DS3524 ISCSI network setup

[danmo82]

Hi.

I have just revieved a DS3524, with 2 controller and a 4 port 1GbE ISCSI Daugther card in each controller.

im using 2 Cisco 2960 switches for connection between the SAN and my 3 Hosts with 2 x 1GbE cards in each Host, the cards are dedicated for storage purpose.

my first quistion is shold i use all 4 ports in each Daugther card (2 to each of the switches) and the create 4 Subnet and 4 vlan for them or should i only go with the 2 port (one to each switch) 2 Subnets and 2 vlan.

second, should i connect the 2 switches with a Etherchannel and then trunk the connection or not connect them at all.

i have planned to create the ISCSI Vmk group in the same Vswitch, an then bound the vmk to different physical nics, but if im using all 4 ports in the Daugther

card, then i also need to create 4 vmk one for eact subnet, and the 2 of them needs to share the same Pnic. is that correct ?

or, how would you create the ISCSI network ??

[danmo82]

No comment on this ?

[MauroBonder]

Discussion moved from vSphere Storage Appliance to VMware vSphere™ vNetwork

[AndreTheGiant]

I suggest to see on vendor site to watch at best practices about your model.

On this kind of storage usually you create 4 different iSCSI networks (2 on one switch and 2 on the second, no connection between the switches).

Andre

[daspug201110141]

hi Danmo.

How did you get on with this in the end?

I've also got a DS3524 with iSCSI HIC's and was wondering how you set yours up, and how you are finding the performance?

Thanks,

Dan

[daspug201110141]

For anyone looking at this thread, I found several issues with this, and ended up as follows:

1. If you don't use all four ports in both iSCSI HIC's, then use STATIC discovery, not dynamic.Trust me on this!!

2. Make sure you follow the vSphere 5 guidelines on iSCSI kernel ports. Make sure they are on a single VSS, with failover/standby NIC's set correctly.

3. There is no port aggregation (unless it's been added in firmware over the last 6 months), so you'll only ever get 1Gbps throughput unless there's a 10Gbps option now(?).

4.  Make sure you set the Path Selection Plugin to Most Recently Used, otherwise you'll end up with a constant warning light on the front of your storage array.