Problems initializing two newly bought SANs (fail to initialize eth0)

When you get that error (eth0 can't be initialized), one possible reason is that eth0 is not connected to the switch or the link is down.  Check the switch to make sure that the link is in an up state.  Depending on your hardware model, you have the option to enter in eth1 instead of the default eth0 (assuming you have a second SAN port on that hardware).  

Oh thanks for the explanation. I will get a 10GbE switch and build a second group or pool.

Can a member be transferred from a pool to another?

I guess that my hosts will need to have 10GbE nics as well or will they still be able to communicate with 10GbE SANs?

is there any litterature available for the bests practices in a setup similar as mine?

Ok so right now, my setup is:

3 hosts with 1gb nics

2 decicated 1gb iscsi switchs stacked

3 SANSs connected to 1gb switchs

I have another switch on which i have the hosts connected to and the management ports of the SANs connected to which is for my admin network.

I bought two SANs that cannot run on 1gb.

Can i do it like that:

Add a 10Gb switch dedicated to my 10gb iSCSI traffic.

Connect the two new 10gb SANs to this switch.

Add a 10Gb nic in each of my hosts and connect the 10Gb ports to the new Switch.

I would setup a new group of a new pool for the 10Gb SANs (i'm not sure that i understand the difference properly)

Would that setup work? Would it allow me to keep using the 1gb setup as it is currently and enable the 10gb sans which would host seperate volumes?

Or should i replace the 1gb switchs and run everything on 10gb switches? The first option is what looks easier to setup to me with no real downtime, except while adding a 10gb nic to the hosts.

Hello Don,

thanks for your reply, your support is very appreciated.

You are right, i unfortunately have to keep the hosts connecting to both the 1gb and 10gb arrays.

So if i understand correctly i will be ok if:

configure the 10GbE arrays in a separate group using another IP subnet for the 10GbE network and different CHAP accounts, correct?

And let's say i use vmware with VSM 4.7.0, should i deploy a new instance to be able to manage two storage providers or once appliance can handle more than one group?

Yes i guess i should have specified it in the first place. The Hosts and the SANs are for VMware only. I am using ESXi 6.5.

The hosts have 8 network ports each and we are using 3 vSwitch.

vSwitch0 has 3 physical ports per hosts connected to it (admin network) -> 1 VMkernel adapter

vSwitch1 has 3 physical ports per hosts connected to it (iSCSI) -> 4 VMkernel adapter

vSwitch2 has 2 physical ports per host connected to it (vmotion) -> 2 VMkernel adapter

I have already bought 10GbE nics for my host which are QLogic 57810T

They have two port each. Should i create vSwitch3 for 10GbE iSCSI and assign these ports to it?

Ok so here is where i'm at at the moment:

a two port 10gbe nic has been installed to my three existing hosts

A 10gb switch has been installed and configured

the two new san's are installed and configured.

I'm am currently at the vmware configuration. I am unsure about what i should do about vswitches and vmkernels.

I was about to create a new vswitch and assign the host's two new 10gbe ports and create a vmkernel for isci. Would that be it? 

I guess i need to set up a new switch for vmotion or will it go through my existing vswitch for vmotion that uses my 1gb network?

Any pointers would be greatly appreciated, i'm so close to being done :)

Hello,

 You are going to want to set up a vSwitch w/two 10GbE NICs/VMkernel ports for ISCSI.

They will have to be bound to the iSCSI software adapter.

 This is a PDF on setting up best practices

http://en.community.dell.com/techcenter/extras/m/white_papers/20434601/download

This is how to set up iSCSI with VMware and EQL

https://www.dell.com/community/EqualLogic/Tech-Report-TR1075-configuring-ESXi-with-PS-Series-storage-now/td-p/4695829

Regards,
Don

Thanks for the fast reply. I'll be doing this right now and post results.

Ok so i followed the procedure, since i already had a iscsi software adapter i edited it to add the two new ports on the host in the network port binding section. In the Target tab i added the ip of my new equallogic group.

I then tried to rescan everything. I'm not sure that it works though. Kinda stuck there at the moment.

Hello,

 Did you create a volume on the Group and allow it access to your servers?

 In the setup PDF I believe there is a section that discusses how to do that. 

 Do you have a support contract for these arrays?

 Regards,

Don

i probably did something wrong regarding the chap account. I'll start that part over monday and report my results.