Extention Lefthand Cluster with new nodes

[FredericP]

Hi,

We have at moment 2 nodes Lefthand P4500 G2 with 12x600GB 15K RPM disks in  a cluster, everything is fine but we need more storage.

So we buy 2 new additional nodes, but an other model Storevirtual P4530 with 12x600GB 15K RPM disks and actually have a question

Can I extend the actual cluster to 4 nodes without loosing performance or is it beter to create a new cluster with only two new P4530 nodes ?

Thanks in advance,

Frederic

P.S. This thread has been moevd from Storage Area Networks (SAN) (Enterprise) to HP StoreVirtual Storage / LeftHand. - Hp Forum Moderator

[oikjn]

Those new nodes are about as close as you can get to exact replacements.  Technically they might be slightly faster, but only slightly so you should be fine adding them to the existing cluster...  this isn't like you are adding 10k drives to your 15k cluster.

[BK_HPE · Accepted solution]

Hi @FredericP

You can add nodes seamlessly to expand a cluster at any time without disruption to applications.  Simply add or remove nodes with just a few clicks in the Central Management Console (CMC).  Scaling occurs linearly in both performance and capacity with HP’s scale-out architecture.  

HP StoreVirtual storage clustering allows you to create pools of storage composed of HP StoreVirtual nodes.  The cluster accepts and responds to iSCSI requests as a single, clustered array.

For more information on adding nodes, I recommend looking at the Enabling a flexible, easy, and cost‑effective storage strategy HP StoreVirtual 4000 Storage brochure.  If you would like more information or have, any other questions about expanding your cluster, I am happy to set up a call for you with one of our experts.

[FredericP]

Thanks for those answears, I will expend this cluster with those two nodes.

I have one more question

The P4530 nodes have 4 nic's and the other 2 nodes only 2 nic's ALB teamed,  do I need to make a ALB bond with the 4 nic's or may be it's beter to bond only 2 nic's like the 2 old nodes.

[BK_HPE]

Hello @FredericP

ALB is supported only for NICs with the same speeds: for example, 2GbE NICs.  ALB is not supported between a 10GbE NIC and 1GbE NIC.  HP recommends implementing NIC bonding on every storage node connected to the network.  HP SAN/iQ-powered storage nodes support a variety of network interface bonding techniques, and you should choose the appropriate NIC bonding solution for your environment.  

The HP P4000 allows each storage node to be represented as a single IP address on the network; the software does not support storage nodes with multiple IP connections to the same network.  On page 5 of the HP P4000 SAN networking recommendations highlights the HP P4000 software–supported NIC bonding types and provides recommendations for using each of them.

The P4500 and P4300 10 Gb SFP+ adapter supports ALB, 802.3ad, and Active Passive bonding between the two 10 Gb ports.  In addition, Active Passive bonding is supported between one 10 Gb port and one 1Gb LOM port.  Active Passive bonding provides protection against a single NIC hardware failure.  Bonding of three or four interfaces (such as all the NICs on the NSM) is not allowed.  The bonding of bonds (for example, creating two active - passive bonds and then bonding those together with ALB) is also not allowed.