What needs improvement with HPE Ethernet Switches?

Sometimes, we encounter the need for new technologies, especially when we require higher bandwidth. If we can't find what we need with HPE Ethernet Switches, we explore options from other vendors like Cisco.

The solution lacks certain protocols and has a limited warranty. You have to pay extra to get more warranty on it.

The management of the tool must be improved. The add-on tools and management of Cisco are better than those of HPE.

HPE Ethernet Switches must ensure that the updates and patching are done regularly. When we have new software updates, we can resolve issues quickly.

The solution's throughput should be increased because we often get stuck when it comes to IPTV streaming.

The price could be more competitive, and the product needs to improve its stability. Also, the solution would be easier to set up if its GUI could improve or if it had a wizard. Similarly, it would be easier to set up if the user manual could be more straightforward.

The solution’s licensing could be improved.

They should release more updates for the solution.

The tool should be more stable.

The price could be lower. It's expensive. The availability needs to be improved. We cannot get them right now.

The security of the solution always has room for improvement.

We have some problems with the performance of our HPE Ethernet Switches because they are old.

I would like to see the initial setup become easier.

Their support plan needs to be better. We have a basic plan, so support is always delayed for us. We'd like it if they were more responsive, no matter the plan. We'd like better support for situations where we need troubleshooting. We find that a solution like Juniper offers more features. HPE should compare themselves and see if they can also add such features to their offering.

In the past, I have encountered configuration problems with the Spanning Tree Protocol. The switches were only handling a single loop. There were quite a few looped switches that could not handle the board blocking, creating the need to manually fight each loop. I have not had the same problems with the newer models of HPE Ethernet Switches. HPE Ethernet Switches tend to hang from time to time, but all switches do that. The next release would benefit from adding central management that could be deployable on-premise and allow you to see the layout of topology.

The GUI still doesn't cover everything. The basic stuff can be done in the GUI, but you still need to use the CLI to implement the advanced features. That's the biggest complaint. Some things still need to be configured in the command line interface. I would rather not use the CLI for anything. I would also like to see a more centralized private management console for the series of devices. Most solutions are adopting centralized cloud-based management, but my client base believes cloud solutions are too insecure. You've got a few dozen switches, so it would be nice to have the ability to manage them on a "single pane of glass." Everybody's doing that in the cloud. They want to charge you for the cloud, and you have no idea who has access to your network. That creates another attack vector because the switches are always phoning home. They can be hijacked, but everybody thinks that's what they want because they can manage it from anywhere. They like the convenience. However, I've been in the business for a long time, so I know it's going to come back to haunt them. It's just a matter of time before it happens.

The solution could be more stable.

Some of the older versions have lower bandwidth. The scalability is limited.

The product could always use better technical support.

It's not easy to find the devices. Companies often don't keep them in stock and only get them when there is a demand. It would be ideal if the product offered more security.

There is some improvement needed for the power supply of the solution.

The only improvement I can think of is that it could be better with less updates.

We haven't had any issues with this switch in the past 10 years. That's the reason we're still keeping them alive. The solution is deployed on-premise.

They should continue to work on new features.

The solution could improve by having more integration options.

In general, the web GUI, or web interface, requires improvement. Interface, and the ability to do things that are only possible through the command line, which seems pointless because there is no reason to have a command line for many of the functions. The ability to stack, as well as a unified operating system, would be extremely beneficial. It isn't there. They are budget switches.

The stability could be improved, and the price could be cheaper as well.

They should have more control tools for controlling the bandwidth. They should also have more reporting and alerts for downtime.

VLAN can be improved, but I have to check that with the company expert. I have different switch models, but they don't have all the same interface. I don't know whether lower-level switches don't have the same interface as the better quality ones. I might have two different model types.

The solution could always improve its stability. It's pretty stable already, however. The solution is very comparable to Huawei, however, it could be more scalable. Huawei is easier to scale.

It would be better if they improve the implementation of SD-WAN. There could be improved automation as well.

The solution is a bit expensive. The stability needs to be improved upon. It's not as good as it could be. The solution should offer more automation. It's not good compared to Cisco, or any other brand. The company needs to offer much better local support. Right now, it's not great in terms of technical support.

There is a limitation of capability. To move to OpenFlow is very difficult. Also, there is a limitation with the team protocols. We had some issues with the dashboard. When we tried changing the PR or some parameters, it was not completely syncing. We had two different values passing through the dashboard once you pass through the command line.

We sometimes have issues with the stability of our POE switches. If there is any fluctuation in power then we will face an outage with our POE switches, so this is something that should be improved.

I think this solution could be improved if the installation could be made more secure. From our point of view, HP could have SNMP product softwares that would allow us to track all the assets, and then to connect, to identify our equipment. There are options which would allow us to secure the equipment. I think with the enterprise solution, if it's HP, then there is a need to integrate it with an HP product for it to work. The only way to simplify this is with VLANs and then routing, and then let the systems take over when it comes to firewalls and other things. Implementation of those things would allow us to have tighter security.

It would be nice to be able to connect literally with firewall systems, that would be very helpful for us. Configuration could be improved, it is sometimes quite complex.

We are satisfied with the set of features already on offer through HP. We don't want to improve anything and we don't need any other new features. The pricing could be better. The installation can be quite complex. However, that may not be the fault of HPE and is rather more related to the way our infrastructure is arranged.

Authentication and other security features are not easily satisfied using the lower-end switches. For better security, you need to implement enterprise-level hardware and software.

The UI on the web console needs improvement. The routing settings could be made easier to deploy. Technical support needs improvement, as the response time could be better. I would like to see this solution support SDN. It should have more SDN compatibility.

The quality of the service needs improvement.

I am now using a new model because we had a problem with the speed, but the problem was with the network infrastructure, not with the HPE. We did not have the fiber backbone in our company. We need more support to fix simple issues. For example, to find a problem in the LAN or why the systems speed is slow. When we have a lot of clients on the system, we lose signal and have to restart our antenna. It would be better to be able to provide my number and have the information needed in regards to the equipment when a change is proposed. You will need the assistance of a technician because the implementation is not that easy. If you change your old equipment then it will be replaced but you have the same issues in five years' time because HPE does not have the equipment to solve my issues. In the next release, I would like to see technical support for simple issues and to simplify the implementation.

In terms of product improvement, it's possible that the VLAN tagging could be improved, it's not that straightforward. But I can't really think of other improvements I'd like to see. Additional features that could be included in the next release could be the inclusion of further monitoring facilities.

A lower price would be an improvement because we always want to reduce our costs.

We have had some rare occasions with glitches, so the stability can be improved.

Technical support needs improvement. Customer awareness, as in the availability of the products, needs to be improved through marketing or other information. Currently, we haven't seen any new switches and we don't know if there will be others. In the next release, I would like to see them include more features like the Aruba solution, to have more possibilities concerning the software design.

The interface is old in appearance and needs to be modernized. I would like to see better URL filters and security. It would be helpful to have training available for this solution.

This solution needs to support software-defined networking. The management needs to be more open so that they can be easily managed using external software. I would like to see support for integration with hyper-converged solutions. For example, I would like to be able to manage these switches from VMware or from a Nutanix platform. They need a new way to manage the access control system. They do have a solution for this, but it is very complicated and not suitable for the SMBs. It may be fine for large enterprises, but not for small companies.

It would be nice to have a common OS across models so that they could be managed together. But that is more in line with higher production equipment.