Hi Mike/Drew,
We also have lots of experience with FS.com switches; however… One thing we noticed really quick is that its better to order 1 and to find the actual supplier and order with them directly. FS.com is a reseller; and they will switch (no pun intended) supplier almost yearly. Real technical support is nonexistent (even though they claim it is great) and I have yet to have a single bug fixed; packet dumps and steps to reproduce included. I have removed all of our N5850-48S6Q due to bugs in software lockups.
Their current S5850-48S6Q is developed by Centec Neworks ( http://www.centecnetworks.com/en/SolutionList.asp?ID=91 ) and is the E580-48X6Q (compare the changelog and manual; you will see its a “replace all” job). These switches do actually support LDP/MPLS/VPLS if you buy the license and run them in their ‘ipran’ profile. Feel free to contact me off list if you have any questions.
Kind regards,
Nick ten Cate
* Nick ten Cate
We also have lots of experience with FS.com switches; however.. One thing we noticed really quick is that its better to order 1 and to find the actual supplier and order with them directly. FS.com is a reseller; and they will switch (no pun intended) supplier almost yearly. Real technical support is nonexistent (even though they claim it is great) and I have yet to have a single bug fixed; packet dumps and steps to reproduce included. I have removed all of our *N*5850-48S6Q due to bugs in software lockups.
Hi Nick,
FS.com did indeed replace their N5850-58S6Q supplier a while back. It is rather idiotic of them to not change their SKU when they do so.
Anyway, before it was manufactured by Celestica I think, now it is the Edge-Core AS5812-54X. The latter is very well supported by Cumulus, the former is not.
You can see it is the the Edge-Core by comparing the pictures:
We bought a few of them. I did mail our AM before placing the order to ascertain that they would indeed deliver the AS5812-54X and to make it crystal clear that no other model would be accepted. No problem.
They will also sell other Edge-Core models that's not (yet) on their website catalogue if you ask (we ordered a few AS7326-56Xes).
I do not believe Edge-Core will sell direct to end-users, so resellers like FS, Cumulus Networks or HPE is your best bet if you want those.
Tore