NFS and networking question

[Dynamax]

Hi

This is the first time im configuring ESX to use NFS and I was wondering on a typical/best practice set up for it.

I understand its best to create two vmkernels, one for vmotion and one for the ip storage. So my following set up will be

Swtich 1

SC 10.10.10.10

Vmkernel (vmotion) 10.10.11.10

Swtich 2

Vmkernel (ip storage) 10.10.12.10

I will put my NAS devices on the 10.10.12.x network also.

My questions are how can I be sure that the vmkernel on switch 2 will be used rather than the one on swtich 1. Also if im using a 4 x 1Gb etherchannel on my NAS box, to maintain throughput where do I create an etherchannel on ESX? is it at the vmkernel (ipstorage) swtich or will it be on the switch with the virtual machine network

thanks

[AntonVZhbankov]

You don't need to separate VMotion and IP storage traffic to different subnets, both kinds of traffic have equal security level - plain and insecure.

The only need - separate them physically to use different interfaces, and this can be done by NIC teaming policy. So I suggest to place both VMkernels in the same subnet, it will also allow you to provide active-standby redundancy for VMkernels.

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MCSA, MCTS Hyper-V, VCP 3/4, VMware vExpert

http://blog.vadmin.ru

[Dynamax]

thanks for the response.

And just the question on throuhput. Is it best to have the etherchannel on the vm network to maintain the throughput from the NAS device. Does the below look correct?

"Switch 1" - 3 NICs

SC NIC 1

VMkernel Active NIC 2 Standby NIC 3

VMkernel (ip storage) Active NIC 3 Standby NIC 2

"Switch 2" - 4 NIC

VM networrk Active All 4 NICs (etherchannel)

[AntonVZhbankov]

There is one weak place in your config - SC has no redundancy, and it is important to have redundant connection for SC in HA cluster.

Are you sure you need 4 Gbits for VMs?

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MCSA, MCTS Hyper-V, VCP 3/4, VMware vExpert

http://blog.vadmin.ru

[Dynamax]

I could take a NIC from the VM network and make the SC redundant.

I just thought if I have a 4Gb etherchannel on my NAS device then to maintain throughput I would need a 4Gb etherchannel on the ESX at the VM network, is this not the case?

[AntonVZhbankov]

>I just thought if I have a 4Gb etherchannel on my NAS device then to maintain throughput I would need a 4Gb etherchannel on the ESX at the VM network, is this not the case?

It will be the case if you have only fileservers, so NAS traffic will be equal to VM traffic. In other cases VM network traffic usually less than storage traffic. For example, if you start antivirus with full scan there would be a lot of traffic on NAS, but network traffic will be zero.

---

MCSA, MCTS Hyper-V, VCP 3/4, VMware vExpert

http://blog.vadmin.ru

[Dynamax]

My NAS servers will be running fileservers, file and email archiving server and a test network.

Can I just clarify the actual vmkernel (ip storage) only needs to be redundant with 2 separate 1 Gb NIC and it doesnt need to match the throughput of the NAS device. Just the VM network needs to be the same. Im just trying to avoid any storage bottlenecks. Am i right in saying the vmkernel deals with the storage "commands" rather than the actual data traffic?