iscsi switch recommendations?

[infuseweb]

I'm looking for a solid, well-performing iSCSI switch and was hoping some of you had recommendations based on your experience with your switches. Cost is important, but a solid switch is more so, so I'd appreciate all suggestions.

Obviously the switch should support Link Aggregation and Jumbo Frames, as well as be Gigabit or better.

Thanks in advance!

Tony

[dr00l]

The Cisco 3750 makes a nice iSCSI switch.

[infuseweb]

Thanks. That's what I was potentially thinking, but I don't have any experience with Cisco products and there are so many variations I'm not sure what exactly I should choose.

[jose_maria_gonz]

Hi there,

I had very good experience with Cisco and Dell PowerConnect 64xx series.

One thing that I have noticed to avoid severe performance degradation is not to use the IP or MAC hash option with Multiple Physical trunked/channel group (non-stacked) switches.

Using Cisco VSL or Nortel ISL technologies is supported.

Also, having any ‘stand-by’ physical NICs in your vSwitch can also result in severe performance degradation as well.

rgds,

J.

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[chrisfmss]

If you go with Cisco 3750, take the 3750-E, because the backplane has more bandwidth and you have 2 x 10 gig per switch.

[infuseweb]

I think the cost jumps pretty significantly on the 3750-E. Any other switches that might do the job. I heard some of the Dell's (perhaps as was mentioned here...the 64XX series) might be good. Anyone have any experience with those?

[jose_maria_gonz]

Hi Infuseweb

My experience with Dell PowerConnect 62xx series has been great so far.

Just for your information, the PowerConnect 6200 series offers versions with 24 and 48 ports of 10/100/1000BASE-T Gigabit Ethernet1. It supports up to four 10 Gigabit Ethernet1 uplinks for connectivity directly to 10GE routers, servers, enterprise backbones and data centers. It is IPV6 Ready, Supports L2-L4 Access Control lists (ACLs), QoS, Gigabit Fibre Connectivity and 10 gibabit Ethernet-

You can also get more info about the Powerconnect on this ink:

www.Dell.com/AP/Networking

rgds,

J.

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[jose_maria_gonz · Accepted solution]

Hi Infuseweb

My experience with Dell PowerConnect 62xx series has been great so far.

The PowerConnect 6200 series offers versions with 24 and 48 ports of 10/100/1000BASE-T Gigabit Ethernet1. It supports up to four 10 Gigabit Ethernet1 uplinks for connectivity directly to 10GE routers, servers, enterprise backbones and data centers. It is IPV6 Ready, Supports L2-L4 Access Control lists (ACLs), QoS, Gigabit Fibre Connectivity and 10 gibabit Ethernet.

You can get more info about Powerconnect on this ink:

www.Dell.com/AP/Networking

rgds,

J.

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[Erik_Zandboer]

The Cisco 3750-E is a VERY expensive switch. Also has layer 3 capabilities. If using Cisco, why not use the 2960G? That is a layer2-only device, not as expensive as the 3750, and has more than enough bandwidth.

What kind of environment are you designing? for example, how many hosts, how many uplinks (for iSCSI that is), how many ports to your iSCSI SAN etc.

It might also be an option just to use two switches for ALL, so for both IP and IP-storage. You then buy only two (more expensive) boxes instead of four, and if using VLANs is okay by company policy (for isolating IP storage and IP traffic), that will go a long way. You could consider to use two 3750's or two 2960G's for example...

Are you considering the use of flow control / jumbo frames in conjunction with iSCSI HBAs?

[infuseweb]

Thanks guys. I decided to go with some Dell 6224's. Their specs are a lot better than the Cisco 3750 but the price is less than half. I can stack them and build a redundant network for a reasonable price.

I only have 3 hosts with 2 QLogic 4050C HBA's each right now connected to a NetApp SAN with 2 SP's on it. About 25 VM's total. Not a big network, and I don't have a huge budget but the Dell's seem to fit well.