Midrange Storage Performance Planning: Network Connectivity Considerations Flashcards
How show front end ports be connected across both Unity and Powerstore?
connected and configured symmetrically across both nodes/procs
facilitates high connectivity and availability
What is a failure domain?
section of the network that is negatively affected when network/critical device experiences problems
What does the impact of a failure domain depend on?
device or service that is malfunctioning
What is the recommended load balancing technique for Dell storage?
using all front end ports - distributes workloads across as many resources as possible
zone different hosts to different ports
How should you connect FC to Powerstore?
configure dual redundant fabrics
each Powerstore node and external host must have connectivity on each of the fabrics - minimizes hops
How should you connect Ethernet in Powerstore?
use multiple switches that are connected with VLTi and LACP
each Powerstore node should have connectivity to each linked switch
What is VLTi?
Virtual Link Trunking interconnect
enables VLT for the layer 2 connection - logical single view to connected devices
What is LACP?
Link Aggregation Control Protocol
method to control the bundling several physical ports to form a logical channel
What is the relation between Powerstore and LACP bonds?
first two ports of embedded 4 port card are bonded together
recommended to configure link aggregation across switch ports for performnace/availability
What are the requirements when using Ethernet for block connectivity on Powerstore?
each host must have atleast two paths to each Powerstore node
recommended host have no more than 8 active paths to a volume
What are the components per storage processor enclosure on Unity XT 380?
2x onboard 10G BASE-T ports
2x CNA ports for 8/16Gb FC or 10GbE optical iSCSI
2x option IO Modules for front end connectivity
What do the onboard 10G Base T ports support on Unity XT 380?
support 10GbE or 1GbE for block iSCSI and file IP
support custom MTU frames
What are the components per storage processor enclosure on Unity XT 480 and higher?
4 port Mezz Card for 25/10GbE or 10G BASE T
2x IO Module slots for front end connectivity
What does the4 port Mezz Card for 25/10GbE support on Unity XT 480 or higher?
supports speeds of 25/10/1GbE
What is true about FC ports on Unity XT?
can negotiate down to lower speed
What are the options for configuring CNAs/FC IO modules on Unity XT?
8/16/32Gb SFPs
What model of Unity XT comes with CNA ports?
Unity XT 380
supports 4/8/16Gb speeds
What are the configuration options for 32Gb FC 4 port IO Module on Unity XT?
16Gb/32Gb
can support 8/16/32Gb speeds
32Gb recommended for best performance
What is true about SFPs in Unity XT?
can be mixed within the same IO modules
matching the peer is recommended
What type of zoning is recommended with FC connectivity on Unity XT?
single-initiator zoning when creating zone sets
What is Dell PowerPath?
multipathing software on hosts connected over FC/iSCSI - provides path redundancy and load balancing
What are the options for iSCSI networks w/ Unity XT?
10G/1G - can autonegotiate down
What frame configuration is recommnded for best performance on all Dell storage?
Jumbo frames (MTU 9000)
What iSCSI network configuration should be used for the best performance?
separate networks and VLANs to separate iSCSI traffic from normal network
What are the options for iSCSI offloading in Unity XT?
CNA ports 10G/1GbE
2 port 10GbE IO Module
reduces CPU utilization 10-20%
What are the file connectivity options on Unity XT?
NFS, FTP, SMB 10/1G BASE T
What is the recommendation for NAS configuration in Unity XT?
configuring LACP across multiple NAS ports
creates link aggregation with multiple active links
What is the advantage of configuring LACP on a Unity for file data?
can improve performance on multiple 1G BASE T connections by aggregating bandwidth
What is a limitation of LACP configuration on Unity XT?
cannot be enabled on ports that are used for iSCSI connections
What is FSN?
Fail Safe Network
high availability feature that extends link failover into the network by providing switch level redundancy
How does an FSN provide redundancy?
configuring a primary link and a standby link
recommended to configure highest performing link as primary
What is the recommended load balancing practice for Unity XT file?
creating at least 2 NAS servers per Unity
NAS servers assigned to a single SP
all file systems serviced by the NAS server have IO processed on the SP where NAS server is resident
What special feature does the Unity XT OS have for file data?
enables network isolation for file based tenants w/ IP Multitenancy for NAS servers
What does IP Multitenancy do?
ensures that tenant visibility and management are restricted to the assigned resources only
enables assignment of isolated file based storage partitions to the NAS servers on the SP
isolates network traffic at the kernal level
What is a benefit of IP Multitenancy for service providers?
allows them them to isolate storage resources for tenants with multiple customers on a single system
How does IP Multitenancy work?
once tenant is created NAS servers must be created for each tenant VLAN
associated VLANs separate the tenant traffic provide increased security - traffic separated at Linux Kernal level
each tenant has one or more NAS servers but each NAS server can be associated with only one tenant - max of 50 tenants
What is the recommendation when configuring IP Multitenancy on Unity?
separate pool is created for each tenant and then that pool should be associated with all tenant NAS servers
What does each Powerstore node contain as far as front end connectivity?
IOPM - IO Personality Module
can each hold one 4 port card for connectivity
What are the 4 port connectivity options on Powerstore 500T?
only 4 port 25GbE SFP
supports 1GbE SFP to RJ45, 10GbE, 25GbE SFP28
What is included in the Powerstore 500T Mezz Card?
4 twinax cables to connect to ToR switches
What are the two different MEZZs on Powerstore 500T?
MEZZ-0 - 4 port card - for cluster interconnect, front end, NVMe expansion backend
MEZZ-1 - 2 port card - for front end connectivity and replication - fixed 10GbE optical
What are the 4 port connectivity options on Powerstore 1000-9000T?
4 port 25GbE SFP
4 port 10G BASE-T
What comes with Powerstore 1000-9000T as far as connection?
v1 embedded module
4 port card on MEZZ 0 used for connection of base enclosure to intercluster switch
What are the ports on the 4 port Mezz card embedded module connected to on Powerstore 1000-9000T?
first 2 ports should be connected to pair of 10/25GbE Ethernet switches - one for each switch
What comes with Powerstore 1200-9200T as far as connection?
embedded v2 module
What are the two different MEZZs on Powerstore 1200-9200T?
MEZZ 0 - 4 port card - for intercluster and front end connectivity
MEZZ 1 - 2 port card - primarily used for 100GbE QSFP backend NVMe expansion
What does the FC IO Module on Powerstore support?
32/16/8/4Gb/s
16 lane PCIe Gen3
What are the slot recommendations for FC IO Module configuration on Powerstore 1200-9200T?
IO Module slot 0 is 16 lane
IO Module slot 1 is 8 lane
recommended to use IO Module slot 0 unless system contains a 100GbE module
What happens if you’re utilizing both FC IO Modules in Powerstore 1200T-9200T?
cable the ports in IO Module slot 0 first due to PCIe difference
slots in IO Module slot 1 is a limiting factor for total MBPS
limitation occurs only when all 4 ports on FC IO Module are operating at 32Gb FC
What is the slot preference for the FC IO Modules on Powerstore 500T configuration?
both slots are 8 lane so there is no preference there
What is the benefit of NVMe/FC over normal FC in Powerstore configuration?
uses same FC ports but can decrease transport latency between Powerstore and hosts
all parts of network must be able to support NVMe/FC
How does Powerstore support Ethernet connectivity?
ports on installed mezz cards:
25GbE Optical
10G - Copper
What do Powerstore 1000-9200T have for additional Ethernet connectivity?
2 port 100GbE IO Module
4 port 100GbE IO Module can only be installed on IO Module slot 0
How would you enable jumbo frames for iSCSI environments?
setting cluster MTU to 9000
set storage network MTU to 9000
What is the recommended network configuration for NAS connectivity in Powerstore?
bonded ports and user defined link aggregation
what does user defined link aggregation do for Powerstore?
combines two to 4 physical Ethernet ports for file access only
What if a Powerstore is in a unified configuration?
use different physical ports for NAS than the ports tagged for replication/block storage networks
