MDS 9148 Standalone vs. MDS 9500 Switches

[dwesonga]

Hi,

I currently have an MDS 9509 and I wanted to add an 8Gb Linecard to my Chasse. I'm looking at the DS-X9224-96-K9 linecard and it's much more than the MDS 9148 Standalone Switch. The question I ask myself is why would anyone get the linecards (other than investment protection) instead of the MDS 9148. The form factor alone of the MDS 9148 makes it ideal for Top or Rack.

Thanks folks, I'd appreciate any insight!

[blueyonderguy]

off topic, but make sure that your 9509 supports the line card that you intend to buy. we ran into situation where the switching module was old generation and didnt support 8gbps stuff.

but otherwise, only reason i can see for not getting discreate switches is to reduce scalablity overheads when you grow beyond 2-3 switches. 9509 does not provide line rate speed on all ports but that is based on the fact that most devices do not use that all the while.

[dwesonga]

I just spoke with a Cisco SE buddy of mine and he says the major difference is that Cisco looks at the 9500 platform as a box that support Fabric Services like Inter-VSAN Routing, FCIP, etc. The 9148 can't  do those services, but it is a great switch from a pricing standpoint. The nice thing about the 9148 is that all the ports are linerate, whereas the ports on the 24 port & 48 Port 8Gb linecards are oversubscribed as you elluded to below.

Thanks for respond, I really appreciate the input.

[dynamoxxx]

9148 is very nice for core edge topology, if your 9505 is already licensed for IVR then as long as the VSAN spans both 9509 and 9148 ..IVR is working. I am doing that right now with 9134 that are connected to 9222i (IVR enabled). At our new site we have 9513 so collapsed core-edge is nice. Arrays/big hosts get connected to 24 port cards (4G speed, or 8G capable at 2:1) and smaller hosts get connected to 48 port cards.

[Mirko Josipovic]

Hi

in all docs for MDS9148 there is IVR readiness for future nxos upgrades

also found some presentation which state that IVR is exprected in Dec 2011.

anybody have more details ?

thanks

[Mauricio Martinez]

It's been recently added. See release notes for NX-OS 5.2(2):

Release Date: January 23, 2012

New Software Features in Cisco MDS NX-OS Release 5.2(2)

Availability of IVR on the Cisco MDS 9148 Switch

Cisco MDS NX-OS Release 5.2(2) supports Inter-VSAN Routing (IVR) on the Cisco MS 9148 multilayer fabric switch.

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/docs/switches/datacenter/mds9000/sw/5_2/release/notes/nx-os/mds_nxos_rel_notes_522.html

[setmason]

I would also add that the linecard is more expensive because it also implicitly has backplane connectivity of 96Gbps.  With the 9148, you only get the 48 front facing ports and no additional connectivity. In order to acheive the same thing with the 9148, you'd have to use half the switch for ISLs.  Something that is quite expensive when you start to take into account optics and ports on both ends of the ISL.  For this reason many customers opt for the 48 port linecard instead of the 24 port card, as unless every port you have needs dedicated bandwidth, the extra 24 ports come in quite handy.  Plus you still have the 96Gbps backplane connection.