Storage Switch Suggestion

anything I don't mind · 3 May 2013 at 12:34

Ok ill give more information.

Currently at one client they have 8x WS-C3750-24PS-S in two stacks which is EOL, it has a replacement part number of WS-C3750V2-24PS-S. The current switches have a 18gigabit switching fabric across each stack and the new one has a 32gigabit switching fabric across the stack as well as full gigabit ports. The prices range from £2300-3000 per 24 port switch. I understand that we can’t be replacing all the switches at this point, but we have to make a purchase with current switches and future upgrades in mind. The future switches will have to have POE for the voip phones, we will need to find out how much watts is required for all the phones when we do replace the switching.

If we just purchase some cisco gigabit switches we will have to consider how these are going to connect to the current stack. Ideally we would replace the entire stack and plug the netapp and esxi in to two switches (with nothing else in them) on the stack to take advantage of the stacked switch fabric bandwidth. But I think for storage switches we could just use 2x Cisco Catalyst 2960S-24TS-L (£1100 inc vat) and create a new stack and connect it to the current setup. But I am not sure how well that will perform and if we will find that when we do finally get around to upgrading all the switches that we are stuck with 2960s that don’t have poe and don’t stack with a 3750 due to different stacking technology.

It might be better than to just buy two WS-C3750V2-24PS-S for the new netapp 2240 and hp gen8 esxi using iscsi? then we do get a budget for upgrading all the switches the esxi switches will stack with the rest of the switches.

any comments ?

anything I don't mind · 3 May 2013 at 15:20

I added more info in to the post because it was a very broad question, sorry.

anything I don't mind · 3 May 2013 at 16:52

We currently use a combination of iscsi and NFS on our netapp 2050 (i think its a 2050) and that goes in to the current 3750 stacks and over the years previous IT admins have plugged other network cables in to the what was once dedicated storage switches in the stack, thinking that that they were just empty ports. The budget I would say is probably £1000-2000 per each storage switch. But if we have to replace all the switches then we will have to go with 3750s so that we don't run in to upgrade problems in the future, the budget would then increase to the £3000.

Basically my boss has asked me to spec out some storage switches for a netapp 2240 and 3x hp gen8. He didn't want to go with FC because he wants to keep the cost down.

The reason we use a combination is because the esx hosts are still on v3.5 and vfs3 and as such exchange is on nfs because at that time 2008 it was not recommended to run exchange on vfs3.

anything I don't mind · 3 May 2013 at 19:18

[RXP]Andy;24222753 said:
Also the NetApp 2050, I am pretty sure EOL soon or now so support costs on that will go through the roof!

Also if you are specing out a new filer plus nodes, it makes sense to go with the FC route as its complete solution and it will save a lot of hassle later on. Also it's cheaper to buy the NetApp fully loaded new than add licences later on as they can make your eyes water at the price.

That is correct, netapp quoted £14k i believe and its up for renewal soon so we are going to with a netapp 2240 instead and doing a buy back. Considering the switch situation and what you have just said about FC, I think going fc will be best route even though it might cost more.