{"id":5985,"date":"2013-05-11T21:59:33","date_gmt":"2013-05-12T04:59:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/humairahmed.com\/blog\/?p=5985"},"modified":"2013-05-11T22:21:36","modified_gmt":"2013-05-12T05:21:36","slug":"buying-a-convergedfcoe-switch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/humairahmed.com\/blog\/?p=5985","title":{"rendered":"Buying a Converged\/FCoE Switch?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n\t\t\t\t\tTweet<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div><\/div>

I felt the urge to write this article after receiving several inquiries about buying used Cisco Nexus 5010 and Nexus 5020 switches because they are available on some third-party site at large discounts – at least compared to the new Cisco Nexus switches. First, let me mention that both of these switches are EOL. Second, as I always say, whether the switch will work for you or not will depend on your network requirements. Let me mention a few things here to take into consideration when looking at some of these old EOL switches when the thought of saving some $$$$ overwhelm you. <\/p>\n

USED EOL SWITCHES – NOT RECOMMENDED<\/font><\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n

Cisco Nexus 5010:<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n

\n– 1 RU
\n– 20 x fixed linerate 10 GbE ports
\n– supports DCB and FCoE
\n– one expansion module (supports FC, Ethernet, and FCoE ports)
\n– only the first 8 ports can be used for both 1 GbE and 10 GbE\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Cisco Nexus 5020:<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n

\n– 2 RU
\n– 40 x fixed linerate 10 GbE ports
\n– supports DCB and FCoE
\n– one expansion module (supports FC, Ethernet, and FCoE ports)
\n– only the first 8 ports can be used for both 1 GbE and 10 GbE\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Shortcomings on Cisco Nexus 5010 and 5020 switches:<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n

\n– No layer 3 module available
\n– No FabricPath\/TRILL technology
\n– No Adapter-FEX
\n– No VM-FEX
\n– No reversible airflow\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

If you’re looking for a cheap used solution or just looking for something to get your hands wet with while playing with Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE), you can give the EOL switches a try as long as you’re okay with no or limited technical support if issues arise.<\/p>\n

If you’re looking for a robust converged switch with more features, I would consider one of the below. I’ve tried listing a switch from each of the major vendors.<\/p>\n

All of the below provide FCoE-FC bridging capabilities. There will be differences of course in port-count, other features, and licensing. For example, the new Dell S5000 converged switch is the only switch that provides a completely modular design where Ethernet\/FC supported modules (12 ports each) can be inserted in up to four bays. 4 x 40 GbE fixed ports which can each be broken out into 4 x 10 GbE are also provided.<\/p>\n

BETTER RECOMMENDED OPTIONS:<\/font><\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n

\n1. Dell S5000
\n2. Cisco Nexus 5548UP or 5596UP
\n3. Brocade VDX 6720 or 6730
\n4. Juniper QFX3500\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I felt the urge to write this article after receiving several inquiries about buying used Cisco Nexus 5010 and Nexus 5020 switches because they are available on some third-party site at large discounts – at least compared to the new … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1482,297,709,1487,1505,295,747,3],"tags":[1797,4373,1806,1809,1783,1787,1805,1808,4354,1771,1773,1802,1803,1780,1784,1589,1769,1772,1590,1801,1794,1779,1795,1536,4361,1781,1785,4360,1788,1789,1790,1791,1796,1776,1775,1799,1800,4381,1778,4374,1782,1786,1811,1770,1774,1593,1804,1812,1792,1793,1490,1807,1810,1798],"class_list":["post-5985","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-brocade","category-cisco","category-dell","category-juniper","category-network-architecture","category-networking","category-protocols","category-technology","tag-adapter-fex","tag-brocade","tag-brocade-6720","tag-brocade-6730","tag-brocade-converged-switch","tag-brocade-fcoe-switch","tag-brocade-vdx-6720","tag-brocade-vdx-6730","tag-cisco","tag-cisco-5010","tag-cisco-5020","tag-cisco-5548up","tag-cisco-5596up","tag-cisco-converged-switch","tag-cisco-fcoe-switch","tag-cisco-nexus","tag-cisco-nexus-5010","tag-cisco-nexus-5020","tag-cisco-nexus-5548up","tag-cisco-nexus-5596up","tag-cisco-nexus-switches","tag-converged-switch","tag-data-center-bridging","tag-dcb","tag-dell","tag-dell-converged-switch","tag-dell-fcoe-switch","tag-dell-force10","tag-dell-s5000","tag-dell-s5000-converged-switch","tag-dell-s5000-fcoe-switch","tag-dell-s5000-switch","tag-fabricpath","tag-fc","tag-fcoe","tag-fcoe-fc-bridging","tag-fcoe-fc-bridging-capabilities","tag-fibre-channel","tag-fibre-channel-over-ethernet","tag-juniper","tag-juniper-converged-switch","tag-juniper-fcoe-switch","tag-juniper-qfx3500","tag-nexus-5010","tag-nexus-5020","tag-nexus-5548up","tag-nexus-5596up","tag-qfx3500","tag-s5000-converged-switch","tag-s5000-fcoe-switch","tag-trill","tag-vdx-6720","tag-vdx-6730","tag-vm-fex"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/humairahmed.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5985","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/humairahmed.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/humairahmed.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/humairahmed.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/humairahmed.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5985"}],"version-history":[{"count":32,"href":"https:\/\/humairahmed.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5985\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6017,"href":"https:\/\/humairahmed.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5985\/revisions\/6017"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/humairahmed.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5985"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/humairahmed.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5985"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/humairahmed.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5985"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}