Dell powervault md-series storage array rules – Dell PowerVault MD3820f User Manual
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Dell PowerVault MD-Series Storage Array Rules
This section contains both general and model-specific connectivity and consideration rules
for MD storage arrays. Only the rules shown in
Table 2
apply to ALL storage array models. For
rules applying to specific MD models, see
Tables 3 and 4
.
Table 2. MD-Series Storage Array Rules for All Models
NOTE: MD3460, MD3860i and MD3860f platforms are supported in
dual-RAID controller (duplex) configurations only.
MD3400
Series
MD3800i
series
MD3800f
series
RULE
12Gbps
SAS
10Gbps
iSCSI
16Gbps
Fibre
Channel
Maximum number of host servers a single storage array can
connect to with one RAID Controller Module installed
4
64
64
Maximum number of host servers a single storage array can
connect to with two RAID Controller Modules installed
8
(4 if using
high
availability)
64
64
Maximum number of Dell 12Gb SAS HBA cards supported in a
single host server attached to single array. (It is recommended to
use two Dell 12Gb SAS HBA cards for all redundant cabling
configurations.)
2
(each card
has two
ports)
N/A
N/A
Unused ports on a Dell 12Gb SAS HBA card already connected to
an MD3460 cannot be connected to another device (such as a
tape drive or other model storage array).
N/A
N/A
Maximum number of MD Series Storage Arrays a host server
may connect to:
2 (HA)
4
4
SAS and iSCSI storage arrays can be connected to the same host
server.
The I/O co-
existence
between the
Fibre Channel
and any other
protocol on
same host is
not supported.
A hot spare for a disk group must be a physical disk of equal
or greater size than any of the member disks.