10gb SFP+ Core Switches in the future. which core switches?

[Jaan]

We currently have 4 HP A5500-ei-24-sfp core switches.

 

These each have 16 sfp 1Gb Fibre transceivers installed that connect to each of our edge switches. (1gb from each core to each edge, so every edge is connected to every core switch 4 x 1gb via sfp fibre)

 

We're doing a mid life update on these, so that we can connect our hyper-v cluster\replica via 10gb at the core. (the switches have an expansion bay at the rear to add up to 2x 10gb sfp+ modules to each switch, so 8 in total)

 

However moving forwards (road mapping), a core and edge refresh is on the cards. (edge switches are hp v1910 with 4 x 1gb uplinks)

 

At the moment it kinda feels it's overkill going 10gb uplink from the edges.

 

My plan would be to reduce the number of core switches from 4 to 2 (24 port to 48 port) and have each edge connected as 2 x 10gb sfp+ as opposed to 4 x 1gb sfp.

 

 

I'm not very good a CLi so browser based config would be best. I had to enable this feature on our current switches.

Stacking, lacp, and 48x 10gb sfp+ ports would be needed. Dual PSU.

 

Just feeling i'm "over engineering" this, but at the same time need it to be future proof.

 

Do any of you guys have edge switches that uplink to the core via 10gb agg links? Which edge and core switches are you using?

 

Only one i've seen so far is the dell n series. Not sure if thats cli or browser based config.

 

Any input will be greatly appreciated.

 

Here's a simplified network diagram of our core\edge setup;

 

[ATTACH=CONFIG]42072[/ATTACH]

[Jaan]

We currently have 4 HP A5500-ei-24-sfp core switches.

 

These each have 16 sfp 1Gb Fibre transceivers installed that connect to each of our edge switches. (1gb from each core to each edge, so every edge is connected to every core switch 4 x 1gb via sfp fibre)

 

We're doing a mid life update on these, so that we can connect our hyper-v cluster\replica via 10gb at the core. (the switches have an expansion bay at the rear to add up to 2x 10gb sfp+ modules to each switch, so 8 in total)

 

However moving forwards (road mapping), a core and edge refresh is on the cards. (edge switches are hp v1910 with 4 x 1gb uplinks)

 

At the moment it kinda feels it's overkill going 10gb uplink from the edges.

 

My plan would be to reduce the number of core switches from 4 to 2 (24 port to 48 port) and have each edge connected as 2 x 10gb sfp+ as opposed to 4 x 1gb sfp.

 

 

I'm not very good a CLi so browser based config would be best. I had to enable this feature on our current switches.

Stacking, lacp, and 48x 10gb sfp+ ports would be needed. Dual PSU.

 

Just feeling i'm "over engineering" this, but at the same time need it to be future proof.

 

Do any of you guys have edge switches that uplink to the core via 10gb agg links? Which edge and core switches are you using?

 

Only one i've seen so far is the dell n series. Not sure if thats cli or browser based config.

 

Any input will be greatly appreciated.

 

Here's a simplified network diagram of our core\edge setup;

 

[emdrum]

Hi jahilton2002, I don't want to teach my grandmother to suck eggs, but in my opinion there is a difference between capacity planning and future-proofing.

 

Capacity planning necessarily involves a degree of speculation about what the future is going to be like, but is based on the best information available and is tied into your future strategy. Future-proofing is a marketing term to promote stuff that may never be used. In all my experience the future has never looked like I expected it to, and it probably never will. There is no proofing against it. And by the time you get to the future, their will almost certainly be options available to you that are not available to you now.

 

So the first question is, how much of the 4Gb are you using at the moment? Are you utilising what you have? A good way of testing this is to mirror the ports that connect your edge switches (the LACP trunks) and put that traffic through an analyser such as Colasoft's Capsa. That will show you what is actually going on. You could also use some SNMP tools such as the free versions of Spiceworks or ManageEngine. Unless your Edge links are at least at 50% utilisation then you don't need 10Gb and more importantly it won't solve the problem that's driving the purchase..

 

If they are greater than 50% utilisation, then the second question is why? How much of that traffic actually needs to be there? Are all your edges on separate VLANs so that you don't have broadcast traffic from one area drowning out the traffic from another? If you haven't segmented your network successfully then upgrading your switches is unlikely to help.

 

The third question is, what are you expecting to do that will use the 10Gb bandwidth to your edge switches? How will this bandwidth be used. Bear in mind that if your strategy includes the Cloud then whatever you do with that part of your infrastructure will be limited by your Internet connection.

 

A UI will only take you so far. There are options in the CLI that will never be fully exposed in the UI. It's worth the effort to learn it and understand it. Bear that in mind. There are plenty of people willing to help, here and elsewhere.

 

Hope that helps.

 

Thanks

 

Mike

[emdrum]

Hi jahilton2002, I don't want to teach my grandmother to suck eggs, but in my opinion there is a difference between capacity planning and future-proofing.

 

Capacity planning necessarily involves a degree of speculation about what the future is going to be like, but is based on the best information available and is tied into your future strategy. Future-proofing is a marketing term to promote stuff that may never be used. In all my experience the future has never looked like I expected it to, and it probably never will. There is no proofing against it. And by the time you get to the future, their will almost certainly be options available to you that are not available to you now.

 

So the first question is, how much of the 4Gb are you using at the moment? Are you utilising what you have? A good way of testing this is to mirror the ports that connect your edge switches (the LACP trunks) and put that traffic through an analyser such as Colasoft's Capsa. That will show you what is actually going on. You could also use some SNMP tools such as the free versions of Spiceworks or ManageEngine. Unless your Edge links are at least at 50% utilisation then you don't need 10Gb and more importantly it won't solve the problem that's driving the purchase..

 

If they are greater than 50% utilisation, then the second question is why? How much of that traffic actually needs to be there? Are all your edges on separate VLANs so that you don't have broadcast traffic from one area drowning out the traffic from another? If you haven't segmented your network successfully then upgrading your switches is unlikely to help.

 

The third question is, what are you expecting to do that will use the 10Gb bandwidth to your edge switches? How will this bandwidth be used. Bear in mind that if your strategy includes the Cloud then whatever you do with that part of your infrastructure will be limited by your Internet connection.

 

A UI will only take you so far. There are options in the CLI that will never be fully exposed in the UI. It's worth the effort to learn it and understand it. Bear that in mind. There are plenty of people willing to help, here and elsewhere.

 

Hope that helps.

 

Thanks

 

Mike