at a high-level, i;m after a high level step-wise process describing how to get a 3host - 2switch - 1storage array iSCSI SAN config up and running...
re: hosts > three Dell R710, ea w/ 4 BRCM 1G NICs native to the R710 -- running ESXi5.0
re: switches > two layer-3 switches for a private iSCSI network
re: storage > iSCSI SAN
thots?
Message was edited by: rickkar1 thanks to everyone for your input --- one last question: for a 'newbie' how many hours from 'unpacking boxes' to 'fully operational' -- what are your estimates?
This document http://pubs.vmware.com/vsphere-50/topic/com.vmware.ICbase/PDF/vsphere-esxi-vcenter-server-50-storage... will provide the information you need for configuring your ESXi hosts for iSCSI as well as general instructions for configuring the physical network and SAN
First thoughts are that 4 nics is not enough. You want 2 for management, 2 for iscsi, and at least 2 for vms
The high-level over-view is pretty simple:
configure your hosts/vcenter, create a 3rd vswitch for iscsi but don't add vmkernel ports until you have the iSCSI storage working. Then configure your iSCSI storage - you want to keep the iSCSI traffic off of your usual subnet/vlan.