Dell PS4100 Technical Information download pdf (Page 68)

June 2012 Dell EqualLogic Configuration Guide v13.2 62

The 10GbE PowerConnect M-Series IO Modules do not provide a dedicated stacking interface and

must be interconnected using available, external Ethernet ports in conjunction with a link aggregation

protocol such as LACP or “front-port” stacking. Due to the limited number of external ports available

on Dell’s PowerConnect M-Series blade IO modules, SAN growth can be limited. For 10Gb SAN

solutions that will require multiple arrays and/or multiple M1000e chassis, it is recommended that you

do not consider directly attached arrays and follow the guidelines described in Section 4.7.2.

4.7.1.2 SAN Design for Multiple M1000e Enclosure

For a multiple M1000e enclosure SAN solutions, there are two primary strategies to consider, the first

– described here – is directly attaching arrays to the individual M1000e chassis and interconnecting

the chassis M-Series IO modules in each chassis, and the second strategy – described in Section 4.7.2

– is to build an external network for array consolidation and using chassis M-Series IO modules as

“host access” switches. In most cases, the latter method of SAN design is preferable to the former, but

this section will describe strategies to build a SAN that consists of multiple M1000e enclosures.

As in the previous section, there are two methods that must be considered when interconnecting M-

Series IO modules: stacking and non-stacking. Due to the limited number of external ports available

on M-Series IO modules, stacking should be the primary method of interconnecting M1000e

enclosures as these external ports will need to be used for attaching EqualLogic arrays.

As just indicated stacking of M-Series IO modules should be the primary method of building a multiple

enclosure SAN with arrays directly attached to the M-Series IO modules. As with the single enclosure

discussion, stacking has some advantages and disadvantages from a network management

perspective and network availability perspective. Take this into consideration before deciding to

implement a multi-enclosure SAN using directly attached arrays.

Table 29 illustrates the primary method for building a multi-enclosure SAN with directly attached

arrays. Each M1000e enclosure should be able to host one to four arrays depending on the M-Series

IO module used. By stacking each enclosure’s fabric IO modules into a single stack, a single SAN

network infrastructure can be constructed.

1 2 ... 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 ... 97 98

No comments

Dell PS4100 Technical Information Page 68