have less problem with them. The first disadvantage of the Juniper over the Allied Telesis is the price :).
Conclusion: Do not buy Allied Telesis AT-9000/52 green switches, they obviously dont work in all environments. This so basic feature of VLAN support is turned into a crap in this model and although, they improved the cli very much compared to the previous model, they crapped basic functionality. The switch totally sux and I really hate it.
UPDATE 16.06.2012: We are using Juniper EX2200 ever since and I want to say that I love them.
Very good switches and very good price per features ration. Cisco does not have such switch for this price, actually they do not have any switch with such features for the price of Juniper switches.
