Seonet
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4 paths for iSCSI

Hi,

now I have 2 path - 1gbps to SAN switch. (From switch to storages are 10gbps). My question is  - is it possible add 2 NIC for SAN and have 4 NICs, so 4 paths, from esxi to SAN? Can be it in round robin setting? We have many LUNs, so we would like to increase performance due to connection limit per LUN.

What you think?

Thank you!

Pavel        

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a_p_
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Whether Round-Robin is supported depends on your Storage System. Adding two more NICs for SW iSCSI to the ESXi hosts should work fine. Just remember the supported maximum of 8 paths per LUN for iSCSI (see http://www.vmware.com/pdf/vsphere5/r55/vsphere-55-configuration-maximums.pdf).

André

Seonet
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André, thank you.

I'm reading some best-practs. now. Here:  I read this: http://www.vmware.com/files/pdf/techpaper/vmw-vsphere-p4000-lefthand-san-solutions.pdf (p8)

It is important to note that native vSphere 5 multi-pathing should not be used with HP P4000 Multi-Site

SAN configurations that utilize more than one subnet and iSCSI Virtual IP.

So - if I understand well this, every NIC must have IP from other subnet? And on HP Storevirtual I must add more virtual IPs?

Thank you very much!

Pavel

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a_p_
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No, all the Lefthand/P4xxx nodes as well as the FOM and the VIP should be in the same subnet. I usually set this system up with Jumbo Frames (MTU 9000), ALB on the storage side and a Round Robin path policy for the LUNs on the ESXi host.

André

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Seonet
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We have LACP setting on nodes - with two switchces in bond. What is better? LACP vs ALB? Thanks again Smiley Happy

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a_p_
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I can't really tell you what's better. If configured properly both configurations should work well. I'm not a dedicated network guy, and usually create Multi-Site clusters (2 sites) with 2 switches on each site, with a Mesh configuration for the switches to have all links active and to avoid blocked paths due to Spanning-Tree.

André

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