Release Notes

Building a high-availability SAN
43 Dell PS Series Configuration Guide
9 Building a high-availability SAN
Designing a redundant SAN requires the availability of redundant NICs or HBAs on each server. A redundant
NIC configuration on the server requires at least two NICs.
The information provided here does not address all of the possible variations in a SAN.
All information is presented using a set of basic reference designs that make the following assumptions:
• The SAN network is physically isolated from all other network traffic
• The examples are based on best practice design principles.
• Unless otherwise stated, all reference designs will provide end-to-end host to volume redundant
paths
• A minimal number of switches will be illustrated to allow for the design concept to be understood.
Actual implementations will vary depending on your network infrastructure requirements.
• If sharing physical switches with other non-SAN traffic, we assume all switches are VLAN capable.
Note: The PS4110 and PS6110 PS Series Arrays do not support dual speed connectivity. They are not
designed to support the auto-negotiate feature. The connectivity must be 10Gb ONLY - This is the only
supported configuration.
9.1 Multi-path I/O
There are generally two types of multi-path access methods for communicating from a host to an external
device. For general networking communications, the preferred method of redundant connections is the
teaming of multiple NICs into a single, virtual network connection entity. For storage, the preferred method of
redundant connection is the use of Multi-Path I/O (MPIO). Though some storage solution can and do support
either method for iSCSI connectivity, PS Series storage requires the use of MPIO to enable multiple NIC/HBA
connections to be utilized for access to a PS Series SAN.
The MPIO ToolKits, for available Operating Systems, can be found at the link below: (for example, the Host
Integration ToolKit for Microsoft, the Host Integration Tools for Linux and the Multipathing Extension Module
for vSphere VMware ESXi). https://eqlsupport.dell.com/support/download.aspx
Click on the Host Integration Tools for your Operating System.
Solution guides for using PS MPIO on various operating systems (OSes) are available from the Dell
TechCenter. These solutions guides include:
• Configuring and Deploying the Dell PS Series Multi-Path I/O Device Specific Module with Microsoft
Windows Servers
• Configuring and Installing the PS Series Multipathing Extension Modules for VMware vSphere and
PS Series SANs
• Using HIT/Linux and ASM/LE with Dell PS Series Storage
Note: PS Series storage does not support NIC teaming on interfaces connected to the SAN.