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February 9th, 2025 01:18

Query with Dell PowerStore 500T and ToR switch connection

I have a dell powerstore500T with 4port Mez I/O card connected to 2 Cisco Nexus 9K ToR switches. 2 iSCSI storage networks on separate vLAN's are configured to be used with VMWare.

Issue is with PowerStore Manager showing major alerts ,native vLAN mismatch detected between data switch ports  and Network ICMP connectivity issues with 2 address alert for each of the iSCSI network.  I am suspecting this is due to incorrect connection between Mez card and ToR switches.

Being a total noob when it comes to networking and storage and after going through multiple articles for understanding basic connectivity, are my below assumptions correct for connecting 500T with ToR switch properly?

  1. ports A0 and A1 connected to 2 different ToR switch ports but ports configured in same vLAN? Similarly for ports B0 and B1. 
  2. ports A0 and B1 connected to same ToR switch? 
  3. ports A1 and B0 connected to same ToR switch

4 Operator

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2.2K Posts

February 9th, 2025 22:05

The 4 MGMT IPs are bind to the 2 BaseT network ports.

Only your two Storage Networks are on the Mezz Ports.  I highly suggest to use VLANs wich means trunk or general. The access mode supports only a single tagged VLAN.

Regards,

Joerg

4 Operator

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2.2K Posts

February 9th, 2025 11:23

Hello,

we need break this into two parts.... the general network setup(cluster network) and storage network.

1. Cluster Network with the Mez IO Card

  • A0 and B1 goes into the SAME TOR
  • A1 and B0 goes into the SAME TOR.. but the other one
  • A0 and A1 use a LAG. IIRC within the PowerStore GUI this is named "bond0" or so
  • B0 and B2 use a 2nd. LAG
  • Both TOR switche needs a link like MCLA, iVLTI each other or how ever your vendor named it. A simple Stack is also "fine"

If its your first Powerstore your setup needs 4 IPs within a single subnet. If youre wise you choose a VLAN here which means your 4 phys. Switch ports needs tagged VLAN config.

2. Storage Network with also Mezz IO. I assume a dual Subnet iSCSI Setup for vSphere ESXi Hosts

  • Storage Network "iSCSI-A" which needs 3 IPs and VLAN ID  2222.  Assign it to use Bond0
  • Storage Network "iSCSI-B" which needs 3 IPs from a 2nd.  Subnet and VLAN ID 3333. Assign it to use Bond1
  • Configure all 4 phys. Switchports with BOTH tagged VLAN IDs (2222,3333).

Dont ask ;)

Iam unsure about the Bond0/1 because iam not in front of the PowerStore Manager.

Dell have made a very bad job when it comes to the documentation about Networking. Main reasons are

  • Different Hosts/OS needs a different setup and they supportet a large range of OS
  • There is more than one way to do things
  • Changed best practice when it comes to ESXi ISCSI. PowerStore OS 1.x want single subnet and thois was changed with 2.0 to a dual setup. Which doesn mean that you can use a one Storage Network and single Subnet for iSCSI(but only this example is within the documentation)
  • There is not a single topology plan where you see Hosts, Switch, Storage and a simple iSCSI dual (VLAN) Setup together.

Regards,
Joerg

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February 9th, 2025 15:12

@Origin3k​ Many thanks for replying. 

Cluster Network:

Currently A0 and B1 and mapped to different ToR. I will change this to map to same ToR. Same as with A1 and B0.

Are the 4 IPs mentioned here refers to Management cluster, appliance and the 2 nodes?

Storage Network:

I have 2 iSCSI subnets , iSCSI-1 and iSCSI-2 . But no vLANs are tagged in PowerStore Manger. Both iSCSI networks are mapped to bond ports

ToR Switch ports:

3 ports on each switch in access mode with vLAN

2 - vLAN 140

3 - vLAN 141

4 - vLAN 101 for mgmt

4 Operator

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2.2K Posts

February 9th, 2025 20:19

Are the 4 IPs mentioned here refers to Management cluster, appliance and the 2 nodes?

Yes.

1 Rookie

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4 Posts

February 9th, 2025 22:00

@Origin3k​  I do have 4 IPs from same subnet for Mgmt and the IPs used for Mgmt ISCSI-1 and ISCI-2 are from different subnets.  Seems like there are no vLANs configured on PowerStore. All of the vLANs are configured in ToR ports. 

Do the ToR ports need to be trunk rather than access?

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February 17th, 2025 18:11

@Origin3k​ I was able to fix all the errors in PowerStore manager by following your suggestion. The below changes were made

  • Proper cabling of nodes A and B to ToR switch
  • Changed the access ports to trunk and tagged both iSCSI vLANs in ToR switch
  • Used vLAN tagging in PowerStore manager for both iSCSI networks

ESXi hosts shows active path to both nodes even though not all storage IP addresses are reachable. I have added both nodes IP addresses under ESXi host iSCSI dynamic discovery.

4 Operator

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2.2K Posts

February 18th, 2025 11:20

@RameshG397da1 

Yes, when you create 2 Storage networks on the PowerStore you have to add both in the DynamicDiscovery on ESXi.

If not already down test if Jumbo frames configured properly by using the following:

esxping -d -s 8972  IP_SCSI-1

esxping -d -s 8972  IP_SCSI-2

If you get a valid result every the environment is ready for JumboFrames/MTU9000 and you can (re)configure your VMKs if needed.

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