Brocade ICX Series (cheap & powerful 10gbE/40gbE switching)

[seatrope]

Question to all: my icx6610 came with rack ears. Mounted them (front posts only as that’s the only option on my wall mount 2 poster. Now there’s significant rear sag, prob 10-15 degrees.

I’ll say the 6610 is the heaviest piece of gear I’ve rack mounted on that rack. Is this ok? Will this cause chassis warp issues going forward?

 

[ljvb]

Question to all: my icx6610 came with rack ears. Mounted them (front posts only as that’s the only option on my wall mount 2 poster. Now there’s significant rear sag, prob 10-15 degrees.

I’ll say the 6610 is the heaviest piece of gear I’ve rack mounted on that rack. Is this ok? Will this cause chassis warp issues going forward?

Get a center mount shelf, you don't want them hanging like that. I'm guessing yours like mine, only has 1 screw holding the ears in. I also noted that you can flip the ears so they fit std server rack (when I received mine, they were an inch too short to mount to the posts.

Right now, I have mine sitting on top of my DL380 server.

 

[kapone]

If these are original Brocade "ears", they should be about half the depth of the chassis, and held to the chassis by 6 screws on each side.

There is even a "rail kit" in the sense that it comes with ears that extend past the depth of the chassis, and there's a rear part of the rails that bolts on the back/front of the rack, to which the ears slide into.

 

[seatrope]

Thanks guys. These are original Brocade ears exactly as in the manual with numerous screws on each side, all of which I have installed. I settled on cam strapping the rear end to the top part of my open rack.. just ordered the straps.

The rear attachment rail kit won’t work as my particular wall mount rack has only front attachments.

 

[ljvb]

If these are original Brocade "ears", they should be about half the depth of the chassis, and held to the chassis by 6 screws on each side.

There is even a "rail kit" in the sense that it comes with ears that extend past the depth of the chassis, and there's a rear part of the rails that bolts on the back/front of the rack, to which the ears slide into.

Can you post a picture or link to the rack kit... Mine came with 1 screw holding each ear in.

 

[seatrope]

Can you post a picture or link to the rack kit... Mine came with 1 screw holding each ear in.

See https://usermanual.wiki/Ruckus/icx6610installguide.1106508060.pdf

On page 32.

 

[fohdeesha]

you're not going to warp the ICX chassis, it's a solid as a brick - it's not what's sagging (look at the thickness of the rack ears), it's 100% ridgid. what causes the sag is it bending the front rails of your rack slightly. it gets real bad on cheaper racks with thin pressed sheet metal for posts

 

[PGlover]

Anyone recommend an economical 24U server rack?

 

[kapone]

Can you post a picture or link to the rack kit... Mine came with 1 screw holding each ear in.

This is what it looks like.

 

[PGlover]

This is what it looks like.

View attachment 9510

View attachment 9511

Where did you get the rail kit?

 

[kapone]

Where did you get the rail kit?

This is the ICX 6610 "four post rack install kit", which is fairly rare. I believe the part number is ICX6610-RMK-4P. I didn't buy one specifically, two of my switches that I got years ago (for over $2000 each!!) came with them.

The 6610 hardware install guide has the illustrations to use it.

 

[explosivelobster]

My 6610 & 6450 didn't come with ears or rails, I found a random set of Brocade ears from some old mid mount kit for another model that actually fit the 6610 holes perfectly, though as seatrope said there is a scary amount of droop at the back and it actually started to warp the ears, but I think that was because of the janky M5 cage nuts it came with and I had no alternative because all my regular nuts are M6 but the ears only fit M5 screws...

Long story short I ended up grabbing an "S26361-F2735-L600 Fujitsu - Rack shelf - for ICX 6430, 6450, 6610, Catalyst 3750" from eBay for the grand total of £8.71 delivered - it was a bit of a gamble as I couldn't find any information on it or even a picture. It turned out to be a generic 4 post mounting shelf that has no apparent way of securing the switches in (other than 2 comically large 1.2m cable ties), however they sit in it just fine and it's nice and sturdy being 4 point. While it was a bargain it does add height to the switches so it fouls the U above, but I'll live with that for the price!

 

[i386]

The more posts I read here the more I want to get braocade switches even when I have arista & mellanox 40+ gbe switches at home

 

[Stephan]

I sympathize with that sentiment, @i386 but here in Europe it is even more difficult to get two 6610-48P with Rev B/C PSUs for a reasonable price. For that reason I rather blew 800 EUR this summer on two Roborock cleaning robots that I rooted and which are of good use in the household. Is there an alternative switch similar to the 6610 with similar pricing? Possibly with some more 40 Gbps ports even. I think slower tax writeoff of such gear in Europe sadly makes it less available compared to USA.

 

[e97]

Anyone know of a QSFP-QSFP 40 Gb cables thats 20+ ft / 6+ m that will work with the 6610?

Would this: 10m 50/125 Standard MTP Multimode Fiber Optic Patch Cable Key-up to Key-down 692752879043 | eBay

and two of the
Brocade XBR-000232 QSFP 57-1000267-01 4*16Gb SWL 100m for DCX8510 EMC | eBay

or do I need something like this:
HP JG325A Compatible 40GBASE-SR4 QSFP+ 850nm 150m MTP/MPO DOM Transceiver 40GB | eBay

 

[fohdeesha]

either transceiver will work, but to go from optic to optic you need key-up to key-up fiber, which is hard to find. you can also buy key up to key down (like you linked) and carefully swap one of the ends: https://forums.servethehome.com/ind...icx6450-icx6610-etc.21107/page-23#post-201367

 

[e97]

either transceiver will work, but to go from optic to optic you need key-up to key-up fiber, which is hard to find. you can also buy key up to key down (like you linked) and carefully swap one of the ends: https://forums.servethehome.com/ind...icx6450-icx6610-etc.21107/page-23#post-201367

Thanks, was hoping the ICX guru would respond

I saw that video while researching, I like a good deal (cheap) and like hacking so that's what I'll do!

Does it matter when connecting:
1) ICX6610 <-> HP 10G / 40GB card
-vs-
2) stacking two ICX6610
-vs-
3) two HP cards?

I read up a bit on this: Introduction to Polarity Methods for MTP/MPO Systems and
Type A MTP Cassette and Type B MTP Cassette: When and Where to Use?

but still a bit confused on Type A, Type B, Type C and Key-Up vs Key-Down, are they related or independent?

 

[nthu9280]

Regarding the discussion on the rack mount kit's and rails, if you have spare 2U capacity, just use one of the less expensive APC or some other UPS rails. I was concerned about the sag also. I had a spare set on hand and used that and mounted both 6610 and 1U cable management there. So not a waste of space for folks with space constraints.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/HrJB6z6D4fVCS81v8

 

[nthu9280]

Anyone recommend an economical 24U server rack?

Depending on where you live, set up alerts on local craigslist. If you live near large metro areas, the availability is much better.
Couple of things to keep in mind:
Get the one with square holes
Try to get the full depth - 1070 mm (~40in) ones.

 

[AllenB]

Hi all, I’ve been enjoying this thread for a while now. Had decided to take the 10Gb+ plunge at home and started browsing eBay for likely candidates. Spotting an ICX6610 and getting curious quickly led here.

Licensing looks like the only hurdle. @fohdeesha, you’ve done dozens of folks a solid on this. Can you spare one more or, alternately, can someone let me know what licensing to look for prior to buying? It seems there’s some danger of effectively buying a brick if licensing can’t be solved.

Thanks!