We currently have an existing system iSCSI network that has been running for about 3 years now and it work, but has serious performance issues. Image 1 shows our current setup. To improve on this design, I would like to enable multi-pathing as well as separate each SAN (or in our case NAS) to increase performance. I wish I could bring down the whole system and redsign it, but unfortunately do to space constraints and budget... I can't.
So there for after doing some research, I've come up with a slightly new design.
- 5 x Dell PowerEdge R610, 12 nics each (3 cards with 4 nics)
- 3 x Dell Power Connect 5424 Switches
- 2 x MD3000i iSCSI SANs (all used for VM's) 90% full
- 1 x MD3200i iSCSI SAN ( used for VM's) 50% full
- vSphere 4.0 Advanced Licensed (can't upgrade yet)
- Host pNIC 0 = Mgmt (192.168.1.x)
- Host pNIC 1 = Virtual Firewall (Checkpoint)
- Host pNIC 4 = vMotion
- Host pNIC 5 = Production Network #1 (192.168.1.x)
- Hoar pNIX 8 = Production Network #2 (10.0.0.x)
- Host pNIC 2 & 6 = Storage iSCSI MD3000i #1 Network (Each NIC on seperate subnet)
- Host pNIC 3 & 10 = Storage iSCSI MD3000i #2 Network (Each NIC on seperate subnet)
- Host pNIC 7 & 11= Storage iSCSI MD2000i #1 Network (Each NIC on seperate subnet)
Unfortunately, I can't change neither Production Network we're running 2 separate domains on this system... I wish I could change it (arg!).
Am I on the right track, or just crazy?