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10Gbit Switches for Eql SAN Network
Hi,
we are going to buy a new 10GBit PS4210X Storage.
We currently have a PS5000, a PS4000E and a PS6100X with 1Gbit Interfaces in the same network. All have their own group. The new one will be in its own group too.
The network is a ring (one trunk is open through spanning tree protocol) with 4 Dell Powerconnect 52XX GBit switches (2x24, 2x48). 2 switches with 2 arrays and 2 servers in one room, 2 with 1 and 2 in another room.
The switches have still 1-2 years maintenance...
As I know the new storage can still run on GBit until we go to 10GBit on the network.
1. Which Dell or HP 10Gbit switches would you consider for the new network?
2. Is it possible to buy 10Gbit switches and use booth 1gbit and 10gbit Clients on this switches at the same time?
3. Would you mix the traffic on the physical network with VLANs for your production traffic, or would you still dedicate the whole network for SAN traffic?
Any other considerations?
Thanks.
Origin3k
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January 22nd, 2015 06:00
For those customer which are in some longer transition period from 1 to 10GbE we choose BaseT rather than SFP+. So the following switch model comes in my mind
Force10 s4820 or N4032/64. Keep in mind that you always need 2 switches with good stacking bandwidth.
The Force10 comes with 48x10GbE + 4x40GbE. The N4032 have 24x10+2x40 and the N4064 48x10 + 4x40. So do the math how many ports your need from the beginning. Stacking is a bit less complicating with N40xx than the (i)VLT thing on the Force10.
All three models are certified for EqualLogic and we have them working in a couple spaces and a most customer have "legacy" Servers/Devices connected to the new switch gear.
Yes you should always use VLAN and when ever it is possible separate storage traffic from the rest.
Regards,
Joerg
Anonymous
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December 17th, 2015 10:00
Hello,
Depending on your expected growth, I've never been a fan of sharing iSCSI switches with other traffic. Unless you are talking about all 10GbE and are using Data Center Bridging (DCB) to insure iSCSI traffic get priority.
Re: N4xxx + N2xxx. Yes, this is very common. Create and ISL between them and keep GbE servers and arrays separate from 10GbE servers and arrays.
Re: Old iSCSI with new servers: Don't use 10GbE servers with GbE storage. Per link that's a 10:1 oversubscribe. Switches don't have enough buffering to handle that. Poor performance and connection stability issues will occur under load.
Re: Replication. Yes you can replicate between 10GbE and GbE. It's about firmware compatibility not interface speed.
Regards,
Don
sbuerger
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December 17th, 2015 02:00
One year later and the topic comes up again. :)
Planning for the new year. The PS6100X is getting full (currently only 12/24 disks) and one option is to get a new 4210X with 10GBit as a replacement.
About the switches:
The N4032F looks good for us. We would have enough SFP+ to connect the floor switches. We could use it to route between internal networks. We could connect the SAN and new Servers with DAC Cables. So they would become the new core switches for our headquarter.
With the network sales rep I discussed the option to combine N2xxx switches with the N4 series to get some GBit ports for "legacy" systems. Is this a possible option?
2x N4032F, 2x N2000 into one pool for redundancy?
About old iSCSI systems with new servers.
We have a PS6100X (4x1Gbit). What options do I have to connect it with the Hyper-V servers that have 10GBit, while having a PS4210 with 2 10GBit connected to the same servers (both in their own psgroup)?
And a question about replica between systems:
In another room we have a 4210 which is currently running on gbit. Can we still replicate from the new eql to this system when the new is on 10gbit and the old one is stillrunning on gbit?
Anything else we should keep in mind?
sbuerger
51 Posts
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January 4th, 2016 23:00
The new 10gbit switch would be the core switch for our entire network.
The network team prefer HP.
Do you think the 5400zl2 would be a good candidate?
www8.hp.com/.../product-detail.html
About using DAC cables between the switch and the eql. A sales rep told me Dell would only give support if we use Dell switches on the other side. Is this true?
Anonymous
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January 5th, 2016 08:00
Re: Support. The rep is referring to triage, configuration, management. If Dell Support either identifies or suspects network issues, you would need to go to HP for assistance. Same goes for sizing the correct switch.
Re: DAC. Equallogic only supports passive Twinax cables.
Don