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Ways to configure iSCSI SAN hosts

Contributors netapp-aherbin netapp-mwallis netapp-nsriram netapp-dbagwell netapp-ahibbard

You should set up your iSCSI configuration with high-availability (HA) pairs that attach directly to your iSCSI SAN hosts or that connect to your hosts through one or more IP switches.

HA pairs are defined as the reporting nodes for the Active/Optimized and the Active/Unoptimized paths that will be used by the hosts to access the LUNs. Multiple hosts, using different operating systems, such as Windows, Linux, or UNIX, can access the storage at the same time. Hosts require that a supported multipathing solution that supports ALUA be installed and configured. Supported operating systems and multipathing solutions can be verified on the NetApp Interoperability Matrix Tool.

In a multi-network configuration, there are two or more switches connecting the hosts to the storage system. Multi-network configurations are recommended because they are fully redundant. In a single-network configuration, there is one switch connecting the hosts to the storage system. Single-network configurations are not fully redundant.

Note

Single-node configurations are not recommended because they do not provide the redundancy needed to support fault tolerance and nondisruptive operations.

Related information

Multi-network iSCSI configurations

In multi-network HA pair configurations, two or more switches connect the HA pair to one or more hosts. Because there are multiple switches, this configuration is fully redundant.

Multi-network HA pair configuration

Single-network iSCSI configurations

In single-network HA pair configurations, one switch connects the HA pair to one or more hosts. Because there is a single switch, this configuration is not fully redundant.

Singe-network HA pair configuration

Direct-attachment iSCSI configuration

In a direct-attached configuration, one or more hosts are directly connected to the controllers.

Direct attachment configruation