I recently started evaluating the Nortel Business Ethernet Switch 50 for Small Office and Home Office (SOHO) deployments in a Virtual Private Network.
These are very small business offices, doctor’s offices and senior executives homes where we don’t need the features that an Ethernet Routing Switch 4500 or 5500 series switch would provide. There are really fours variables to keep in mind; price, size, noise and features. One of the features we were looking for was Power over Ethernet (PoE) ports for an IP phone and/or a wireless access port.
We evaluated the BES50FE-24T PWR and the BES50GE-24T PWR and they both performed nicely in bandwidth tests. We did observe some odd behavior with some different end devices that all seemed to be resolved when we upgraded the switches to that latest software release (v1.0.5.0 for the BES50GE-24TPWR and v1.0.3.0 for the BES50FE-24TPWR).
Default Username: nnadmin
Default Password: PlsChgMe!
Default Read Only SNMP String: PlsChgMe!RO
Default Read-Write SNMP String: PlsChgMe!RW
I’ve generally found that the BES50 will default to an IP address of 192.168.1.128 although Nortel advises the use of the Nortel Business Element Manager to search for the device (please refer to the Quick Install Guide above).
Cheers!
Update: January 12, 2009
How do you factory reset the BES50?
When pressed for 5 seconds, the reset button reinitializes the switch. This returns the switch to the factory default settings if, for example, you forget the default IP address, your user name, or your password.
The reset button is found on the front of the BES50 as depicted in the graphic above. The actual button is approximately 1 inch inside the faceplate and Nortel advises that you use a non-metallic object to depress the button.
Cheers!
hi,
im try to reset bes50 to factory default. (not from the web).
can u help me?
regard
Lior
Hi Lior,
Just hold the reset button for 5 seconds or more to factory reset the system. It may take between 5 and 10 minutes for the restore to complete. I’ve actually updated the original post above.
Thanks for the comment!
Hi Michael,
I have six of these units and I have a small problem regarding trunking. Can I send you somewhere a PM?
Thanks in advance,
Hi again Michael,
Finally I managed to solve my problem. No need to disturb you. Thanks for your time,
Regards,
Happy to hear that you got everything working
Cheers!
Michael,
I have a BES50 that boots up and obtains a network connection, but then right before the last series of lights initializes on the POE side, 12, the top row of lights stays on and the network connection drops.
I am destined to throw the unit in the trash, I’ve tried the reset button and nothing happens. I am assuming it is a POE or internal problem.
Any recommendations before I pitch it?
Thanks,
Joe
I haven’t seen a BES50 for quite sometime… I personally didn’t care for them and would probably select a Linksys switch/hub before using the BES50.
Sorry.
Hello, we have been struggling to get access to the Nortel BES50 firmware. Can you contact us and let us know how you got the firmware downloaded?
Thank you
I don’t believe there ever was any additional software/firmware for that switch other than what it was shipped with. It was intended to be a low-end entry switch, I had 2 of them but had some odd issues from time to time and quickly removed them from the network.
Cheers!
Hi, i have read your post because i have a BES50GE-24T PWR for my home network. Maybe you know where i can download latest software release ? I suppose to have a very old version..
Regards
I don’t believe there were any updates for the BES50, it’s actually been EoL for quite sometime now.
Cheers!
Actually there is an updated firmware. I went round and round with Avaya trying to get access to it since they acquired Nortel.
They have them published and those switches are EOL and end of support, but Avaya still requires a maintenance contract to get access to the firmware. I asked them how you are supposed to buy a maintenance contract to a product that is end of support? They didn’t have a good answer for that. Let’s just say it was a frustrating day of playing the phone transfer game. I bet I talked to at least a dozen different Avaya people that day.
I did manage to find someone who had access to the firmware. Maybe they can help you.
Send an email to: kevin — at — matrixtek.com
Thanks, so the “bes50ge_runtime.v0.0.0.26.bix” is the latest ?
I believe the latest is bes50ge_runtime.v1.0.11.0.bix
Good luck getting the files from Avaya though.
Thanks, but is not easy to download from Avaya… if you have any other solution tell me.
regards
You’d be better served by buying a Netgear or D-Link switch… I’m a fan of the Netgear GS608 v3.