topic Which fiber switch to buy? in Network and Storage Protocols https://community.netapp.com/t5/Network-and-Storage-Protocols/Which-fiber-switch-to-buy/m-p/62367#M5643 <HTML><HEAD></HEAD><BODY><P>We currently have two windows hosts using QLogic QLE2460's directly plugged into our NetApp filers. Each host has an active/passive connection to the alternate filer. We are now in the position of adding our 3rd fiber connected host and need to move to a fabric environment. I am looking for advice from users for brand and models of switch to purchase. I think we will perhaps have at most 4 fiber connect hosts. I was hoping to increase the bandwidth from host to filer buy making both FC cards active/multipath and of course increasing the number of connections from switch to filer as well. So from the get go, we would have 3 hosts x two 4gbit each, and 2 filers with two x 4gbit each, thus a total of 10 ports. Any advice appreciated...</P></BODY></HTML> Thu, 05 Jun 2025 07:26:38 GMT vantagemedia 2025-06-05T07:26:38Z Which fiber switch to buy? https://community.netapp.com/t5/Network-and-Storage-Protocols/Which-fiber-switch-to-buy/m-p/62367#M5643 <HTML><HEAD></HEAD><BODY><P>We currently have two windows hosts using QLogic QLE2460's directly plugged into our NetApp filers. Each host has an active/passive connection to the alternate filer. We are now in the position of adding our 3rd fiber connected host and need to move to a fabric environment. I am looking for advice from users for brand and models of switch to purchase. I think we will perhaps have at most 4 fiber connect hosts. I was hoping to increase the bandwidth from host to filer buy making both FC cards active/multipath and of course increasing the number of connections from switch to filer as well. So from the get go, we would have 3 hosts x two 4gbit each, and 2 filers with two x 4gbit each, thus a total of 10 ports. Any advice appreciated...</P></BODY></HTML> Thu, 05 Jun 2025 07:26:38 GMT https://community.netapp.com/t5/Network-and-Storage-Protocols/Which-fiber-switch-to-buy/m-p/62367#M5643 vantagemedia 2025-06-05T07:26:38Z Re: Which fiber switch to buy? https://community.netapp.com/t5/Network-and-Storage-Protocols/Which-fiber-switch-to-buy/m-p/62372#M5645 <HTML><HEAD></HEAD><BODY><P></P><P></P><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0cm; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman";} </style> <![endif]--><P class="MsoNormal">The McData used to be very nice but they were purchased by Brocade in 2006.&nbsp; I have now learnt the Brocade product lines and have some enterprise and entry level switches which are very nice.&nbsp; The business is talking about Cisco but I like the Brocades as the network team are afraid of them and will not touch them.&nbsp; Which has to be a good thing with your storage infrastructure!<SPAN>&nbsp; </SPAN>NetApp only support specific fabric so be sure you do not make you SAN unsupported.</P><P class="MsoNormal"></P><P class="MsoNormal"><A href="http://now.netapp.com/NOW/knowledge/docs/san/fcp_iscsi_config/index.shtml" target="_blank">http://now.netapp.com/NOW/knowledge/docs/san/fcp_iscsi_config/index.shtml</A></P><P class="MsoNormal"></P><P class="MsoNormal">Hope this helps</P><P class="MsoNormal"></P><P class="MsoNormal">Brendon</P></BODY></HTML> Thu, 25 Jun 2009 22:06:06 GMT https://community.netapp.com/t5/Network-and-Storage-Protocols/Which-fiber-switch-to-buy/m-p/62372#M5645 BrendonHiggins 2009-06-25T22:06:06Z