Looking for recommendation on 10G Ethernet switch

Fri Nov 2 20:10:27 UTC 2012

On Fri, Nov 2, 2012 at 11:13 AM, Eric Germann <egermann at limanews.com> wrote:
> I'm looking for a recommendation on a smallish 10G Ethernet switch for a
> small virtualization/SAN implementation (4-5 hosts, 2 SAN boxes) over
> iSCSI with some legacy boxes on GigE.

> 1Gbps.   Assessing whether it is better to go 10G now vs. multi-pathing
> with quad GigE cards.  Trying to find the best solution for > 1G on a
> trunk and < $50K per box.

Certainly the days of doing NxGE to servers should be behind us.
There are many good 10GE switch offerings.  The Juniper QFX and Arista
(insert one of three good product lines here) have been excellent for
us.  We like them for different reasons -- Arista is quite good if you
want to integrate with a provisioning system; QFX is our choice when
most provisioning is done manually.  Both are way under $50k per box.

The biggest difference between the TOR-style switches and chassis
offerings, aside from the obvious, is buffers.  All the TOR-type 10G
switches have really small buffers and that can be a performance issue
for iSCSI when utilization is high.  Most of the chassis-type switches
have very generous buffers so you do not run into problems with
micro-bursting, etc.  The vendors will all tell you about lossless
ethernet, flow control, etc. and that crap sounds great on paper.  Try
making it actually work.  You'll want those days of your life back. :)

$0.02.
-- 
Jeff S Wheeler <jsw at inconcepts.biz>
Sr Network Operator  /  Innovative Network Concepts