Will this work?

[eroji]

I am looking to convert my homelab ESXi server into a VMotion capable cluster of 2 host servers. Currently I have FreeNAS server acting as iSCSI target and VMs datastores all reside there and directly connected via a pair of Intel X520-DA2 and Intel SFP+s in each the FreeNAS and ESXi host server. However, I am looking to add another host server, which I will then get another X520 and SFPs. If I buy a Quanta LB6M, can I have all 3 servers plug directly into the LB6M and connect to a private subnet for the storage network? Will the Intel SFP+ work with the LB6M?

 

[whitey]

Hell yes this will work good sir! Plenty o' 10G SFP+ ports, setup a dedicated stub (non-routed) storage vlan, setup a vDS, make mgmt, nas, and vmotion vlan's on lb6m and tag appropriate interfaces, setup port profiles and vmkernel interfaces with appropriate associations to port profiles...off to the races!

Better yet I'd bet twinax/DAC's will serve ya quite nice from FreeNAS/ESXi hosts connected to that LB6M minus the need for optics/OM3/4 fiber cables if your runs are short (10M or less).

 

[eroji]

Hell yes this will work good sir! Plenty o' 10G SFP+ ports, setup a dedicated stub (non-routed) storage vlan, setup a vDS, make mgmt, nas, and vmotion vlan's on lb6m and tag appropriate interfaces, setup port profiles and vmkernel interfaces with appropriate associations to port profiles...off to the races!

Better yet I'd bet twinax/DAC's will serve ya quite nice from FreeNAS/ESXi hosts connected to that LB6M minus the need for optics/OM3/4 fiber cables if your runs are short (10M or less).

Thank you for the reply! I have never played with a L3 switch before so please forgive my ignorance. I should be able to connect it to my pfsense firewall router for uplink (1GbE) yet all the storage traffic will not have to flow back to pfsense for vlan? Can the switch handle IP assignment?

Also I heard the switch is very noisy. Would replacing the existing ones in there risk heat issues?

Just looking at the options available, there aren't any other switches out there with 6 10Gb SFP+ ports that is under $500, so it will either have to be the LB6M or stick with direct attach.