network design for iscsi on EMC-CX4

I'm not planning to connect the CX to another system to replication. What I'm trying to configure is a redundant iscsi connectivity as i have done with the Fibers (two ports per SP, crossed connections to a couple of switches)... but I don't know if I have to use the same Network for all ports, and if the ports tagged as MirrorView have different characteristics than the other ports. Should I cross the connectivity in the same way I did with the SAN network?

You can use MirrorView ports for host connectivity, any plans of using MirrorView for replication to another CX/VNX ?

nothing special for MirrorView ports, other than you can't use those ports with SanCopy. Yes you want to have have SPA and SPB on each subnet, just like you do with FC connections. I remember there was a good document with example of topologies ..take a look in this document.

TechBook: iSCSI SAN Topologies

Also see the Support Solution emc245445 on PowerLink for more suggestions/recommendations for best practice when using iSCSI.

glen

Switch_01

Switch_01

- 192.168.110.0/27 (iSCSI_VLAN1)

Switch_02

- 192.168.120.0/27 (iSCSI_VLAN2)

Slot A1 Port 0 / SP-Port A-2 -> 192.168.110.1/27

Slot A1 Port 1 / SP-Port A-3 (MirrorView) -> ¿?

Switch_02

Slot B1 Port 0 / SP-Port B-2 -> 192.168.120.1/27

Slot B1 Port 1 / SP-Port B-3 (MirrorView) -> ¿?

Above design is not good. You want to configure ports A1-0 and B1-0 in iSCSI-VLAN1 and ports A1-1 & B1-1 in iSCSI-VLAN2 as shown below

Switch_01

Slot A1 Port 0 / SP-Port A-2 -> 192.168.110.1/27

Slot A1 Port 1 / SP-Port A-3 (MirrorView) -> 192.168.120.1/27

Switch_02

Slot B1 Port 0 / SP-Port B-2 -> 192.168.110.2/27

Slot B1 Port 1 / SP-Port B-3 (MirrorView) -> 192.168.120.2/27

On host 1 initiator in iSCSI_VLAN1 (192.168.110.3/27 and other initiator in iSCSI_VLAN2 192.168.120.3/27

Have a separate subnet (VLAN) for management IPs.

Switch_02 should be on a different subnet, 192.168.120.x (just like in original design).

Dynamox is right. Two switches in 2 different subnets:

Switch_01

Slot A1 Port 0 / SP-Port A-2 -> 192.168.110.1/27

Slot B1 Port 0 / SP-Port B-2 -> 192.168.110.2/27

host initiator-1 in iSCSI_VLAN1 (192.168.110.3/27

Switch_02

Slot A1 Port 1 / SP-Port A-3 (MirrorView) -> 192.168.120.1/27

Slot B1 Port 1 / SP-Port B-3 (MirrorView) -> 192.168.120.2/27

host   initiator-2 in iSCSI_VLAN2 192.168.120.3/27

is this implementation for WIndows , Linux or ESX? if Linux, have u done any recmmendations for "TCP Delayed ACK"

SKT,  The answer in  reply #7 is for ESX, but it can be applied to a stand alone host as well. Delayed ACK should be disabled for all iSCSI targets on a host regardless of whether it is ESX or standalone. This should always be done if 10Gig iSCSI is in use.

• emc191777  (“Why is the performance slow on the ESX server when connected to a CLARiiON iSCSI array?”)
• emc264171 ("Why is the Read performance for a Linux host slow when using iSCSI connecting to a CLARiiON array?")
• emc150702 ("Recommended TCP/IP settings for Microsoft iSCSI configurations to fix slow performance")

glen