Owner's Manual

15
Cabling EqualLogic iSCSI Storage System
Host servers can be attached to the Dell EqualLogic PS5000XV iSCSI array
through an IP storage area network (SAN) industry-standard Gigabit Ethernet
switch. Figure 7 shows the recommended network configuration for a dual
control module PS5000XV array. This configuration includes two Dell
PowerConnect 6200 Gigabit Ethernet switches, to provide highest network
availability and maximum network bandwidth. Dell recommends using two
Gigabit Ethernet switches because in the event of a switch failure in a single
Ethernet switch environment, all hosts will lose access to the storage until the
switch is physically replaced and the configuration restored. In such
configuration, there should be multiple ports with link aggregation providing the
inter-switch, or trunk, connection. Further, from each of the control modules,
Dell recommends connecting one Gigabit interface to one Ethernet switch, and
the other two Gigabit interfaces connect to the other Ethernet switch.
Figure 7. Recommended Network Configuration
Figure 8 is an architecture overview of a sample Oracle RAC configuration with
three PS5000XV arrays. The blue cables denote the iSCSI SAN. The gray cables
denote the Oracle RAC private interconnect network. The black cables denote
the public network. The PS5000XV storage arrays provide the physical storage
capacity for the Oracle RAC database.