Dell Equallogic and cisco switches

[imiddleton25]

Looking at a new PS6000XV 16 X 600GB 15k SAS drives hoping to not need new switches as well as money is tight. We have Cisco cataylst 6509 switches all 1GB ports cant find anything to say it will work ok seen stuff about the 4900 series working .

 

 

Does any one know ?

[apaton]

Yes it will work, would recommended having the latest IOS/firmware as always. 6509 has been replaced by 6509-E.

 

Things to consider is

 

• VLAN design
  
• Enable Flow Control 802.3x
  
• Disable spanning tree.
  
• Enable PortFast
  
• Gigabit ports only
  
• CAT 6 Cables
  

You could always look at the slight cheaper PS4000XV and purchase dedicated switches.

Non Cisco options would be Dells own's PowerConnect or HP ProCurve.

Edited June 19, 2010 by apaton
Changed FastPort to PortFast

[m25man]

Check this document out

 

Especially the disable broadcast control option as Cisco's are very smart at intelligent throttling.

 

Most manufacturers have a switch that ticks all the right boxes for between £200-300 so a dedicated switch should not be a problem.