When is time to change for SAN directors??

[villavic]

My EMC san is composed by 4 EMC Connectrix switches (2 16-ports and 2 32-ports), serving around 40 servers (26 of this are actually 13 unix (tru64) mission critical clusters). I still have 15 to 20% of free ports.

I have an 8830 and a DMX 1000

Growing expectations (servers) for next year may be between 20 and 30%. No plans for more EMC boxes.

Is it time to think in migrating to Connectrix (McData) directors? Are they worth it? Or should I still adding connectrix (brocade) switches?

How more redundant, reliable, and scalable are those from the Brocade/Connectrix line?) When directors are really better and necessary than switches?

 

[culainn]

What I would be looking at is the scalability of your switches should you need to grow. In that I am talking about your current topology, is it core and edge etc.. Should you need to grow you could migrate easily to a larger switch i.e. 64m or 140m and combine these with smaller switches for a core edge topology. What I would also keep an eye on is EOL support for your current hardware. This may prompt you into an upgrade.
I would get Brocade, Mcdata and Cisco in, and look what they are doing , futures etc.. to get a feel for what technology best suits your roadmap.
all the best,
Colin.