Re-using P4500 IP addresses?

[Thomas Mill]

Hi folks

I have\had a 20 node ISCI cluster which I'm breaking down into a smaller one.  I've almost entirely removed 6 nodes so far with success (Removed from Production cluster, removed from Management Group).  As of TODAY, I have a 14-node ISCSI cluster.

What I will soon be doing is removing another 10 nodes as they are out of warranty.

That would leave me with 4 Production nodes effectively. HOWEVER, I will be increasing that to a 10 node cluster with 6 new P4530's I received today.

I will be removing the 10 out of warranty nodes in pairs, then adding in 2 new nodes, then removing another old pair, adding another new  pair and so on.

I am intending to re-use the IP address from the initial 6 nodes which I removed from the Management group months ago, FOR the 6 NEW nodes.  These old nodes are currently still powered on, but have no data on them and are not in a cluster or management group.

My question is:

Is there any known problem with re-using the IP addresses of the old nodes for these new ones, from a P4530\Lefthand standpoint?

The SAN nodes will have different names, but I fancied re-using the IP addresses.

Tom

[oikjn · Accepted solution]

just make sure to change the IP addresses of the old systems before you power them down just in case first.  Once they are out of the management group, there is no old record or trick that is going to be an issue for the management group, but you still have to think about it just like any other server you decomission and how you handle reclaiming those IP addresses.

As for what you are doing, I would suggest that you frist remove four nodes from the cluster and then EXCHANGE the remaining 6 nodes with the new six nodes.  That will limit your restripes to only two required restripes as opposed to the dozen or so your current plan is going to need.  Of course this assumes you have the physical space to have those twelve nodes running at the same time, but from al the nodes you removed, I would think you should.

[Thomas Mill]

Thanks for that.

Wise tip about the removal process, good spot.