Setup Guide

32 Configuring Storage
Dell EqualLogic PS Series
Dell EqualLogic PS Series iSCSI arrays simplify storage deployment by
offering high performance, reliability, intelligent automation, and seamless
virtualization of a single pool of storage.
The foundation of an EqualLogic storage array is a PS Series group which is
an iSCSI SAN including one or more PS Series storage array members
connected to an IP network and managed as a single system. Each array has
fully redundant hardware and up to three active network connections for
maximum bandwidth. Integrated virtualization firmware provides:
• Seamless scalability
• Automatic RAID configuration and spare disk configuration
• Automatic network, performance, and capacity load balancing
All PS Series models have dual active/passive controllers with three 1-GbE
ports per controller for a total of six 1-GbE ports.
By default, the physical network interface on which the XenServer
management interface is configured is chosen to route the IP storage traffic.
However, a different physical interface or a bond of two network interfaces
can be configured to segregate storage traffic from management traffic. For
more details on specific configuration steps, see "High Availability
Configuration and IP Storage Traffic Segregation" on page 33.
Creating a Storage Repository on Dell EqualLogic PS Series Arrays
With XenServer, two types of SRs can be created on PS Series arrays:
• LVM Over iSCSI (lvmoiscsi) SRs utilize the Linux Volume Manager
(LVM) to create a logical volume per virtual disk image (VDI). The entire
volume on the PS Series array is used to hold VDIs.
• EqualLogic (equal) SRs utilize the XenServer storage adapter to manage
VM storage on PS Series arrays. For each XenServer VDI, a corresponding
volume on the PS Series array is created, allowing for advanced VM
lifecycle operations, such as snapshots, fast clones, thin provisioning, and
so on.