NetApp CN1610 10gbe First impressions

[kdragon75]

I have been looking to move into ten gigabit ethernet for some time and final found a workable switch. Another forum member mentioned having issues with vlans on it and I have not seen it on the "Cheap 10gbe Switch" lists so I did a little research.

The NetApp CN1610 is a 16 SFP+ port switch that is used in NetApp storage clusters and runs a modified linux. As most enterprise switchgear, its CLI only. Its very similar to Cisco IOS but is different enough that you will likely need to reference some docs. It does support jumbo frames, VLANs, STP, etherchannel, COS, QOS, and more. Being a NetApp product that seems to be built by Cisco, I would assume the unit would be picky about SFP+ modules. I have not been able to test this as I only have Cisco mods at this time.

The three big things most people be asking are price, noise, and power consumption.

The price seems all over the place. I got mine from Ebay for $100usd shipped. It looks like many are listed at $85usd +shipping (about $35usd).

Noise is not bad but still louder than a Dell R520/R710 server. It's fine in the garage or basement but not next to your desk. I may try a fan mod to reduce power and noise but I figure that will save me 10 watts at the most.

Power is not to bad considering what this thing can do but still not great considering its only 16 ports. It seems to idle right at 100 watts. If I pull one PSU and a fan module it comes down to about 80. The PSUs are rated for 300 watts each and you have two only for redundancy and to keep the fans at a normal speed.

Overall, I think this is a great value over something like the Ubiquiti 10gbe switches. I can justify the power by paying 1/5th of the price. By the time I would break even on the power savings, Ill want 100gbe anyway ;)

EDIT: I just tested some HP DAC cables (just port to port) and they seem to work. The same cables generate errors on my Intel X520 cards.

 

[BigDave]

Being a NetApp product that seems to be built by Cisco, I would assume the unit would be picky about SFP+ modules. I have not been able to test this as I only have Cisco mods at this time.

The Fiber Store folks may be of help to you, their customer service have been very helpful to me and others
here in the forum. The thanks for that (I believe) goes to @Mlovelace

 

[Dudleydogg]

I have been looking to move into ten gigabit ethernet for some time and final found a workable switch. Another forum member mentioned having issues with vlans on it and I have not seen it on the "Cheap 10gbe Switch" lists so I did a little research.

The NetApp CN1610 is a 16 SFP+ port switch that is used in NetApp storage clusters and runs a modified linux. As most enterprise switchgear, its CLI only. Its very similar to Cisco IOS but is different enough that you will likely need to reference some docs. It does support jumbo frames, VLANs, STP, etherchannel, COS, QOS, and more. Being a NetApp product that seems to be built by Cisco, I would assume the unit would be picky about SFP+ modules. I have not been able to test this as I only have Cisco mods at this time.

The three big things most people be asking are price, noise, and power consumption.

The price seems all over the place. I got mine from Ebay for $100usd shipped. It looks like many are listed at $85usd +shipping (about $35usd).

Noise is not bad but still louder than a Dell R520/R710 server. It's fine in the garage or basement but not next to your desk. I may try a fan mod to reduce power and noise but I figure that will save me 10 watts at the most.

Power is not to bad considering what this thing can do but still not great considering its only 16 ports. It seems to idle right at 100 watts. If I pull one PSU and a fan module it comes down to about 80. The PSUs are rated for 300 watts each and you have two only for redundancy and to keep the fans at a normal speed.

Overall, I think this is a great value over something like the Ubiquiti 10gbe switches. I can justify the power by paying 1/5th of the price. By the time I would break even on the power savings, Ill want 100gbe anyway ;)

EDIT: I just tested some HP DAC cables (just port to port) and they seem to work. The same cables generate errors on my Intel X520 cards.

I used the Mellonox Cables that came with those Cards i got on Ebay and they work fine, came with Cisco Copper Cables.
I setup Vlan Databases and Vmware control's the Trunk ports whereas for Freenas I had to specify the vlan on the port.
Now I want to connect the Netapp switch to my Dell switch so i can access samba shares on freenas, and the VM's will have 10G access to those shares. so looking for a way to connect to the Dell Switch. Dell has a uplink port in the rear but its Wide SPF not like the others.