So we just picked up a new PS6100x and I’m wondering if I need to setup the ethernet channels myself or is it automatic? It’s configured in an HA setup; dual controllers connected to redundant cisco switches with a 10GE interconnect. On the controller, I’ve enabled eth0-3, each with it’s own IP 172.16.0.50-53, and a group IP address of 172.16.0.10. Do I need to bond the interfaces on the switch or will the controller take [...]

I’m sure a common problem with most shops is backups, their size, and the window in which you have to back up the data. What we are working with: VMware vSphere 4.1 Cluster PS4000XV Equallogic Storage Array (1.6TB Volume dedicated for Backup to Disk) Physical Backup Server with a single LTO4 drive. BackupExec 2010 R3 with the following agents, Exchange, SQL, Active Directory, VMware. Dual Gigabit MPIO Connections between all devices (Storage Array, Backup Server, [...]

I’m trying to figure out how EQL works with multiple controllers. Dell sales people recommended having one RAID array on one EQL unit. But will this set up allow utilizing both controllers? Or will the throughput be limited to 2G, with IOPS limit of a single controller in that setup? I know that for MD3000i we were advised to set up 2 RAID arrays, so that primary path can be set in a way that [...]

Its standard practice to separate log and data files to separate disks away from the OS (tempdb, backups and swap file also) Does this logic still make sense when your drives are all SAN based and your LUNS are not carved of specific disk or raid sets -they are just part of the x number of drives on the SAN and the LUN is just space allocation Logs and data drives have different data access [...]

We are in the process of a network redesign and I am now down to changing the IP address of the Equallogic iSCSI SAN that is in use by our VMware ESX servers. The Equallogic has three active ethernet ports servicing iSCSI requests. I’m lookingfor a solution that will allow me to renumber the interfaces on the iSCSI SAN, and reconfigure the ESX servers to point to the new addresses, without any downtime. has anyone [...]

First some background. I’m in the process of upgrading my ESX servers from 3.5 to vSphere 4 and so far I have setup the new vCenter Server. Before I start the upgrade of the ESX, I needed more storage so I created 3 datastores from available space on my Equallogic PS6000 which has been connected for a while so as far as connectivity, nothing has changed. but now here’s my problem, I get a “Partial [...]

I’m curious about Lefthand SAN solutions from HP. People from Dell have told me that Lefthand SAN’s require at least two nodes and data must be mirroring between them so capacity is a half less compare to other SAN technology (e.g.Equal Logic). Is it true? Can a HP lefhand SAN be used as a stand-alone storage server with full RAID function (1, 10, 5)? TIA, -giobuon It can be used as a stand-alone, but you [...]

We’ve currently got a dedicated Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2 server that’s quickly running out of disk space. The server is hammered 24/7 pretty much and unfortunately requires a lot of IO to keep running smoothly. We’re considering purchasing a Dell Equallogic PS6010 and get some 10GbE equipment to handle it. I’ve seen all the Dell promo videos showing snapshots and SQL-Aware functionality and their reps keep sending me whitepapers and statistics, but does anyone [...]

We have several Dell 6248 swtich stacks (of 3 each) that form the backbone of our iSCSI Storage network. We need to perform firmware updates on the switch stacks, but are concerned about the downtime required. By way of information our storage is exclusively Dell/Equallogic PS6000 series enclosures with 3 or 4 GigE uplinks per enclosure. As you might already know, these switches can’t be upgraded a member at a time, and the reboot required [...]

This is been confusing me, I need to demo a controller failure. The PS4000 will only kick over to the secondary controller on physical failure. So link state will not work. Other that me tearing into the SAN and disconnecting the controller is there any way I can prove this for my peace of mind ? or do I just throw it into production hoping Dell did a good job on the Q&A ? On [...]