Brocade VDX 6720 - what do I need to know?

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Wolfstar

Active Member
Nov 28, 2015
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Alright, I've got an ICX 6450 currently and we're a major customer for Ruckus at work so I'm very familiar with the ICX line, and I'm aware that the FCX/ICX are Foundry based, and the VDX is completely separate. I'm also aware that I can basically forget about licensing the additional ports or updating the firmware on the things, because Extreme is terrible. I also know they take forever to boot up, and I suspect their ability to work with DAC/Twinax and 3rd party optics is limited based on the firmware version, given that reliable sources have said both that they've had problems and not had problems.

All that said, when the damned thing is $86 shipped, you just click buy. So is there any other gotchas I need to be aware of? Role of this device is going to be feeding L2 10G connectivity to my NAS and ESXi hosts, and will be uplinking to the current ICX6450. If possible, I may end up turning this around (as all the other VDX6720s on eBay are substantially more) and using the proceeds to get the 6610 I wanted in the first place, but I'll have to decide that later.

For anyone curious, it's a 24-port model, but I suspect that only 16 are active since the model number is BR-VDX6720-16-R.
 

fohdeesha

Kaini Industries
Nov 20, 2016
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you covered the majority of the downsides in your first paragraph - they're just loud obnoxious layer 2 switches basically. if you can chuck it on ebay like you mentioned and make a bit of a profit, I would do that
 

Wolfstar

Active Member
Nov 28, 2015
159
83
28
48
you covered the majority of the downsides in your first paragraph - they're just loud obnoxious layer 2 switches basically. if you can chuck it on ebay like you mentioned and make a bit of a profit, I would do that
Alright, thanks. Wasn't sure if there was something I missed, and I wouldn't have grabbed it at all if it hadn't been $50 plus ship. I couldn't make the MIT Flea this month and I was starting to go through hardware withdrawals.