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The original was posted on /r/sysadmin by /u/sysadminbj on 2023-10-24 02:12:37+00:00.
I have a network cabinet in the middle of a water treatment facility's filter house. It has one C9300x48 connected by multimode back to another IDF and is probably about 60% full with business, security, and wlan drops. The building is about 500ft long with an IDF on one end and the problem IDF in the middle of the building. The problem is the environment. It's apparently so corrosive that we have gone through 2 switches in the last year and I'm tired of explaining why I need to pay my low voltage contractor AGAIN to come out and hang a switch and take another swing at hardening the enclosure against the environment. It's a pain in the ass and my budget people are sharpening their pitchforks to the point where I don't even go into our headquarters anymore.
Does anyone have experience with NEMA enclosures that will hold a minimum of around 6u of equipment (1u patch, 1u switch, 1u fiber, 2u UPS) while providing a good seal against elements?
Does anyone have experience with managed switches that are better at dealing with industrial environments than my Cisco gear? We use Hirshmann in our controls environment if that helps. Whatever it is will need to play nice with Cisco.
I'm getting to the point where I'm seriously considering ripping out all the CAT6 and re-running everything someplace better even if I start flirting with the 100m limit.
Suggestions are appreciated.