Hi all,
So we're currently looking to revamp our relatively modest VM infrastructure so that it will be able to handle a more demanding workload. We've decided that we want to go the 10G ethernet route, but we're trying to balance our wants and needs with our credit card limit. :)
The switches will be used exclusively for ISCSI traffic between the storage array and the VM hosts. No routing or anything fancy. The most we would do is set up VLANs to segregate the MPIO traffic.
Were were originally looking at the Cisco SG550XG-24F cause everything I've read indicates that they're considered relatively solid devices and attractively priced. (Unfortunately we can't quite justify dropping $10k+ per switch, so the higher end Ciscos, Brocades, etc, are out)
Our rep is really trying to push us towards using Dell N4032F's instead, and based on datasheet specs, it's definitely a nicer option albeit more expensive.
But when I do a bunch of googling I see opinions ranging from "ok" to "OMFG Stay away" with long lists of bugs people have run into. I thought Force10 based hardware was supposed to be solid, but there appears to be a surprising amount of debate as to whether the N series even is F10-based gear.
So my question is, is that still the case, or has time and firmware updates solved the problems people have run into? The most recent stuff I found was still over a year old, so I don't know if the opinions are still accurate.
Can I reasonably justify choosing an N4000 switch over the SG550XG?
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