Infortrend EonStor CS Series User manual

Expansion Guide
EonStor CS Family
Version: 2.1
Updated: March 2022
Summary
This guide describes the instructions and system limitations for adding an expansion enclosure
to an Infortrend EonStor CS storage system without affecting storage operations.

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Contents
1. Preface.................................................................................................................................................3
2. Audience...............................................................................................................................................3
3. What is Included in This Guide..............................................................................................................3
4. What You Should Know Before Reading...............................................................................................3
5. EonStor CS Expansion Principle...........................................................................................................4
5.1 EonStor CS Storage System Expansion....................................................................................4
5.1.1 Scale-out .......................................................................................................................4
5.1.2 Scale-up ........................................................................................................................4
5.2 EonStor CS Storage Configuration............................................................................................5
5.3 Maximum Number of Drives/Expansion Enclosures ..................................................................6
6. Expansion Enclosure Connection .........................................................................................................7
6.1 Scale-out...................................................................................................................................7
6.1.1 Scale-out Online Expansion Steps.................................................................................7
5.1 Scale-up..................................................................................................................................10
5.1.1 Scale-up Online Expansion Steps................................................................................11
7. Legal Disclaimer and Information........................................................................................................13
Trademarks.........................................................................................................................................13
8. Contact Information.............................................................................................................................14
Website ...............................................................................................................................................14
Customer Support ...............................................................................................................................14

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1. Preface
The purpose of this guide is to instruct you on how to add/expand expansion enclosures to Infortrend
storage system without affecting the existing storage operations with minimum downtime.
Infortrend continues to develop the best quality solutions to fulfill customer's expectations and requirements.
We periodically release information about hardware and software online. We recommend users to check our
official website for the latest news and our customer support for the latest releases of firmware and software.
In case of product malfunction or if a feature is not working, contact our technical support team.
2. Audience
This Expansion Guide is intended for Infortrend customers, partners, and employees who install/configure
the EonStor CS systems.
3. What is Included in This Guide
This guide contains the following topics:
Expansion constraints: Lists all the principles when connecting multiple expansion enclosures.
Expansion enclosure connections: Explains the cabling connections between the storage system and the
expansion enclosure of different generations.
Expansion enclosure online expanding: Illustrates on how to add/expand an expansion enclosure to an
operating Infortrend storage system.
Hybrid expansion enclosure connections: Demonstrates the prerequisites before setting up the hybrid
expansion enclosure configuration.
4. What You Should Know Before Reading
This Expansion Guide assumes that you are familiar with basic server, storage, and networking concepts,
and configurations.

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5. EonStor CS Expansion Principle
5.1 EonStor CS Storage System Expansion
EonStor CS supports both scale-out and scale-up expansion, and the system does not need to be turned off
during the expansion process. Infortrend Distributed File System (IDFS) is a highly efficient distributed file
system that increases performance and capacity by expanding the storage unit based on the disk pool.
5.1.1 Scale-out
Scale-out refers to improving the performance and storage capacity by connecting several storage systems
(nodes) together and using the cluster node expansion method to expand the system capacity and
computing resources (CPU, memory, and network bandwidth).
5.1.2 Scale-up
Scale-up refers to the improvement of access efficiency and storage capacity by connecting several
expansion enclosures (JBODs) to the disk channel in the back-end of a single storage system (or a storage
node). Compared to scale-out expansion, the scale-up expansion provides a cost-effective solution by
purchasing expansion enclosures to achieve system performance and storage space improvement.
However, the performance and scalability provided by scale-up expansion cannot exceed the limits of the
storage node. If there are additional performance requirements, users can only deploy the storage system
using scale-out expansion.

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5.2 EonStor CS Storage Configuration
The followings are restrictions of storage configuration:
1. The disk slots of EonStor CS must be fully inserted to configure, except for CS 4014U. For CS 4014U, a
minimum of 6 drives will be sufficient. Note that NVMe SSDs should be purchased together with the
storage appliance.
2. EonStor CS cluster can scale-out up to 144 storage nodes.
3. EonStor CS does not support the expansion enclosure configuration with hybrid form factors. Once you
select the form factor of the expansion enclosure, the system will select the expansion enclosure model
that can be used by the node. For instance, if EonStor CS HDD node connects the JB 3016 for scale-up
expansion, only the JB 3016 can be selected for the expansion enclosure in the future.
4. If one of the storage nodes in the storage pool is connected to the expansion enclosure for scale-up
expansion, it is recommended that you balance storage capacity of all nodes in the pool to avoid
excessive I/O load on some nodes.
Scale-up Expansion Enclosures must have the same configuration with the nodes

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※Note: Before connecting an additional expansion enclosure to an existing storage node, you must
use a flat screwdriver to set the ID knob on the expansion enclosure. Please note that each expansion
enclosure must be configured with a different ID. To prevent any ID conflict, it is recommended that you
set a separate ID for each expansion enclosure before deploying an environment with multiple
expansion enclosures.
Expansion Enclosure ID Turntable
5.3 Maximum Number of Drives/Expansion Enclosures
EonStor CS supports 5 form factors: 2U 14-bay, 2U 25-bay, 3U 16-bay, 4U 24-bay and 4U 60-bay, and there
are 3 form factors of JBOD model: 2U 25-bay, 3U 16-bay and 4U 60-bay. The table below shows the
corresponding maximum number of drives and supported JBOD model in each form factor of node. For 16-
bay and 25-bay form factor of JBOD, each node can support up to 3 JBODs, but each node can only
support 1 60-bay JBOD.
Note: G indicates there is 1 node in the appliance, and D indicates there are 2 nodes in the appliance.
Model
Form Factor
Maximum Number of Drives
(Per node)
Support JBOD
Models
CS G model
3U 16-bay
76
JB 3016 (Up to 3)
JB 3060 (Up to 1)
4U 24-bay
84
4U 60-bay
120
JB 3060 (Up to 1)
2U 14-bay
89
JB 3025B (Up to 3)
JB 3016 (Up to 3)
JB 3060 (Up to 1)
2U 25-bay
100
CS D model
4U 60-bay
90
JB 3060 (Up to 1)

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6. Expansion Enclosure Connection
6.1 Scale-out
EonStor CS can be scale-out expanded with another EonStor CS via an onboard 10GbE (SFP+) channel
(blue line) or an installed 25GbE or 40GbE I/O expansion slot (orange line).
EonStor CS scale-out via 10/25/40GbE interface
6.1.1 Scale-out Online Expansion Steps
1. Install the New Node to the Rack
We recommend that you install the node in the rack before installing the hard drives into the node. After the
node is assembled into the rack, make sure that the network cable is long enough to connect to the
switches.
2. Connect the Network Cables
Connect the EonStor CS node to the switches of internal network and front-end network, so that the new
node can communicate with other nodes and clients.
3. Install the Disks to the New Node
Install the corresponding drive type into the new node before powering it on. Remember the drive slots of the
node must be all inserted with drives, and the only exception is CS 4014U which supports 6 drives as
minimum number of drives. Otherwise, the node will not be able to configure.

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4. Power on the New Node
Power on the node, and check the LED panel, including drive slots. If the LEDs are all green, it means that
the system is normal and ready.
5. Add the New Node to the EonOne
Go to EonOne and click on settings. When you enter the page of adding node, the system will scan the new
node automatically. If the node is not found in the list, you can click on Rescan or check the network cable of
the new node.
Add Node
Choose the node that you want to add into your system and click “Next”. You can configure the network
connection of the node.
Network Configuration

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Check the node list. If there is no problem with the node, the node is added to the system successfully. For
details, please refer to the software manual.
Node List

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5.1 Scale-up
EonStor CS can be scale-up expanded via the SAS 12 Gb/s back-end disk channel, and you can use the
SAS cable included with the Infortrend expansion enclosure to connect it to the EonStor CS back-end disk
channel. The scale-up expansion connects the expansion port (IN) on the back of the EonStor CS to the
OUT port on the expansion enclosure. If you want to continue the scale-up expansion, follow the below rules
(IN to OUT) to connect down.
1. Storage Controller SAS IN Port →Expansion Enclosure (1) SAS OUT Port (blue line).
2. Expansion Enclosure (1) SAS IN Port → Expansion Enclosure (2) or the last expansion enclosure SAS
OUT Port (red line).
EonStor CS SAS 12 Gb/s Expansion Port for Scale-up Expansion