Dell EMC AX4-5I Manual

www.dell.com | support.dell.com

Dell|EMC AX4-5i iSCSI Storage Arrays

With Microsoft®Windows Server®

Failover Clusters

Hardware Installation and

Troubleshooting Guide

Notes, Notices, and Cautions

NOTE: A NOTE indicates important information that helps you make better use

of your computer.

NOTICE: A NOTICE indicates either potential damage to hardware or loss of

data and tells you how to avoid the problem.

CAUTION: A CAUTION indicates a potential for property damage, personal

injury, or death.

___________________

Information in this document is subject to change without notice.

ReproductioninanymannerwhatsoeverwithoutthewrittenpermissionofDellInc.isstrictlyforbidden.

Trademarks used in this text: Dell, the DELL logo, PowerEdge, PowerVault, and OpenManage are

trademarksofDellInc.;ActiveDirectory,Microsoft,Windows,WindowsServer,and Windows NT

areeithertrademarksorregisteredtrademarksofMicrosoftCorporationintheUnitedStatesand/or

other countries; EMC, Navisphere,and PowerPath are registered trademarks and MirrorView,

SAN Copy, and SnapView are trademarks of EMC Corporation.

Other trademarks and trade names may be used in this document to refer to either the entities

claiming the marks and names or their products. Dell Inc. disclaims any proprietary interest in

trademarks and trade names other than its own.

April 2008 Rev A00

Contents 3

Contents

1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Cluster Solution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Cluster Hardware Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Cluster Nodes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

Cluster Storage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

NICs Dedicated to iSCSI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Ethernet Switches Dedicated to iSCSI . . . . . . . . 9

Supported Cluster Configurations . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Direct-Attached Cluster . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

iSCSI SAN-Attached Cluster . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

Other Documents You May Need . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

2 Cabling Your Cluster Hardware . . . . . . . . 13

Cabling the Mouse, Keyboard, and Monitor . . . . . . 13

Cabling the Power Supplies. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

Cabling Your Cluster for Public and

Private Networks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

Cabling the Public Network . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

Cabling the Private Network . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

NIC Teaming . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

Cabling the Storage Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

Cabling Storage for Your

Direct-Attached Cluster . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

Cabling Storage for Your

iSCSI SAN-Attached Cluster . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

4Contents

3 Preparing Your Systems

for Clustering . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

Cluster Configuration Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

Installation Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29

Installing the iSCSI NICs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

Installing the Microsoft iSCSI

Software Initiator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

Modifying the TCP Registry Settings . . . . . . . . 31

Installing EMC®PowerPath®. . . . . . . . . . . 31

Configuring the Shared Storage System . . . . . . 32

Installing and Configuring a Failover Cluster . . . . 41

A Troubleshooting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43

B Cluster Data Form . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49

C iSCSI Configuration Worksheet . . . . . . . 51

Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53

Introduction 5

Introduction

A Dell™ Failover Cluster combines specific hardware and software

components to provide enhanced availability for applications and services

that run on your cluster. A Failover Cluster reduces the possibility of any

single point of failure within the system that can cause the clustered

applications or services to become unavailable. It is recommended that you

use redundant components like servers, storage power supplies, connections

between the nodes and the storage array(s), connections to client systems or

other servers in a multi-tier enterprise application architecture in your cluster.

This document provides information and specific configuration tasks that

enable you to configure your Failover Cluster with Dell|EMC AX4-5i

Internet Small Computer System Interface (iSCSI) storage array(s).

For more information on deploying your cluster with Windows Server 2003

operating systems, see the Dell™ Failover Clusters with Microsoft Windows

Server 2003 Installation and Troubleshooting Guide located on the Dell

Support website at support.dell.com.For more information on deploying

your cluster with Windows Server 2008 operating systems, see the Dell

Failover Clusters with Microsoft Windows Server 2008 Installation and

Troubleshooting Guide located on the Dell Support website at

support.dell.com.

For a list of recommended operating systems, hardware components, and

driver or firmware versions for your Failover Cluster, see the Dell Cluster

Configuration Support Matrices located on the Dell High Availability

Clustering website at www.dell.com/ha.

6Introduction

Cluster Solution

Your cluster supports a minimum of two nodes to a maximum of either eight

nodes (with Windows Server 2003 operating systems) or sixteen nodes (with

Windows Server 2008 operating systems) and provides the following features:

• Gigabit Ethernet technology for iSCSI clusters

• High availability of resources to network clients

• Redundant paths to the shared storage

• Failure recovery for applications and services

• Flexible maintenance capabilities, allowing you to repair, maintain, or

upgrade a node or storage system without taking the entire cluster offline

The iSCSI protocol encapsulates SCSI frames that include commands, data,

status and so on to Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP)

packets to be transported over Ethernet networks. The iSCSI data blocks are

sent between the Microsoft iSCSI Initiator that resides in the host and the

iSCSI target, which is usually a storage device. Implementing iSCSI in a

cluster provides the following advantages:

• Geographic distribution — Wider coverage of Ethernet technology allows

cluster nodes and storage systems to be located in different sites.

• Low cost for Availability — Redundant connections provide multiple data

paths that are available through inexpensive TCP/IP network components.

• Connectivity — A single technology for connection of storage systems,

cluster nodes and clients within existent local area network (LAN), wide

area network (WAN), and storage network.

Cluster Hardware Requirements

Your cluster requires the following hardware components:

• Cluster nodes

• Cluster storage

Introduction 7

Cluster Nodes

Table 1-1 lists the hardware requirements for the cluster nodes.

Table 1-1. Cluster Node Requirements

Component Minimum Requirement

Cluster nodes A minimum of two identical PowerEdge servers are required.

The maximum number of nodes that is supported depends

on the variant of the Windows Server operating system used

in your cluster, and on the physical topology in which the

storage system and nodes are interconnected.

RAM The variant of the Windows Server operating system that is

installed on your cluster nodes determines the minimum

required amount of system RAM.

iSCSI Initiator Install the iSCSI port driver, Initiator Service, and Software

Initiator on each node.

Network Interface

Cards (NICs) for

iSCSI access

Two iSCSI NICs or two iSCSI NIC ports per node. Configure

the NICs on separate PCI buses to improve availability and

performance. TCP/IP Offload Engine (TOE) NICs are also

supported for iSCSI traffic.

NICs (public and

private networks)

At least two NICs: one NIC for the public network and

another NIC for the private network.

NOTE: It is recommended that the NICs on each public network

are identical, and that the NICs on each private network are

identical.

Internal disk

controller

One controller connected to at least two internal hard drives

for each node. Use any supported RAID controller or disk

controller.

Two hard drives are required for mirroring (RAID 1) and at

least three are required for disk striping with parity (RAID 5).

NOTE: It is strongly recommended that you use hardware-based

RAID or software-based disk-fault tolerance for the internal drives.

8Introduction

Cluster Storage

Cluster nodes can share access to external storage systems. However, only one

of the nodes can own any RAID volume in the external storage system at any

time. Microsoft Cluster Services (MSCS) controls which node has access to

each RAID volume in the shared storage system.

Table 1-2 lists the supported storage systems and the configuration

requirements for the cluster nodes and stand-alone systems connected to the

storage systems.

The storage systems work together with the following hardware components:

• Disk Processor Enclosure (DPE)—Configured with storage processors that

control the RAID arrays in the storage system and provide storage

functionalities such as snapshots, LUN masking, and remote mirroring.

• Disk Array Enclosure (DAE)—Provides additional storage and is attached

to the disk processor enclosure.

• Standby Power Supply (SPS)—Provides backup power to protect the

integrity of the disk processor write cache. The SPS is connected to the

disk processor enclosure.

Table 1-3 lists hardware requirements for the AX4-5i storage array.

Table 1-2. Cluster Storage Requirements

Hardware Components Requirement

Supported storage

systems

One to four supported Dell|EMC storage systems.

For specific storage system requirements, see Table 1-3.

Cluster nodes All nodes must be directly attached to a single storage

system or attached to one or more storage systems

through a SAN.

Multiple clusters and

stand-alone systems

Can share one or more supported storage systems.

Introduction 9

NOTE: Ensure that the core software version running on the storage system is

supported. For specific version requirements, see the Dell Cluster Configuration

Support Matrices located on the Dell High Availability Cluster website at

www.dell.com/ha.

NICs Dedicated to iSCSI

The NIC controlled by iSCSI Software Initiator acts as an I/O adapter to

connect the system's expansion bus and the storage components. Failover

Cluster solutions that are configured with the AX4-5i storage array require

two iSCSI NICs or NIC ports in each PowerEdge system to provide

redundant paths and load balance the I/O data transfer to the storage system.

Ethernet Switches Dedicated to iSCSI

The Gigabit switch for iSCSI access functions as a regular network switch

that provides extension and dedicated interconnection between the node and

the storage system(s).

Supported Cluster Configurations

Direct-Attached Cluster

In a direct-attached cluster, both nodes of the cluster are directly attached to

a single storage system. In this configuration, the RAID controllers (or storage

processors) on the storage systems are connected by cables directly to the

iSCSI NIC ports in the nodes.

Figure 1-1 shows a basic direct-attached, single-cluster configuration.

Table 1-3. Dell|EMC Storage System Requirements

Processor

Enclosure

Minimum Required

Storage

Possible Storage

Expansion

SPS

AX4-5i One DPE with at least

4 and up to 12 hard

drives

Up to three DAE with a

maximum of 12 hard

drives each

1 (required) and 2

(optional)

10 Introduction

Figure 1-1. Direct-Attached, Single-Cluster Configuration

EMC PowerPath Limitations in a Direct-Attached Cluster

EMC PowerPath provides failover capabilities and multiple path detection as

well as dynamic load balancing between multiple ports on the same storage

processor. However, direct-attached clusters supported by Dell connect to a

single port on each storage processor in the storage system. Because of the

single port limitation, PowerPath can provide only failover protection, not

load balancing, in a direct-attached configuration.

iSCSI SAN-Attached Cluster

In an iSCSI switch-attached cluster, all of the nodes are attached to a single

storage system or to multiple storage systems through redundant LANs for

high-availability. iSCSI SAN-attached clusters are superior to direct-attached

clusters in configuration flexibility, expandability, and performance.

Figure 1-2 shows an iSCSI SAN-attached cluster.

cluster node

private network

public network

cluster node

storage system

iSCSI connections

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