SAN setup - Dual fiber switches + 2 SANs

[Paid_Peanuts]

I have had for a while a IBM DS3400 configured via Fiber through 2 Brocade fiber switches.

Straight forward enough:

• Connect Fiber
  
• Create an ALIAS
  
• Create a ZONE and add the ALIAS's you need to the ZONE
  
• add all ZONEs to the ZONE CONFIG (all ZONES member of the one ZONE CONFIG)
  

 

So therefore i have "ESX1" ZONE which has the Alias's for ESX1 HBA1 + DS3400_Cont1 + DS3400_Cont2.

 

The question is when i add an additional DS3400 dual controller into my environment - do i add the new SAN Alias's to the existing ZONEs in the Brocade config.

 

OR do i create new ZONEs for example:

"ESX1_SAN2" : ESX1 HBA + DS3400_2_cont1 + DS3400_2_cont2 and do this for all connections - basically creating a duplicate ZONEs apart from they contain the controllers ALIASs for the second SAN and the HBA for the ESX host?

 

Hope this makes sense - it is very difficult to explain.

[DMcCoy]

I have had for a while a IBM DS3400 configured via Fiber through 2 Brocade fiber switches.

Straight forward enough:

• Connect Fiber
  
• Create an ALIAS
  
• Create a ZONE and add the ALIAS's you need to the ZONE
  
• add all ZONEs to the ZONE CONFIG (all ZONES member of the one ZONE CONFIG)
  

 

So therefore i have "ESX1" ZONE which has the Alias's for ESX1 HBA1 + DS3400_Cont1 + DS3400_Cont2.

 

The question is when i add an additional DS3400 dual controller into my environment - do i add the new SAN Alias's to the existing ZONEs in the Brocade config.

 

OR do i create new ZONEs for example:

"ESX1_SAN2" : ESX1 HBA + DS3400_2_cont1 + DS3400_2_cont2 and do this for all connections - basically creating a duplicate ZONEs apart from they contain the controllers ALIASs for the second SAN and the HBA for the ESX host?

 

Hope this makes sense - it is very difficult to explain.

 

Do the servers have dual fibre connections (one to each switch)?

 

I would probably do as you suggested, create additional zones for the existing ESX alias and new SAN. Assuming you can, I've not had the need to as my second san was iscsi.

[Paid_Peanuts]

Yeah i have 4 ESX servers - all of which have 2 single port HBAs. 1 HBA to 1 fiber switch, the other HBA connection to the second fiber switch.

 

The DS3400 i have both have dual controllers. Therefore Controller A on DS340_1 has a connection to Fiber Switch (FS) 1. DS3400_2 to FS2. the repeat of that for controller B.

[DMcCoy]

Yeah i have 4 ESX servers - all of which have 2 single port HBAs. 1 HBA to 1 fiber switch, the other HBA connection to the second fiber switch.

 

The DS3400 i have both have dual controllers. Therefore Controller A on DS340_1 has a connection to Fiber Switch (FS) 1. DS3400_2 to FS2. the repeat of that for controller B.

 

Same as mine then, one switch with ESX port A with SAN ports A1/B1 in a zone and the other with ESX B and A2/B2.

 

I unplugged all my fibre while fitting new servers and had lots of fun getting things back in the right ports to migrate the VMs to the new hosts

 

As long as you configure one switch at a time and the hosts have the standby paths right (4 for each lun - 2 from each controller) then everything should be fine.

 

Just out of interest are you using vSphere? I've been testing the fibre multipathing except while it used both FC cards evenly it was slightly slower than a single card (I guess the SAN just isn't fast enough to saturate a single channel).

[Paid_Peanuts]

I haven't moved to vSphere yet as I figure 3.5 is working perfectly for me so why mess with it?!

vSphere isn't really going to give me anything new apart from possibly create problems for now.

[apaton]

The question is when i add an additional DS3400 dual controller into my environment - do i add the new SAN Alias's to the existing ZONEs in the Brocade config.

 

OR do i create new ZONEs for example:

"ESX1_SAN2" : ESX1 HBA + DS3400_2_cont1 + DS3400_2_cont2 and do this for all connections - basically creating a duplicate ZONEs apart from they contain the controllers ALIASs for the second SAN and the HBA for the ESX host?

 

Either way is valid.

 

But I would always create a new zone, better for isolation. If ever you have controller on DS4300 crashing, AVT's and issuing LIP's etc... would protect you slightly better.