Hello All,
We are in the process of building a SAN storage network for a vSphere HA cluster that will have two ESXi 6.5 hosts as a start. The SAN will have two pools of disks one is for a shared storage datastore for the two ESXi hosts (for the VMs on the two ESXi hosts) and the second pool on the SAN will be a Veeam backup repository. We will be utilizing two 10Gb Ethernet HP switches that will connect the two ESXi hosts, the Veeam backup server and the SAN, the two switches, in a redundant iSCSI 10GbE storage network (Top of Rack configuration). Can I isolate this storage network from the internet and outside world and use a private network IP address range as its subnet? Would that cause any problems? As far as I know, the storage network is selfcontained in terms of traffic to and from the SAN and doesn't need access to the outside world. The only need for the internet/outside world is for downloading updates and I have a management network through which Veeam and ESXi, and the VMs can download updates. Is this correct? or do I need to have my storage network open to the outside world?
the second question I have concerns the configuration of the downstream connections to the SAN: The SAN (Dell EMC ME4012) has dual controllers with each controller has 4 Host ports SFP+ (I am using DAC cable connections for the 10GbE iSCSI connections). Can I use LACP port-channels for the SAN connectivity to the switches? How should this look like in terms of topology? are there any downsides for this configuration (i.e. using LACP link aggregation)?
I am a newbie in SAN networks and I have done some research but didn't find clear answers to these questions...your help is much appreciated.
Thanks!
Waleed
