Installing physical switches for ISCSI traffic

[theblackknight]

Is there anything I need to know from a networking perspective to setup dedicated ISCSI switches to support my LEFT-HAND ISCSI SAN?

I dont plan on connecting the switches to the prod network. I only plan on using these switches for ISCSI traffic.

[DSTAVERT]

Follow the HP docs. ???

http://h41112.www4.hp.com/promo/ess-trilogy-4/nl/nl/pdf/Documentations/Virtualization/Running%20VMwa...

[unsigned1138]

Do follow the HP docs, they really are excellent. But also keep in mind that you may want a path into your production or management network. Management and monitoring are difficult to accomplish successfully without it. Do follow best practices and keep the networks separate, client traffic out and and all routing to a minimum.

[theblackknight]

I do have the that Left-hand DOC.

My question was regarding the physical switches. Is there anything special I need to do to setup physical switches that are going to be dedicated to ISCSI traffic? Do I just rack and stack and im done?

[unsigned1138 · Accepted solution]

LeftHand supports LACP, if your switches supprt that trunk mode you should consider using it. In my P4300 SAN, I have two 3750's stacked. Each SAN node connects to each switch and is in an LACP bond/etherchannel. All of that is condensed down to a single virtual IP that is presented to ESX/i. Don't forget to create a vmk for each dedicated vmware iscsi connection and do the binding according to that pdf.