Cabling Diagram for StoreVirtual4530 600GB SAS with 4 Proliant DL560 Gen9 Server

[Mohammad Sanaullah]

Hello Guru's

Can someone please help me in getting following things done with the StoreVirtual 4530 600GB SAS setup.

1. Need Cable and Network Diagram for StoreVirtual with other 4 DL 560 Gen9 Servers for VMWare Solution, like connection from Storage to switch/Server to switch etc.

 (Need to use the 10GBe Ports as customer not willing to go with 1GB ports, we have two 10GBe ports.

2. Initial Setup for StoreVirtual so that we can get started with the Storage for servers

3. Does CMC installation be done on any of these server meant for the VMWare Setup?

I know this question might already be discussed, which I was unable to get in, if someone can refer those can be helpful.

Still looking for the experts advice.

Mohammad Sanaullah

Reputation is for time, Character is for Eternity....

[oikjn]

I'll  assume you are a typical competent IT pro and give advice accordingly.

Don't over-think this SAN...  its iSCSI which means its IP based and you should treat it just pretty much like any other IP networking setup.  The only thing is that it is more similar to VOIP in that it is dependant on good switches with enough buffer capability and flow control to make sure that the switches don't become the bottleneck.

I highly suggest you read the help section in CMC... its is actually pretty well written and explains most things pretty well and if you follow their suggestions it will work.

Past that, one thing people have a hard time getting is that CMC is just a program and is NOT a server.  It is the interface to configure the nodes in the management group, but ones setup CMC is NOT needed for the SAN to run to the point that you could actually delete it and the SAN would continue chugging along unaware that you deleted the program just like your MS Exchange server is not going to care if you delete your MS Outlook program on your desktop.

Suggestion #1  -  There are mentions of Network raid "NR" versions 0, 10, and 5.  NR10 is the ONLY one to use for production.  NR0 is like Raid0, and will not allow you to do node updates without downtime on those NR0 LUNS....  which reminds me... Each node has a hardware raid level and then there is a network raid level which you can set (and change) for each LUN.  NR5 has terrible write performance so it is really only useful for something like a mostly static archive for LHD templates or ISO images and the like... it likely will not work as a backup target.  Its NR10 for anything production and just suck it up and understand that yes this SAN has a TERRIBLE raw:usable storage ratio, but that isn't why you got this SAN... its because it can provide almost 100% availability when correctly configured and for the money there are few options that can do that.

As for diagram, I assume you mean two ports per server/node...  I'll also assume you have two switches.  Your ideal diagram would simply have one port from each node and each server go to each switch and just use ALB for failover.  The link  between the two switches depends on if they are stacked or not, but its just like any other network setup so you can make it LCAP or a stack uplink or whatever you like. 

One more note about CMC...  when you setup the nodes, make sure there is a gateway setup (optional with firewall if you want) and you can run your instance of CMC on any computer you like that would have access routeable access to the nodes.  I manage two management groups for my company (one at primary site and one at DR) and I just use a CMC install on my desktop and laptop from which I have access to the iSCSI vlans through our firewall.  If you can get VPN access to the iSCSI vlan then you can remotely admin the san from anywhere as well).

Good luck and don't hesitate to ask any other questions, but the help section in CMC will provide a lot of good information.