Dell PS4100 Technical Information download pdf (Page 42)

June 2012 Dell EqualLogic Configuration Guide v13.2 36

4 EqualLogic SAN Design

An EqualLogic iSCSI SAN can be operated in any network that supports the industry standards and IP

subnet design guidelines described in this section. Because of this flexibility, there are many network

design and configuration choices that can affect SAN performance. The following sections provide

details related to network design and configuration to support the use of an EqualLogic SAN.

Note: With the addition of FS Series NAS functionality, the EqualLogic product family now provides

an iSCSI based unified file and block storage platform. An EqualLogic SAN can now be used to

provide block level access (direct iSCSI access to PS Series arrays) or file system level access (via

the FS Series appliance) using NFS or CIFS protocols and the Dell FluidFS scale-out file system.

Unless otherwise stated, recommendations in this document are applicable to both file and block

environments.

4.1 Implementation of Standards

EqualLogic SANs are based on industry standards. The following standards are required to support all

host to target communications and member to member communications in an EqualLogic SAN:

• IETF Standards

o IETF RFC1122 “Requirements for Internet Hosts – Communications Layers”

o IETF RFC1123 “Requirements for Internet Hosts – Application and Support”

o IETF RFC3270 “Internet Small Computer Systems Interface (iSCSI)”

• IEEE Standards

o 802.1

o 802.3

4.1.1.1 iSNS Support

An Internet Storage Name Service

(iSNS) server can support discovery, management and

configuration of group members by dynamically updating information about the iSCSI target names

for group volumes. Once the IP address of an iSNS server is entered in an iSCSI initiator’s configuration

utility, the setting is persistent across initiator sessions. A PS Series group can be configured to register

with up to three iSNS servers.

Note: Starting with Firmware V4.1.4, volume and snapshot identifiers are no longer automatically

published to iSNS servers. This applies to new volumes and snapshots as well as volumes and

snapshots that existed before the group was upgraded to V4.1.4.

4.2 General Requirements and Recommendations

For EqualLogic PS Arrays, the following general SAN design

requirements

apply:

• For all members (arrays) in a given SAN Group all ports should be connected to the same

subnet. This allows the arrays to communicate with each other as a group of peer members.

The arrays must be in the same subnet as the group’s “well known” IP address.

The Internet Storage Name Service (iSNS) specification: http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc4171

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Dell PS4100 Technical Information Page 42