M4110x - Management Net and iSCSI Net. Clarification of configuration steps. The documentation is ambiguous at best.

Hi Guys,

I am having a lot of trouble translating what I know from the PS6000 array to the new M4100x.  Here is what I am building:

I want my iSCSI traffic completely isolated from any other traffic, and I want to use the CMC network to manage the array.  This should be a straightforward setup, but Dell's documentation on the subject is worse than useless.  It confuses and confounds everyone who read's it.  Why is this?

It seems that I ought to be able to assign the management IP addresses using the CMC according to DELL:

Step 1.  Initialize the Storage

* Once in the CMC right click on the Storage to open up the Storage initialization gui .

* Member Name : MY_SAN01
* Member IP: 192.168.101.10
* Member Gateway : 192.168.101.254
* Group Name : MY_SAN
* Group IP Address: 192.168.101.11
* Group Memebersip Password : groupadmin
* Group Admin password: groupadmin

This seems straightforward enough, and when I apply this I assume I will be disconnected from my M4110x by virtue of it now residing on a separated network (net 2 in the image above).  Now how do I set up the Management IP on my CMC Network (net0 in the image above)?

Step 2.  Set ip the Management port

According to Dell's documentation I could:

To set up the management port:

* Open a telnet (ssh) session on a computer or console that has access to the PS-M4110 array. The array must be configured beforehand.
 
* Connect to the PS-M4110 array using the following racadm command: racadm server 15 connect
 
* Log in to the PS-M4110 array as  grpadmin

Once I am in:

Activate the controller management port(s) using the following CLI commands:
0. >member select MY_SAN01
1. (array1)>eth select 1
2. (array1 eth_1)>ipaddress 10.10.10.17 netmask 255.255.255.0
3. (array1 eth_1)>up
4. (array1 eth_1)>exit
5. (array1)>grpparams
6. (array1(grpparams))> management-network ipaddress 10.10.10.17

(array1(grpparams))>exit

Is my interpretation correct?  Now my questions:

1. In step 2. substep 1 - how can I tell which ethernet interface to use?  Does Step 1 automatically assume eth0?

2. Am I correct in using the same IP address for both step 2 -  substep 2, and substep 6?  Or should I assign a different IP for these?  10.10.10.18 perhaps.

3. Step 2 - substep 6 there does not appear to be a netmask is this correct?

4. Comparison to the ps6000e - I set up an IP address for each controller (so 2), and then assigned an IP for the group.  That is 3 IP addresses.  For this M4110 it seems like I have only a single controller.  Is this correct?  The specifications make a point of there being 2 controllers.  What happened to the 2nd controller's IP address? 

BIG PLANS

I plan on building a VMware cluster using the DELL multi-pathing algorithm, and I have built this at the DSC, but a Dell tech set up the array initially, and did not set up a dedicated management port.  His configuration required routing Management traffic onto the iSCSI net.  This is not best practice, and I don't want to set it up this way. 

As of right now this is a gating issue, and I need to get past this ASAP.  I work with a big Integrator in Texas, and plan on ordering these systems built this way from them.  This means I have to be able to explain to them how this is done.  This issue is standing in the way of progress, and I really hope I can get a satisfactory answer from this forum.  Thank you for any helpful replies.