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Evaluating Switch Specification tips?
We are in the midst of spec'ing 2 to 4 CORE switches to be utilized within a virtualized environment. When reviewing switch specs...what are the most important aspects to look at when comparing? Is it Switch fabric, PPS or are there some hidden items people typically overlook when reviewing switches? We have a working set of Dell 6224's within our network but will be looking at the N4000 series switches for our Core. Any insight would be greatly appreciated.
Anonymous
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April 6th, 2015 09:00
Things like ppm, buffer memory, cpu memory, forwarding rate, etc. Are going to come into play when pushing the limits of the switch. When comparing switches these are still things to look at. The higher the specs the switch will generally perform better.
Typically the virtualization software will have recommendations on the speed of connections. If your connections meet the recommended speeds, you shouldn’t have any issues. If they do not, then a common recommendation to add a connection and make a LAG in order to meet the recommendation. Here are a couple examples.
http://vmw.re/1MYsTHL
http://bit.ly/1y8LPNG
As more virtualization features are used, such as vMotion. The higher the requirements become. Are the current 6224 switches working in the environment? Or are they causing a bottleneck?
jimbennin
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April 7th, 2015 06:00
No bottleneck issues with the 6224's...they've worked quite well as our primary network switch to this date. We've employed LAG's between our 6224's at our primary data centers as well as utilized the stacking features via the back-plane module cards. The N4000 will only be utilized within the VM environment with a set of LAGged ports connecting to our LAN. Thank you for your input.