some 10GBe and switch advise

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Digital-Vortex

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Dec 11, 2001
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Hey everyone,
Been bashing my head off a wall talking to Dell to find some info. Getting no where.
Anyway. I am looking at a nice new server that I want to run two 10GBe connections using cat 6a ethernet cable. the runs are around 50 meters max so they should be able to do it. however all the cards for the servers suggest they are for optical SPF's, and the Dell PowerConnect switches seem to be the same.

Am I doomed to need optical or am i missing something. The two servers we are looking at are the T620 and R720x something or other.

Final questions is we aim to have the server connected to two switches which will also be connected together in order to provide some good redundancy (all be it to one network card/server) Am I right that spanning tree setup would be all thats needed? or do I need Layer 3?

Cheers for the help, new to the 10GBe stuff and a little rusty :p
 
I'm unfamiliar with 10GBe technology but as far as redundant switches go, we use Cisco 3750-X's at work and use the Stacking feature to provide redundancy
 
You don't see a lot of 10GBase-T switches. They are very power hungry and the distance isn't great. Optical (and copper TwinAx) are far more common.

You just need spanning-tree. Spanning-tree just makes sure you don't end up with a switching loop. If you're going to connect those switches together with more than one link make sure you do a port-channel or spanning-tree will block all but one.

And yes, if your switches support stacking that's a better option as it makes multiple switches operate as one for management and features.
 
Cool, well stacking isn't a problem them. Sure we can get that done.
So that just leaves us looking for the 10GBase-T option
 
Just went through this: Dell officially has no 10Gbase-T offerings minus their 8000 series. All other 10G modules are for up-links/stacking only.

HP has the 3800-24 which will offer 2 ports of 10Gbase-T at around $4k.
Cisco has the 2960S which has a 2 or 4 port 10Gbase-T at $2k.

10Gbase-T is just darn expensive still and IMO, not worth it. Will you really have more then 20 concurrent 1g connections from your users?
 
No 10GBase-T on the 2960S. It uses the SFP+ modules and there isn't one. No idea on the others.

Your best bet is to not use 10GBase-T. You'd have to go optical which is going to be more money, but a lot more options on switches. 10GBase-T is very power hungry and people haven't jumped on it.
 
Actually the Cisco Catalyst 2960S-24TD-L has 2 10gbase-T ports
if you want sfp+ the cheapest way to get few ports is hp 2910al + 10gbe sfp+ modules (J9008A)
switch is ~1700 + $650 per 2 port sfp+ module (2x modules max) you can use that with sfp+ direct attach cables so if you don't need long distance ( 7m max for hp cables) you can have 4 port 10gbe spf+ switch for little over $3k
 
sorry my mistake than
i was just going by cisco datasheet.
cisco.PNG

Their wording is very misleading than because by reading it I got the impression that the switch has dual personality ports that are 10gbase-t or sfp
 
No..it has two physical 1Gb CAT5 ports and two SFP+ ports that can do 10Gb..but there is no 10GBase-T SFP+ due to the power requirements.
 
axan said:
Actually the Cisco Catalyst 2960S-24TD-L has 2 10gbase-T ports
if you want sfp+ the cheapest way to get few ports is hp 2910al + 10gbe sfp+ modules (J9008A)
switch is ~1700 + $650 per 2 port sfp+ module (2x modules max) you can use that with sfp+ direct attach cables so if you don't need long distance ( 7m max for hp cables) you can have 4 port 10gbe spf+ switch for little over $3k
Click to expand...

Shakes my Internet fist at you :mad:, LOL. We all make mistakes :)
 
The Dell 6224 has a 10gbase-t option for server connectivity. I had one here not too long ago.

Although that only gets you two ports. if you need more than that its the 8k series
 
Digital-Vortex said:
Thanks guys, looks like we need to go optical then.
Click to expand...

It your server and switch are not too far apart then you can look into using "DAC" cables. These are copper twinax cables with an SFP/SFP+ plug on each end. Very reliable, come in segments up to 10 meters. Significantly less expensive than getting a pair of SFP+ 10Gb transceivers for each end.
 
PigLover said:
It your server and switch are not too far apart then you can look into using "DAC" cables. These are copper twinax cables with an SFP/SFP+ plug on each end. Very reliable, come in segments up to 10 meters. Significantly less expensive than getting a pair of SFP+ 10Gb transceivers for each end.
Click to expand...

I didn't mention those since he said 50m but they are the cheapest way to go by far. They are <$200 in most cases and as you said, have the SFPs already on both ends. Then you can use any cards or switches with standard SFP+ ports.
 
nitrobass24 said:
The Dell 6224 has a 10gbase-t option for server connectivity. I had one here not too long ago.

Although that only gets you two ports. if you need more than that its the 8k series
Click to expand...

According to Dell as of 2 weeks agi, those ports are for switch to switch traffic only. They are not designed for switch to nic usage.
 
The Spyder said:
According to Dell as of 2 weeks agi, those ports are for switch to switch traffic only. They are not designed for switch to nic usage.
Click to expand...

Ok they said that....what does that even mean? I mean seriously it switches traffic, can be configured just like any of the interfaces on the front of the switch.

What am i missing?
 
nitrobass24 said:
Ok they said that....what does that even mean? I mean seriously it switches traffic, can be configured just like any of the interfaces on the front of the switch.

What am i missing?
Click to expand...

May just mean that's the purpose. Really, the 10GB ports on a 2960S are made to run back to the core..but we use them for all sorts of stuff.
 
The Spyder said:
Just went through this: Dell officially has no 10Gbase-T offerings minus their 8000 series. All other 10G modules are for up-links/stacking only.

HP has the 3800-24 which will offer 2 ports of 10Gbase-T at around $4k.
Cisco has the 2960S which has a 2 or 4 port 10Gbase-T at $2k.

10Gbase-T is just darn expensive still and IMO, not worth it. Will you really have more then 20 concurrent 1g connections from your users?
Click to expand...

Yes , I will..
 
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