For those customer which are in some longer transition period from 1 to 10GbE we choose BaseT rather than SFP+.  So the following switch model comes in my mind Force10 s4820 or N4032/64.  Keep in mind that you always need 2 switches with good stacking bandwidth. The Force10 comes with 48x10GbE + 4x40GbE. The N4032 have 24x10+2x40 and the N4064 48x10 + 4x40. So do the math how many ports your need from the beginning. Stacking is a bit less complicating with N40xx than the (i)VLT thing on the Force10. All three models are certified for EqualLogic and we have them working in a couple spaces and a most customer have "legacy" Servers/Devices connected to the new switch gear. Yes you should always use VLAN and when ever it is possible separate storage traffic from the rest. Regards, Joerg
Hi, we are going to buy a new 10GBit PS4210X Storage. We currently have a PS5000, a PS4000E and a PS6100X with 1Gbit Interfaces in the same network. All have their own group. The new one will be in its own group too. The network is a ring (one trunk is open through spanning tree protocol) with 4 Dell Powerconnect 52XX GBit switches (2x24, 2x48). 2 switches with 2 arrays and 2 servers in one room, 2 with 1 and 2 in another room. The switches have still 1-2 years maintenance... As I know the new storage can still run on GBit until we go to 10GBit on the network.  1. Which Dell or HP 10Gbit switches would you consider for the new network?  2. Is it possible to buy 10Gbit switches and use booth 1gbit and 10gbit Clients on this switches at the same time?  3. Would you mix the traffic on the physical network with VLANs for your production traffic, or would you still dedicate the whole network for SAN traffic?  Any other considerations?  Thanks.
10Gbit Switches for Eql SAN Network