[c-nsp] Choosing Switches to Support VM Clusters

[Gordon Bryan]

Hi List,

I'm involved in building a small split-site data centre, with the main focus on hosting primary/backup VM Clusters.

I have seen and read many a post on this list regarding microbursts and have always tried to err on the side of caution when choosing switches and usually go for models with meaty buffers and was considering for this deployment the 4948E. I was also considering the 3750X but not sure how the buffers stack up against the 4948 as the old 3750 models were poor in this regard.

However, I'm looking for any general advice for choosing switches to support a virtualised environment. Are there any particular features I should be looking for or are there any gotchas that I should be aware of? My exposure to VMs is very limited so I'm hoping that the expertise available on this group can guide me

Thanks in advance
 
Gordon