With the growth of infrastructure , we needed to commission new 25 Gbps switches at the server access layer. We will tell you how we chose Huawei 6865, unpack the equipment and tell you our first impressions of operation.
Forming requirements
We have historically had positive experiences with both Cisco and Huawei. We use Cisco for routing, and Huawei for switching. At the moment we are using CloudEngine 6810. Everything is fine with it - the equipment works properly and predictably, and the cost of implementation is cheaper than analogues from Cisco and other vendors. By the way, about the 6800 series .
It is logical to continue using this bundle further, but we need a more powerful solution - expanding the network to 25 Gb / s per port, instead of the current 10 Gb / s.
Our other requirements: uplinks - 40/100, non-blocking switching, performance matrix, L3 support, stacking. From the desired for the future: support for Leaf-Spine, VXLAN, BGP EVPN. And, of course, the price - the cost of operation affects the final cost of the cloud for our customers, so it is important to choose an option with a good price-quality ratio.
Selection and commissioning
When choosing, we settled on three manufacturers - Dell, Cisco and Huawei. As mentioned above, we try to use partners that have already been tested by time, and we have a good idea of ββhow their equipment behaves and how the service works.
The following models fit our needs:
But after a short comparison, we settled on the first option. A number of factors influenced this: an attractive price, full compliance with our requirements and the uninterrupted operation of past models from this manufacturer. It's decided, we boldly order a batch of CE 6865.
Compared, ordered and finally received new switches
And now the party arrived at the data center. We open it and at first glance we see practically no visual differences from the 6810 we use. The only thing that is noticeable is that the new version has a larger number of uplinks and ports of a different type (SFP28 and QSFP28, instead of SFP+ and QSFP+, respectively), which will allow us to increase the network speed to 25 Gb/s instead of 10 Gb/s for SFP28 and up to 100 Gb/s instead of 40 Gb/s for QSFP28.
Installing switches in a new rack
Operating experience
As a result, no problems were identified during the month of operation of the new switches, the equipment is running smoothly. However, when choosing Huawei, you need to be prepared for the fact that some users will need time to get used to the interface of their operating system.
According to our feelings, the Huawei VRP interface is somewhere between IOS and Comware. And here it will be easier if you worked with Comware from HPE, but for Cisco users, on the contrary, it will be more difficult. Of course, this is not critical, but it is also worth considering when choosing equipment.
Huawei's experience with switching for more than 4 years leaves no doubt in the choice. CloudEngine 6885 is not inferior to competitors' solutions in technical terms, pleases with its price and allows us to provide reliable cloud solutions for our customers.
We are happy to answer your questions about hardware and clouds in the comments. We will also tell you more about setting up CloudEngine 6885 in one of the following articles - not to be missed.
Source: habr.com