Hello all,
Just looking for some design guidance on how to best setup the switching environment for an iSCSI SAN. I will have two VMware ESX servers, 1 physical database server, 1 physical domain controller and a HP Storageworks 2000i G2 MSA. I am planning on having three switches, 1 will be a Cisco 48 port 10/100Mbps catalyst and the other two will be 24 port Cisco Catalyst 2960G's. The 48 port switch will be the public LAN switch that all the workstations & printers etc. connect to and the two gigabit switches will be for the SAN traffic etc.
Keep in mind that i've never setup a SAN before so if it seems like i'm going in the wrong direction, please advise!!!
Each server has 4 nics. I am planning on creating two teamed nics in each server with one team of nics running to the public LAN switch and then running one cable from one nic port in the 2nd nic team to gigabit switch A and the other nic port in the 2nd team will connect to gigabit switch B.
The SAN unit has 4 nics, I will run two nics from the SAN to gigabit switch A and the other two nics to gigabit switch B.
The public LAN is on a different subnet than the private network SAN/Server/iSCSI network.
Any feedback on this config is appreciated!
THanks,
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I would tell you that to make the best use of your Cisco switches would be to implement port Vlans if your msa iscsi device does not support vlan tagging.
This way, you will still be able ti segment your iscsi traffic from your production lan.
I think you need two more NIC ports in each server. If u are using ESX, your vmkernel for management needs two nics and your production vmnet kernel should also have two nics. The other two of course will be for your icsci.
Couple of suggestions:
Install an additional 2 port nic (or 4 port if you have the money) and create vswitches as follows(if using vCenter):
1. vswitch1: service console/vmotion - 2 ports
2. vswitch2: iSCSI - 2 ports
3. vswitch3: Production Network - 2 ports
Create a separate VLAN for your iSCSI or use two separate physical switches so that your backplane doesn't get loaded up and use one port per vswitch on each switch. The iSCSI network doesn't have to route.
If your databases are I/O intensive invest in a iSCSI HBAs, they'll do the TCP Offload for your iSCSI traffic.
Do you have 1 or two controllers on the MSA2000 (I'm assuming MSA 2012i?). Please provide config and if you need help configuring the SAN just let me know, I've done a few of these lately.
Hi,
Thanks Paulsolov,
I haven't made any purchases yet, i'm just planning right now & trying to understand the config I need so that I've got a clear picture on all the hardware/software etc. required to reach the goal.
Here is what i'm looking at purchasing, please make any comments or suggestions if you think I missed something:
1.VMWARE Servers: 2 X HP DL360 G6 servers with Two quad Core Xeons, 32GB RAM, 2 X 72GB 15k SAS 2.5" SFF drives in RAID1, 512MB BBWC drive controller, 6 NICS per server and Vmware Vsphere Essentials plus package.
2. SQL Server: 1 X HP DL380 with 32GB RAM, 4 x 146GB 15K SAS drives in RAID10 array, 512MB BBWC drive controller, MS Windows 2008 Server Enterprise 64bit, MS SQL Enterprise 2008 64bit, Two HP NC382i Dual Port Multifunction Gigabit Server Adapters (four ports total) with TCP/IP Offload Engine, including support for Accelerated iSCSI.
3. Domain Controller: 1 X HP DL360 G6 server with one quad Core Xeon, 4GB RAM, 2 X 72GB 15k SAS 2.5" SFF drives in RAID1 and Two HP NC382i Dual Port Multifunction Gigabit Server Adapters (four ports total) with TCP/IP Offload Engine, including support for Accelerated iSCSI. Windows Server 2008 Standard 64bit.
4. SAN: HP StorageWorks 2012i Dual Controller Modular Smart Array with 4 x 1Gb iSCSI ports, 12 X 146GB SAS 15K drives.
5. Switches: 1 x 48 port Cisco Catalyst 2960 for public LAN; 2 x 24 port Cisco Catalyst 2960G's for iSCSI/San traffic etc.
I think i've covered it, do I need anything else?
thanks,
Business Accounts
Answer for Membership
by: peralesaPosted on 2009-07-23 at 13:15:15ID: 24929463
I would say that you should not team the 2nd set of NICS that you plan to use for the iSCSI network, MPIO will take care of the mulitpathing for those two NICs...