New to 10gb - Guidance needed

[bjamm]

Hey,

Im new to the 10gb scene after wanting to do it for the past few years but the price was just too high. Seeing a few cards on ebay now for $50 bucks has me thinking I want to give it a shot at least to open up my ESXI server to the faster speeds.

Currently this is my setup

VM- 48tb Openindiana Napp it server
VM - Win7 with plex
4-5 more pcs All pcs have 1gb line and just ordered a bunch of Dual Gig NIC cards to update them to.
HTPC with Win7 for WMC with 8 tuners and runs my DVR for the whole home.

I currently have a 24 port 3com 4500G PWR switch with 4 10gb ports.

I am wanting to add a 10gb card such as this one or similar -
http://www.ebay.com/itm/MHQH29B-XTR...NECTX-2-VPI-DUAL-PORT-40GB-s-HCA/131466500178

I guess I'm a bit confused by the 10gb connections - Not sure what kind of cable or card is compatible with the switch I currently have. My OI server can push 900mb but limiting to 125mb over Gig speeds isnt cutting it for me anymore. Considering moving to FreeNAS10 over Napp it as I'm kind of tired of OI and the difficulty of keeping sabnzbd/cp/sickbeard running on i and wanting to get Plex on the same OS, as even between VM they seem to be limited to 1gb speeds and haven't messed with changing any settings in esxi to access the ZFS faster.

Can you recommend the best/cheapest path to at least opening up the Server to output 10gb speeds and which cabling is needed.

Thanks!

 

[rsq]

The card you list is a QSFP based QDR infiniband card that does not do Ethernet.

Your switch seems to be able to do it but uses outdated XFP ports (xenpack modules).

If you want to use that switch, you will need XFP modules that are compatible with LC fiber cable, connected to HCA's in the servers that accept SFP+ modules (also LC fiber cable).

Personally, I would recommend to upgrade your switch to a model that has 4 SFP+ ports. They are available from all vendors now. For cards, I would go with the Brocade BR-1020. If updated, they can run the fiberstore SFP+ modules which are cheap. Buy LC-LC OM3 cable while you are there.

 

[Aluminum]

The card you list is a QSFP based QDR infiniband card that does not do Ethernet.

False, VPI cards will do ethernet, the family listed does 10GbE. Fair warning though with that exact model in the ebay link would need a QSFP-to-SFP+ adapter which adds ~$30/port.

There are native SFP+ versions of the mellanox x2 series available, single port eth-only (EN) cards are available <$20 and in large quantities, I would suggest those after verifying your OS support.

Your switch seems to be able to do it but uses outdated XFP ports (xenpack modules).

If you want to use that switch, you will need XFP modules that are compatible with LC fiber cable, connected to HCA's in the servers that accept SFP+ modules (also LC fiber cable).

Personally, I would recommend to upgrade your switch to a model that has 4 SFP+ ports. They are available from all vendors now. For cards, I would go with the Brocade BR-1020. If updated, they can run the fiberstore SFP+ modules which are cheap. Buy LC-LC OM3 cable while you are there.

Yep cheap LC compatible modules on both ends will do the trick. Mellanox-based NICs don't check eeprom for vendor ids in my experience, no idea about the OP's switch. I would find out before needlessly upgrading anything.

 

[bjamm]

Thanks for the info - Maybe look into updating my switch or just using that one for POE. Any recommendations on switches and if I need one for each location I want to do LACP link aggregation?