ESX deployment Cisco 3020 vs Virtual Connect

[Swix]

Hello,

We are looking to purchase a C7000 chassis very soon. We have had basic demo's of the Cisco 3020 module and Virtual connect and to be honest I am having trouble working out what the extra cost is about for VC.

I get the whole move the blade and the macs/wwn etc follow it around (Providing its in the domain).

What I do not understand (And this is the only difference I can see) is that VC seems to offer a port mapping scenario (So I could specify a network which comes out of Port 1 + 3 for example, and then allocate this to whatever server NIC's I wanted), can this be done with the Cisco...

Also I am trying to fully understand the benefit of this?

[Adrian Clint]

Yes you can do this with the Cisco, but everytime you add a new blade or wish to change the network config on an existing blade you need to find your expensive Cisco person to do it for you.
With virtual connect its wire once. You get the Cisco person in at the beginning to do a bit more configuration and then you probably do not need them again. As the config can be done in Virtual Connect.

Done properly a VC installation needs a bit extra work upfront from the network/san/server admins but going forward only the server person needs to do ongoing work.