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Cisco Storage Area Networking

Score10 out of 10

7 Reviews and Ratings

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What is Cisco Storage Area Networking?

The vendor states that the Cisco MDS 9000 multilayer SAN switches can help lower the total cost of ownership (TCO) of storage environments. They combine what the vendor describes as a robust, flexible hardware architecture with multiple layers of network and storage-management intelligence. With them, users can build highly available, scalable storage networks with advanced security and unified management.

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Categories & Use Cases

Who Buys & Uses Cisco Storage Area Networking

Cisco Storage Area Networking Reviews

What users are saying about Cisco Storage Area Networking.
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MDS Switches Provide and Enterprise Class SAN Fabric for Demanding Workloads

Incentivized
Verified User
Professional in Information Technology (10,001+ employees employees)

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

We use a mix of MDS 9248, and 9396 fabric switches to support FC SAN Fabrics. These [Cisco MDS 9000 Series Multilayer Switches] provide FC SAN Fabric to virtualized VMware environments and for bare-metal hosts running either Windows or Red Hat. The MDS's enable us to have a standard method of presenting FC fabric across the facility. We are currently visiting the implementation of [stretched] FC fabric through DWDM to replace FCIP replication between storage arrays.

Pros

  • Zoning
  • High MTBF
  • Buffer Credits

Cons

  • Centralized Management through DCNM
  • Cost (Port License Cost vs New Switch)
  • 3rd Party SFP+ Compatibility
  • Smart Zoning (personally prefer SIMT)

Return on Investment

  • High MTBF
  • Stable hardened OS reducing the need for constant upgrades
  • NVMeOF Compatibility
  • High port density in relatively small footprint (with 9396)

Alternatives Considered

Extreme VCS Fabrics (formerly Brocade VCS Fabrics) and IBM SAN48B-5

Other Software Used

VMware vSphere, Cisco Intersight

Cisco MDS 9000 Series Multilayer Switches are consistent and reliable

Incentivized
Jon McDowellView profile
Server Administrator in Information Technology at Franklin Mint Federal Credit Union (201-500 employees employees)

Pros

  • Easy connectivity
  • Easy management
  • Good support for finding correct commands

Cons

  • Licensing
  • Lack of GUI

Return on Investment

  • No connection drops
  • Allowed easy management of the UCS Chassis
  • Allows fast data transfers

Alternatives Considered

Brocade ADX (Discontinued)

Cisco Storage Area Networking great low-latency for your data lake systems.

Incentivized
Verified User
Project Manager in Information Technology (1001-5000 employees employees)

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

We use Cisco Storage Area Networking in our organization to provide connectivity between our All Flash storage box and our SQL Servers. These servers require a low latency network to access their data located in our NVMe storage box. We have found that their capabilities are quite robust and the management effort in order to keep them updated are quite small. They haven't given us any issues or significant incidents with the technology, this gives complete peace of mind.

Pros

  • Provide low latency SAN access
  • Easy to configure configuration language
  • Great support from vendor
  • No loss of service when doing maintenance activities

Cons

  • User interface for certain configurations: some are hard to use or not intuitive
  • Enhanced analytics and reporting tools could provide deeper insights
  • Having more automation capabilities for routine tasks like firmware updates and host group management

Return on Investment

  • Enhanced reliability and minimized downtime.
  • Ensuring continuous data availability.
  • New business model that change CAPEX into OPEX with an evergreen equipment maintenance.

Other Software Used

VMware vSAN, Nutanix Unified Storage, Veeam Backup for Microsoft 365, Citrix DaaS, Citrix Endpoint Management, NetScaler Gateway, NetScaler ADC, DigiCert CertCentral, Akamai, Commvault Cloud powered by Metallic AI, VMware Cloud on AWS

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