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Powerconnect 5424 stacking for iscsi san
Hello,
We have been using the Powerconnect 5424 for a while now to run 2 esxi hosts and 1 MD3220i SAN. I understand that it is good practice to have 2 SAN switches and spread the 4 paths to each controller via them but I was wondering if the same purpose can be achieved by stacking 2 5424 switches. If they are stacked, can you take one of them down and the other would keep performing? Any pro/cons to this option vs having non-stacked switches/
Thanks!
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Posted September 28th, 2012 14:00
Hello nid15,
Yes you can use the HDMI connections to stack the 2 switches together. Here is a link to the manual for the 55xx switches. If you look on page 43 it explains how to set it up. support.dell.com/.../en_ug.pdf
Once you have finished stacking the 2 switches then you will want to create a LAG between the switches. So that if switch one goes down, the other will continue to run. So with that in mine you take the ports from switch 1 and ports from switch 2 and make a LAG out of them. Then connect that LAG to the SAN, this way if switch 1 goes down, you still have the connection to switch 2 that is still up and running.
Lets us know if have any other questions.
710
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Posted September 24th, 2012 08:00
Thanks for the answer. Instead of using LAG, can I use HDMI to stack ? What would be the pro's / con's for hdmi vs LAG?
The MD3220i has 4 NIC./ controller. I was thinking of connecting 2 each on 2 different switches. Same with the NIC's on my server. Split the connections between the two swtiches and then stack them via HDMI
710
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Posted September 28th, 2012 12:00
The 54xx are not stackable. Maybe you have a 55xx which use the HDMI Stacking cable or the 62xx which needs extra module and a CX4 like cable.
Regards
Joerg
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Posted September 28th, 2012 12:00
Wondering if anyone is able to answer my question regarding hdmi stacking and using it in SAN
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Posted September 28th, 2012 13:00
My bad. It is 5524 and 5548 with hdmi. I already use the 10Gbe ports with SFP to connect to my server with 10G ports. Donn't know if that would interfere with stacking
710
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Posted October 1st, 2012 11:00
When using an MD-series Dell SAN, you don't want to stack or LAG the switches. By keeping them isolated, any issues that occur on one switch can never cross over to the other switch.
On Equallogic SAN implementations you have to have a single network due to it's design, so then you do stack or LAG switches.
DELL-Sam L
Community Manager
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710
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Posted September 21st, 2012 09:00
Hello nid15,
Yes you can stack 2 switches and if one goes down then the other switch will stay up. What you will have to do is to create a LAG between the 2 switches and connect the san to that LAG connection. So as an example you take two ports from switch 1 and two ports from switch 2, put them into a lag with each other, and then connect the SAN to that LAG, if switch 1 goes down, the SAN still has the other two ports connected to the second switch in the stack which is still up and running.
Let us know if have any other questions.