4 node Alletra MP Host cabling for FC Hosts

[DelMagna]

Hi

With an Alletra MP 4 node system (E01 and E02). Is the best practice cabling the same as it would have been for a 4 node 3PAR array? We plan to use ports 1 & 2 of the HBA in Slot 3 of each node (Bay in Alletra MP speak) and we don't have any HBAs in Slot 4 of the controllers. So all the port 1's would go to FC switch 1 and all the port 2's go to FC switch 2?

Does the host zoning need to be different? I was told there is no need to restrict hosts to a single node pair any longer - is this correct? So each host can should now be zoned to all 8 controller ports (2 per controller node). 

many thanks in advance

DM

[Satish04 · Accepted solution]

Hi DelMagna,

The best practices for cabling and zoning an HPE Alletra Storage MP 4-node array differ from an HPE 3PAR 4-node array because HPE Alletra Storage MP's design is different.
Zoning all 8 paths in HPE Alletra Storage MP ensures maximum fault tolerance and optimal use of the system's resources, unlike the node-pair-centric HPE 3PAR architecture.
Use single initiator - single target zoning for cleaner troubleshooting and isolation.
HPE Alletra Storage MP allows all nodes to actively serve I/O for any volume.
This eliminates the need to restrict hosts to a specific pair of nodes for optimal performance, which was needed in HPE 3PAR systems to avoid cross-node traffic penalties.
By doing so, the entire storage system can be utilized more efficiently and management is simplified.

Hope this helps.!

Regards,
Satish