Dell PowerVault NX1950 User Manual

Page 11

Introduction

• It is a good practice to have two dual-port Network Interface Cards

(NICs), with two ports dedicated for iSCSI. Configure each NIC on a

separate subnet. If you have three or less NICs, it is recommended that you

do not use the corporate/public network (LAN) link for iSCSI traffic. This

helps avoid traffic congestion and to have better performance. Figure 1-1

and Figure 1-2 illustrate redundant NIC configuration for iSCSI path and

best practices.

• Secured iSCSI is possible with Challenge-Handshake Authentication

Protocol (CHAP). For more information about CHAP settings, see

NOTE:

You must configure CHAP only if the iSCSI traffic is configured on the

public network.

• You can configure Active/Active iSCSI Target in both nodes of a cluster

solution to provide high availability for iSCSI storage.

Table 1-2. Using a PowerVault NX1950 Cluster Solution as a Target

Number of NICs

Initiator

Refer to Figure

4
(Option 1)

NIC-1 - NIC for public network
NIC-2 - Private network for cluster

heartbeat
NIC-3 - iSCSI dedicated traffic (subnet A)
NIC-4 - iSCSI dedicated traffic (subnet B)

Figure 1-4

4
(Option 2)

NIC-1 and NIC-2 - Teamed NICs for

public network
NIC-3 - Private network for cluster

heartbeat
NIC-4 - iSCSI dedicated traffic