For campus, branch, and data centers, HPE's Aruba CX switches are presented as a flexible, programmable, and cloud-native ASIC design solution, boasting the power, precision, and versatility of a microservices-based wired architecture.
$503.63
one-time fee
Pricing
Cisco FabricPath
HPE Aruba Networking Switches
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
HPE Aruba Networking CX 6000 Switch Series
Starting at $503.63
one-time fee
HPE Aruba Networking CX 6100 Switch Series
Starting at $935.20
one-time fee
HPE Aruba Networking CX 6200 Switch Series
Starting at $1,054.12
one-time fee
HPE Aruba Networking CX 6300 Switch Series
Starting at $4,483.55
one-time fee
HPE Aruba Networking CX 5420 Switch Series
Starting at $3,158.76
one-time fee
HPE Aruba Networking 2930F Switch Series
Starting at $574.72
one-time fee
HPE Aruba Networking CX 6400 Switch Series
Starting at $7,394.82
one-time fee
HPE Aruba Networking CX 8100 Switch Series
Starting at $19,102.26
one-time fee
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Cisco FabricPath
HPE Aruba Networking Switches
Free Trial
No
No
Free/Freemium Version
No
No
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
No
No
Entry-level Setup Fee
No setup fee
No setup fee
Additional Details
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HPE Aruba Ethernet Switch prices vary significantly based on features, model, and quantity purchased.
Cisco FabricPath seems to be well suited for larger datacenters where you need the scalability and flexibility that's provided. We've been able to provide our customers with much more bandwidth than they previously had throughout our datacenter and with applications generating much more east/west traffic now rather than large volumes of north/south traffic FabricPath and the nexus switches have given us the ability to provide our customers with the bandwidth that's needed to serve today's applications.
We manage a lot of public infrastructure and schools which means we need reliable hardware that is easy to prep and install quickly due to time constraints. The price is great as we must keep a close eye on our budget.
We use these switches in all types of situations and configurations some are full SFP and others are ethernet but honestly the software and hardware are great for our usage.
It's been fairly easy for people to learn and work with.
It has simplified network administration by utilizing Fabric Extenders which are all configured from the same switch and treated as an extension of the switch rather than as a separate entity.
Wireless Access Points (APs) zero touch provisioning
Its high-end family (running the AOS-CX firmware) supports a virtualization technology called VSX (Virtual Switching Extension) which allows 2 switches to present itself as one virtualized switch under Layer 2, and as 2 separate routers under Layer 3; thereby providing high availability.
I have not had that many issues with these products. Aruba Central has been really helpful. The Integration Capabilities allows us to use Clearpass . For individuals new to enterprise-grade networking, there can still be a learning curve associated with understanding the concepts and the specifics of the Aruba configuration.
HPE Support is very easy to reach. A knowledgable rep can be reached in a few minutes. After some basic troubleshooting if the failure is due to hardware I can receive a replacement within a day or even in a few hours.
In comparison to Cisco ACI, Cisco Catalyst, and Juniper EX Switches the Nexus switches have stood their ground and we've been fairly happy with them. I like that similar to Cisco's ACI and the Juniper EX switches that I've worked with I can manage multiple chassis from one place. ACI can do this on a much larger scale though. I think Juniper limited the number of devices in a single virtual chassis to 10 or less depending on the device type. ACI can do a few hundred leafs plus their fabric extenders so if you're looking for one place to manage all your devices it can scale well beyond either the Cisco FP or Juniper EX series switches, but it also has a much steeper learning curve and completely different interface. The loop prevention built into FP has been a great improvement vs our old Catalyst switches.
We like the reliability and support of the HPE switches over the UniFi devices despite the UniFi being cheaper and better performing for the price. We like the additional configuration options of the HPE switches over the Instant On line, we are also a staffed office, and don't need the cloud configuration abilities.
FabricPath is easy enough to learn that the adoption on the team has been fairly quick. This allows us to quickly troubleshoot and allows us to meet and beat SLAs that demand we maintain 99.99%+ uptime for our paying customers.
When comparing Aruba to Cisco and Dell there is no comparison in cost. Aruba is a better value and will not require additional licensing like it often the case with Cisco.
The Aruba OS is very simple to use and understand. A user with very little networking experience can understand the config of an Aruba switch.
Aruba's hardware warranty assures me that even my oldest switches are covered due to hardware failure.
In the 11 years I have worked with HPE/Aruba and with over 55 switches I have had a hardware failure less than a handful of times.
