KEYNOTE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN A CATALYST LAN SWITCH & A STORAGE SWITCH (MDS)

[RUSTOM BILLIMORIA]

Hi Guys,

I had a very simple query. I had a very basic query. I wanted to know the difference between a switch which we connect to our campus netorks and switches connected to storage area networks. I dont mean the cost and stuff, but more into how they forward packets and the technologies. If I have a catalyst switch with 10Gb ports and a SAN switch with 10Gb ports , what would be the performance difference. what would be the difference in their forwarding mechanisms.

[jihicks]

Hi Rustom,

The big difference is that the 10Gb ports on the Catalyst are ethernet and the 10Gb ports on the MDS switch are for Fibre Channel only.  You can't use the MDS ports for ethernet.

Jim