Huawei Ethernet Switches Reviews

At the moment we are putting in a virtual Juniper SRX within our network to replace the Huawei points in our data centers, and we're upgrading our site infrastructure, switches and routers to Junipers. We are going from Huawei, which we haven't been happy with because they're not within our security listings and need updating, to Juniper switches and routers and Sophos access points. The routers and switches that we're replacing with the Junipers and the Sophos access points are within our sites to run the wifi access points.

At the time, for our sized organization, they were cost-effective, fit for purpose, and risk assessed to go in accordingly because they were cheap, and they have lasted, but now it doesn't give us the ability to do what we need because we've grown exponentially in the last eight or nine years. 

The one thing is those products were cost effective, and for what they did, their costing is a lot cheaper than any Juniper or any other product out there. But if you need scalability, normal monitoring tools, backup and switches, they're not going to be the product for a team.

They're not easy to monitor or bring in and feed and make sure that all our networks are running correctly. We are predominantly in regional Australia, which means that we have a lot of remote usages and we're not getting the ability to do the next level of IT needed to make sure that I can monitor and make sure that the network is stable with the Huawei stuff. If anything goes wrong, I haven't been able to patch them because they're end of license and you can't patch them any more. Their security is not within our standards.

Huawei's switches could be more secure, more monitorable, and better scalable but that's because they're so old. They're not fit for our purpose under our government contracts any more. We're not allowed to use any Huawei products.

We have been using Huawei switches for about eight years. They are now end of life, out of license, and out of warranty. I've inherited a very old infrastructure that I'm currently upgrading. I've even got an old Huawei 1960 voiceover IP component, but that's another story.

In terms of scalability, eight or so years ago, there would have been less than 200 staff using it compared to the 420 at the moment.

The initial setup was much like any switch or router. It wasn't a problem at the time, and they were able to be configured. I'm talking eight-plus years ago, though. I haven't put one in for a very long time.

To install across 80 sites took about six weeks.

Because we had to open up sites over a six to eight week period, we outsourced a lot of the work to local contractors through the different areas and locations.

It was a one-off licensing for Huawei that wasn't upgraded so there's no ability now to configure our upgrade. We purchased the hardware with the inbuilt license eight years ago and we haven't been charged for any licensing since then.

On a scale of one to ten, I would give Huawei Ethernet Switches a four.

I do not recommend this solution on the basis of scalability, monitoring and security.

It is not easy to use if you need to monitor, patch or update. It needs to be configured by a network specialist because it doesn't have an overall central monitoring tool or anything like that. I'd say no ease of use. If you're a small one-on-one organization, then cost-effective-wise, I would recommend it. But in a company our size, it's not scalable.

This product is used in our network infrastructure for normal office use.

The Huawei switches are stable, easy to set up, and cheap.

The graphical user interface could be much better.

The vendor needs to make a better marketing effort to promote this product because you don't find a lot of good articles promoting it. Other brands are more aggressive in marketing.

In the future, I would like to see a feature that includes a dynamic picture of all of the ports, and what is connected to them. The functionality may be there, but I haven't seen it yet. Being able to see what is going through the ports would be helpful.

I have been working with Huawei Ethernet Switches for approximately five years.

We have not had any issues with glitches or bugs, so it has been stable.

We have not had any limitations in terms of scalability. We have fewer than 100 users.

I have not had an issue that necessitated contacting technical support.

We have Cisco products in addition to Huawei.

We have an in-house team for deployment and maintenance.

Compared to other brands, I think that the price is quite fair. I don't require them to be much cheaper, as it's already fair.

My advice for anybody who is considering this product is not to be afraid of it, just because Huawei is not a true American brand. It is an international brand. When you use it, you have the feeling that it can do even more than some Cisco or Fortinet products. The technology and brand name are good, so my advice is to trust it.

I would rate this solution an eight out of ten.

We utilize the solution for asset layers and then also for the core. The ones around the core have been failing, and I've been replacing them as they fail with Cisco replacements.  

The solution easily integrates and operates well with Cisco.

Pricing-wise, Huawei is quite good.

I've found that the Huawei switches around the core fail, or at least the 9300 series do. I've had to move to Cisco. They tend to freeze and cause problems on my network, so I've needed to replace them with a bigger Cisco switch that can handle the network more effectively.

With Cisco, there are a few particular routine protocols that are not supported on Huawei. Cisco has these proprietary routine protocols which they try to maintain. Since we have the two switches integrated together, it would be helpful if Huawei could offer a more open routine protocol that can be standardized, and they should offer the same protocols that are standard on Cisco on their service as well so that the switches can match up a bit more elegantly. It would be great if the two solutions could somehow actively collaborate a bit more together.

The solution needs to provide a lot more availability. There needs to be more information on the internet to help people more easily configure the solution, etc. Right now, if you need to know something or need to find something, you have to go directly to Huawei. 

There needs to be more documentation. If they opened up a bit and shared more information and maybe allowed for YouTube videos about their products and how to work them, it would benefit the users quite a bit. 

I've used the solution for over five years now.

The solution isn't completely stable. There are some glitches, but for the assets there, it doesn't cause me any real issues. 

The solution is scalable, but it really depends on what you buy. The first core switch I bought was very scalable because they have almost eight channels and I could scale everything so easily. You can buy an appropriate switch to accommodate future groups that you can align, to gather to the core switches. Even if you don't make provisions for it you can actually scale, but it's better to plan ahead and know what you need.

We've reached out to technical support and have occasionally come across language barriers. Sometimes the person speaks English, and other times it's Chinese with English as a second language, and it can be difficult to converse and to describe the issues we are having. It would be better if they had more staff on hand that were able to communicate in English a bit better, but the help itself isn't too bad.

I currently also use Cisco switches. In fact, I'm slowly, as Huawei switches fail, subbing in Cisco switches. Currently, our network has both integrating with each other and working together. We're phasing out Huawei and we won't be using them anymore.

The initial setup is pretty straightforward if you are well trained on the solution. However, if you are not trained, then it may be more complex. 

If you are trained, it's as simple. It just has a few different commands. With training, it's no problem.

I didn't directly handle the implementation myself. However, my team did.

We are both an installer and considering becoming a Huawei partner.

About five years ago I began working with Huawei, and I decided then whenever they failed, I'd just replace the old ones with Cisco. However, after five years, many are still working, so we have a hybrid system where we use both Huawei and Cisco switches. However, whenever they do fail, I replace them with Cisco, so there may come a time int eh future where I will no longer be working with them and will have completely switched over to Cisco.

I don't have the exact version number, but I'm dealing with the 9300 core switch.

Although we are currently in the process of phasing out the Huawei switches in favour of Cisco, I'd still recommend the solution.

I'd rate the solution six out of ten.

We use Huawei Ethernet Switches as part of our network.

We implemented 10G and Layer 3 supported switches with a lower cost. Our network connection our network application started to work faster. Also we stacked the switches and our availability increased.

Huawei Ethernet switches are easy to use and can be managed using either the GUI or via the command-line.

This solution integrates well with products from other vendors, such as Cisco.

We have a purchasing procedure. It says that if we want to buy a specific product or service we should get quotes from at least three companies. If we cannot get more than one quote we should find a similar product or service from a different vendor.

We had this issue last year. We needed 15 access points and we wanted to buy Huawei access points because our other devices were Huawei. I wanted a quote from three Huawei partner but only one of them sent the quote. Other partners said that Huawei did not send any quote
information because they send quote only one partner. We talked to Huawei regional sales manager but they said they can not do anything for this situation.

Because of this situation, I searched for the products of other vendors. Aruba sent three quotes from its different partners and their quotes were similar. And also they were cheaper than Huawei. Because of the cost factor, our purchasing department preferred to buy Aruba access points.

We had the same issue for the switches at around the end of 2019. Because I don't have time to search other vendors we canceled the purchasing and our budget for switches.

Now I don't have any spare products and I will be trouble if one of my switches fails.

I have been using Huawei Ethernet Switches for about three years.

The stability of these switches is good. They are very durable because one of the cooling fans in our data center failed and this solution was still working at about 50 degrees Celcius (122 degrees Fahrenheit). There was some latency but it was still working.

You can scale up this solution very easily. If you have enough ports at your core switch or main switch, then you can attach other switches. You have to write a couple of simple commands and then add the other switches.

There are 24 switches with about 400 devices and 200 users connected to them.

Local support is available in Turkey from two or three different partners. However, we rarely ask for support from Huawei because when you set up a deice it works properly and we rarely need to change anything. If you add a new device, such as an access point, then you may need to configure some ports but it is very rare. It happens two or three times a year in our organization.

Prior to this solution, I was using devices by Cisco. They are very nice but they are also very expensive. The cost is the reason that we switched.

Deploying this solution is easy. You just connect the cables.

One person is enough to maintain our 24 switches.

Huawei Ethernet switches have a price advantage over other solutions. You can buy about four Huawei switches for the price of one Cisco switch.

The exact pricing varies based on how many units you purchase. For example, if you buy one then it is expensive, but if you buy ten or more then there is a discount. I would expect the same would apply to larger purchases, such as a bulk discount for buying 100 or more units.

We also looked at network solutions by Aruba and HP. Our Huawei warranty will expire in 2023 and we may change the product, but we do not yet know. Before that time we will test other devices and decide whether or not to stay with Huawei. Replacing the switches would not be a problem for us.

This is a very nice device and I recommend it.

I would rate this solution an eight out of ten.

We primarily use the solution for user accessibility.

The HTTP features for security are very good. We use all of the regular features.

The software could be more stable. There are a lot of bugs reported for the IS portion.

The GUI could be improved. It could be much more adaptable.

We've been using the solution for six or seven months.

We haven't faced any issues with scalability yet. There was one issue on the client-side where our mainframes weren't working because of a change on the packet side. The solution needs to add overhead to the packets. We have about 10,000 users on the solution currently. We don't have plans to increase usage on the appliance.

We've had contact with technical support and they are okay. The amount of assistance they provide is average. The response time they offer is typically too long and should be shortened. A lot of issues take hours.

We use a variety of switches. Depending on the requirements, we use Huawei, Cisco, HP, or Aruba. 

Most of our IT team members have a background in Huawei, so the solution is easy to set up.

We have contractors from Huawei come and handle the implementation for us since the solution is on-premises.

We use the on-premises deployment model.

I'd rate the solution four out of ten. The OS, features, and usage aren't great. There's a lack of resources and support. There's also a lack of implementers and very few partners.

We use the solution for access and distribution switches.

We haven't had anything to complain about yet.
The documentation needs to be better

The solution works fine. The performance is good. 

It is pretty straightforward to set up.

The documentation cloud be better

I've used the solution for three years. 

The solution is stable, and the performance is good. There aren't bugs or glitches. It doesn't crash or freeze. 

It is scalable. 

We haven't dealt with technical support yet

Neutral

Yes. We, for example, use Cisco Switches, Netgear and Ubiquiti AP. 

It's pretty easy to implement. If you're a network engineer, the setup is not complex. The syntax is different from a Cisco environment. However, it's the same thing. It's easy to figure out.

We implement it through in-house one. 

The solution is deployed on-premises.

We find the technological features most valuable.

Our company uses this product in a country with an unstable power supply, so it would be nice to see improvements in the device's durability regarding power shortages in the product's next release.

I have been using this solution for ten years.

The solution is stable.

The solution is scalable.

Our experience with customer service and support has been relatively okay.

The initial setup is straightforward.

The pricing for this solution can be lower in comparison to its competitors.

We are currently evaluating Mellanox and Aruba.

I rate the solution an eight out of ten. The solution is good, but the durability of the device can be improved, and the new release can include zero-touch provisions and features. I advise people to use this solution because it's very conducive to tropical environments and can withstand very hot weather conditions.

We are using Huawei Ethernet Switches within the education, and oil and gas banking industry.

I have found the most valuable features are search, about, EQS, MPLS, and iStack.

I would like to see some improvements in the access layer switch that is available in Aruba.

I have been using Huawei Ethernet Switches for the past six years.

Huawei Ethernet Switches are definitely reliable.

The scalability of Huawei Ethernet Switches is excellent.

I would rate technical support a nine out of ten. I was very satisfied with their level of support.

Positive

I was using Cisco Aruba HP Engine previously and switched because Huawei Ethernet Switches are user-friendly. I think the advantage of the Huawei Ethernet Switch is its stability. It is easy to understand all the features of Huawei Switches here in the region.

Huawei Ethernet Switches initial setup is definitely straightforward and went smoothly. 

We were able to deploy Huawei Ethernet Switches in-house.  It is very easy to deploy the switches.

From the initial purchase, you will pay for a license and you do not need to pay for a license again. The price depends on the size of the infrastructure. It currently costs around eighty dollars a switch for a one-time payment. I think the price point is great for the product.

This is a good product and I would rate Huawei Ethernet Switches a nine out of ten.