Dell Ps-m4110 User manual

Dell EqualLogic Technical Article

Dell EqualLogic PS-M4110 Blade

Array Technical Article

THIS WHITE PAPER IS FOR INFORMATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY, AND MAY CONTAIN TYPOGRAPHICAL

ERRORS AND TECHNICAL INACCURACIES. THE CONTENT IS PROVIDED AS IS, WITHOUT EXPRESS OR

IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND.

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and/or other countries. Qlogic is a registered trademark of QLogic Corporation.

Table of contents

1 Executive summary.........................................................................................................................5

2 Audience .........................................................................................................................................5

3 Introduction ....................................................................................................................................5

4 Reference architecture overview ...................................................................................................6

4.1 PowerEdge M-Series blade servers...............................................................................................6

4.1.1 Additional configuration information ......................................................................................7

4.1.2 Network adapter information..................................................................................................7

4.2 IO module information..................................................................................................................8

4.3 Array information..........................................................................................................................8

4.4 Reference architecture network configuration ............................................................................8

4.4.1 SAN infrastructure....................................................................................................................8

5 Switch configuration .....................................................................................................................10

5.1 Force10 MXL................................................................................................................................10

5.1.1 Global Switch settings:...........................................................................................................10

5.1.2 Array and Host Port configuration:........................................................................................10

5.1.3 LACP configuration (Non-Stack configurations):....................................................................10

5.1.4 Stack configuration (Non-LAG configurations): .....................................................................11

5.2 PowerConnect M8024-K .............................................................................................................12

5.2.1 iSCSI Auto-Configuration........................................................................................................12

5.2.2 Global Switch settings:...........................................................................................................12

5.2.3 Host Port configuration:.........................................................................................................13

5.2.4 LACP configuration (Non-Stacked configurations):................................................................13

5.2.5 Stack Configuration (Non-LAG Configurations): ....................................................................14

5.3 PowerConnect M8428-k..............................................................................................................15

5.3.1 Array and Host Port configuration:........................................................................................15

5.3.2 LACP Member Port configuration:.........................................................................................16

6 General recommendations and guidelines...................................................................................18

A. Port Map .......................................................................................................................................19

B. Additional resources .....................................................................................................................22

Acknowledgements

This whitepaper was produced by the PG Technical Marketing for EqualLogic Infrastructure and

Networking.

The team that created this whitepaper:

Guy Westbrook and Tony Ansley

1Executive summary

This paper provides guidance for incorporating a data center-in-a-box solution with the new Dell

EqualLogic™ PS-M4110 Blade Array, PowerConnect™ or Force10™ Blade IO Modules, and PowerEdge M-

Series blade servers to form a reliable, stable, and well performing consolidated solution. This paper

focuses on the networking recommendations for creating a self-contained, dedicated SAN network

within a single M1000 blade chassis. Additional information regarding scalable M1000 blade chassis

solutions can be found in the EqualLogic Configuration Guide.See the Appendix Bof this document for

links to additional resources.

2Audience

This white paper is primarily intended for those who are involved in defining, implementing, or

supporting an EqualLogic storage network using the new EqualLogic PS-M4110 blade array as part of a

strategy that deploys storage with the purpose of providing data for use by the blade servers located in

the same Dell M1000e Blade Enclosure.

This document assumes the reader is familiar with EqualLogic storage operation and general networking

fundamentals as well as being familiar with the M1000e chassis architecture and its configuration.

3Introduction

Dell’s EqualLogic product suite continues to drive innovation by delivering all the functionality and

enterprise-class features of its traditional rack-based arrays in a new blade chassis form factor product.

The newest member of the Dell EqualLogic PS Series family is the scalable and easy-to-manage Dell

EqualLogic PS-M4110 blade array designed for use with the Dell PowerEdge™ M1000e blade chassis

product.

The PS-M4110 is targeted at small to medium blade chassis customers demanding shared storage with

advanced features at lower cost and with lower space, heating, and electrical requirements than other

storage products on the market. The tight integration of PS-M4110 along with the Dell M-Series chassis

and blade servers presents some new and unique use cases for shared storage.

Of particular interest is a use case for a completely converged server, network, and storage

infrastructure called data center-in-a-box. In this deployment model, the M1000e, along with integrated

servers, networking, and shared storage, becomes a modular building block for customers wanting to

grow their infrastructure – virtual or physical – as they need additional capacity while minimizing the

data center impact in terms of power, cooling, and rack space.

4Reference architecture overview

The Storage Interoperability Lab conducted preliminary testing on a self-contained M1000e based data

center-in-a-box architecture that included testing of multiple networking components as well as using

blade servers from the latest two generations of M-Series blade servers. The following sections describe

the various sub-systems used:

4.1 PowerEdge M-Series blade servers

The blade servers used servers from the last two generations of PowerEdge M-Series servers. Each

server is running Windows Server 2008R2 with Service Pack 1. Detailed M1000e and Server

configuration information is provided below.

Figure 1 Tested server configurations

PowerEdge

M710HD

Broadcom 57712k