Deployment Guide

Cabling the Embedded Ports for iSCSI Host Connectivity
If the Flex Port license is installed on the Storage Center, the management port and replication port can be connected to an
Ethernet switch and used for iSCSI host connectivity.
Dell recommends using two switches dedicated for iSCSI traffic. Refer to the iSCSI Settings appendix for a list of recommend and
required settings.
Two iSCSI Networks using the Embedded Ethernet Ports on a Storage System with Dual Fibre
Channel Storage Controllers
Use two iSCSI networks to prevent an unavailable port, switch, or storage controller from causing a loss of connectivity between
the host servers and a storage system with dual Fibre Channel (FC) storage controllers.
About this task
This configuration includes two fault domains, two iSCSI networks, and two Ethernet switches.
• If a physical port or Ethernet switch becomes unavailable, the storage system is accessed from the switch in the other fault
domain.
• If a storage controller becomes unavailable, the virtual ports on the offline storage controller move to the physical ports on the
other storage controller.
NOTE: The Flex Port feature allows both Storage Center system management traffic and iSCSI traffic to use the same
physical network ports. However, for environments where the Storage Center system management ports are mixed with
network traffic from other devices (such as voice, backups, or other computing devices), separate iSCSI traffic from
management traffic using VLANs.
Steps
1. Connect each server and Ethernet switch 1 to the corporate/management network (shown in green).
2. Connect the servers that support iSCSI connections to both iSCSI networks.
3. Connect embedded fault domain 1 (shown in orange) to iSCSI network 1.
a. Connect the management port on storage controller 1 to Ethernet switch 1.
b. Connect the management port on storage controller 2 to Ethernet switch 1.
4. Connect embedded fault domain 2 (shown in blue) to iSCSI network 2.
a. Connect the replication port on storage controller 1 to Ethernet switch 2.
b. Connect the replication port on storage controller 2 to Ethernet switch 2.
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Connect the Front-End Cabling