8200 ISCSI &FC Hyperv cluster

[Mislav Puškar]

I have 8200 with currently ISCSI 10GB connection to 4 node HyperV 2012 R2 cluster via switch.
I want to migrate from ISCSI to FC, and have bought 4 port FC adapters for direct connect to FC cards in servers.
Can I just put one host to "maintenance" mode and change their connectivity from ISCSI to FC?
Will CSV from HyperV work in that "mixed" mode during migration?
Is it possible and does have someone experience with that?

[N_JK]

Hi Mislav,

First you need to install the FC Adapters on to the 3PAR nodes by shutdown nodes one by one,

Once all the nodes are installed with FC Adapters, and connected with san switches, do the necessary zoning with host FC HBA adapters,

Then stop any host activities on the iSCSI host, and unexport the VV via the iSCSI adapter,

Create new host entry using the FC HBA adapter, then export the VVs via the FC Adapter and rescan from the hosts and start the host applications.

Its not recommended to use in mixed mode as it might cause issues with multipathing.

Thanks and Regards,

N_JK

[Mislav Puškar]

Thank you on your explanation, I know all that, maybe I wasnt clear for my question.

So my question is:

Is it supported that nodes have only ISCSI or FC connections to same LUNS during migration, one by one host moving from ISCSI to FC connections?

[Sheldon Smith · Accepted solution]

The Virtual Volumes themselves need to be either iSCSI or FC connected, not both. I think you will need a (brief?) system shutdown.

1. Create new hosts specifying WWNs. Perhaps same name with "_fc" on the end of the name?
2. Stop applications
3. remove VLUNs from old (iSCSI) hosts
4. create VLUNs on new FC hosts
5. Start applications

The following is hypothetical. It assumes a host can use iSCSI and FC on separate volumes. I don't recall seeing anything restricting this. And I have no way to test this.

Two servers, Apple and Banana.
Two host definitions, APPLE and BANANA, both using iSCSI.
Create two new host definitions, APPLE_fc and BANANA_fc, both using FC.

APPLE and BANANA share the volumes VV_i1 and VV_i2 over iSCSI VLUNs only.
APPLE_fc and BANANA_fc share similar volumes VV_f1 and VV_f2 over FC VLUNs only.

The Apple and Banana servers should be able to move data from the VV_i1 and VV_i2 volumes to the VV_f1 and VV_f2 volumes. All IO to VV_i1 and VV_i2 is done with iSCSI and all IO to VV_f1 and VV_f2 is done with FC.

However you plan to do this, make sure your backups are all up-to-date.

Once all the servers are running on the embedded FC ports, you could swap out the iSCSI cards for FC cards. Check the limits on SPOCK for the maximum number of paths from each server HBA port, and the maximum number of paths from each 3PAR FC port.