Comparing 4G fibre channel with 1G iSCSI is like comparing apples to oranges in terms of performance.

For a moment consider what 2G fibre channel cards and switches would cost. 2G fibre channel cards aren't much different than iSCSI TOE cards. Gigabit ethernet switches that properly handle failover and load balancing aren't much cheaper than 2G fibre channel switches.

Setting up fibre channel zoning and/or lun masks takes about as long as setting up vlans and limiting access on iSCSI.

Buying a 10G ethernet iSCSI array, and an ethernet switch with one or more 10G uplink ports quickly approachs the cost of 4G fibre channel and would have measly 1G ethernet ports.

I'd love to hear comments.

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