Upgrading to 10Gbps speed on Sanbox 5600
Upgrading to 10Gbps speed on Sanbox 5600
Hey there, I heard you were working on replacing some old hardware. It’s pretty cool that you’re exploring options for the Qlogic SANbox 5600. I found out it’s being phased out and they’re moving to full-duplex Fiber SFP Modules for $5 each. I’ve been looking into how this fits into a home network setup—currently I have servers with direct connect 10GbE and others on a 1GbE line. I’m curious if those 4Gb modules can be upgraded to 10Gb, which would really help my local storage plans. Also, since it’s a fiber switch, do you think any SFP modules are compatible? For example, could I connect this switch to my existing network using standard 10GbE cards? Just wanted to check and not jump into buying fiber cables yet. Thanks!
From what I can tell, no, you cannot upgrade them to 10Gb ports. There is a license to activate the 10Gb stacking ports but I have a feeling those are just uplink/stacking ports and won't allow you to use them as FC links. You can use 1, 2, or 4Gbps FC SFPs but I don't believe a standard copper 1Gb SFP will work, I could be wrong on that though. While you can't use it for ethernet switching (obviously) it does have 10Gb ISL uplinks so you could connect it to your existing network via those and you can probably configure the mapping to allow connectivity between the SAN switch and your other ethernet switches.