IP storage network design considerations
iSCSI, NFS, and Fiber Channel over Ethernet (FCoE) are IP-based storage protocols supported in a vSphere environment. This recipe covers the design considerations when designing the IP networks that will be used for storage traffic.
How to do it…
Identify the network connectivity and virtual switch configurations required for IP-connected storage.
Determine the best practices to be used to provide connectivity for IP-connected storage.
Design the IP storage connectivity to meet the design requirements.
How it works…
IP storage traffic should be separated from other IP traffic. This separation can be provided by either using physically separate hardware (network adapters and physical switches), or separate VLANs for IP storage traffic. The networks associated with IP storage should be directly connected and non-routable.
Multiple network paths to storage should be configured to provide redundancy and load balancing. Single points of failure should be minimized...
