Best Network architecture with new UCS Server

[morphotek]

My current network setup I have Cisco 3850 as my core switch L3 functionality, and I have a second 3850 stack that I connect my iscsi SAN's to.  The SAN stack operates on a VLAN with the core stack as its default gateway but connectivity between the 2 stacks is through the back plane interface on my existing server chassis that will be going away with the UCS server is replacement.  My question is should I leave the FI's in end host mode and direct connect the core and iscsi stacks together or should I switch the FI's to switching mode to provide the connectivity between the 3850 stacks.

thanks

[Kirk J]

I would not change the end host mode.

There are very few use cases that actually require changing to switching mode.

3750/3850s work ok for minimal traffic, but have seen lot of issues if you try to push a lot of traffic including storage/NFS/iSCSI.  Depending on traffic requirements, you may need to look at N5k.

Thanks,

Kirk...

[morphotek]

Getting a Nexus isn't an option for me due to budget limitations