Flex-10 and VMware with P4000

[Lefty]

Hello all,

We are planning an eventual move to P4000 storage and multi-site clustering. I have some questions regarding how to configure Flex 10 and VMware to P4000 storage.

We currently run:
C7000 and Flex10 (also fc modules)
BL460c G6 running ESXi 4.1
EVA4400
Two sites with identical hardware setup

Currently we have a LACP trunk with 3 cables per flex10 module for networking. Connection to EVA4400 is of course via fc modules.

For iscsi switches are planning with dedicated and redundant switches, 2 per site. 1 GbE ports on both switches and P4000 interfaces.

How would you recommed that I configure flex 10 and connect to iscsi switches?

I've seen 1 connection per Flex10-module to each switch. But I don't know if they had 10 GbE switches.

How would you recommend that the connection will be made?

What about the current LACP trunks? My plan is to leave those as they are.

Also, I plan to create 6 or 8 flexnics per servers and configure those for vSwitches in VMware. That according to Best Practices.

Any tips, suggestions regarding this?

Thanks in advance!

[Steven Clementi]

It's actually a design best practice to configure only 1 vSwitch where/when possible.

You can still have the 6 or 8 nic's... and even dumb down the speed on 1 or 2 of them for management, but avSwitch is VERY flexible when it comes to assigning nics to different things.

I would probably have at least 1 connection to each vc module from each of your redundant switches (READ: 4 ports needed minimum.)

You will never achieve anything better than 1GB since you can not aggregate links across modules. you might be better off having redundant switch 1 connect to VC module 1 with 2 links... and switch 2 to vc module 2 with 2 links... so at least you have a 2GB redundant link.

If the LACP trunks are working for you now, then i'd probably let it be and play with it. Without knoing exactly how your nics are configured now, I can't offer much more.


Steven