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Networking considerations

Contributors

You must configure the hypervisor network correctly before deploying ONTAP Select.

Virtual switch options

You must configure a virtual switch on each of the ONTAP Select hosts to support the external network and internal network (multi-node clusters only). As part of deploying a multi-node cluster, you should test the network connectivity on the internal cluster network.

Note To learn more about how to configure a vSwitch on a hypervisor host and the high speed interface feature, see the Deep dive networking section.

Upgrade to VMXNET3

Beginning with ONTAP Select 9.5 using Deploy 2.10, VMXNET3 is the default network driver included with new cluster deployments on VMware ESXi. If you upgrade an older ONTAP Select node to version 9.5 or later, the driver is not automatically upgraded.

Cluster MTU

A separate internal network is used to connect the ONTAP Select nodes in a multi-node cluster. Typically the MTU size for this network is 9000. However, there are situations where this MTU size is too large for the network connecting the ONTAP Select nodes. To accommodate the smaller frames, the MTU size used by ONTAP Select on the internal network can be in the range of 7500-9000 bytes.

The MTU size is displayed in the Cluster Details section of the cluster creation page. The value is determined by the Deploy administration utility as follows:

  1. Initial default of 9000.

  2. As you add the hosts and networks for the HA pairs, the MTU value is reduced as needed, based on the configuration of the vSwitches in the network.

  3. The final cluster MTU value for the cluster is set after you have added all the HA pairs and are ready to create the cluster.

Note You can manually set the cluster MTU value if needed, based on the design of your network.

Two-NIC host with standard vSwitch

In order to improve ONTAP Select performance in a two-NIC configuration, you should isolate the internal and external network traffic using two port groups. This recommendation applies to the following specific configuration:

  • ONTAP Select multi-node cluster

  • Two NICs (NIC1 and NIC2)

  • Standard vSwitch

In this environment, you should configure the traffic using two port groups as follows:

Port group 1

  • Internal network (cluster, RSM, HA-IC traffic)

  • NIC1 is active

  • NIC2 in standby

Port group 2

  • External network (data and management traffic)

  • NIC1 is standby

  • NIC2 in active

See the Deep dive networking section for more information about two-NIC deployments.

Four-NIC host with standard vSwitch

In order to improve ONTAP Select performance in a four-NIC configuration, you should isolate the internal and external network traffic using four port groups. This recommendation applies to the following specific configuration:

  • ONTAP Select multi-node cluster

  • Four NICs (NIC1, NIC2, NIC3, and NIC4)

  • Standard vSwitch

In this environment, you should configure the traffic using four port groups as follows:

Port group 1

  • Internal network (cluster, RSM traffic)

  • NIC1 is active

  • NIC2, NIC3, NIC4 in standby

Port group 2

  • Internal network (cluster, HA-IC traffic)

  • NIC3 is active

  • NIC1, NIC2, NIC4 in standby

Port group 3

  • External network (data and management traffic)

  • NIC2 is active

  • NIC1, NIC3, NIC4 in standby

Port group 4

  • External network (data traffic)

  • NIC4 is active

  • NIC1, NIC2, NIC3 in standby

See the Deep dive networking section for more information about four-NIC deployments.

Network traffic requirements

You must make sure that your firewalls are configured properly to allow the network traffic to flow among the various participants in an ONTAP Select deployment environment.

Participants

There are several participants or entities that exchange network traffic as part of an ONTAP Select deployment. These are introduced, and then used in the summary description of the network traffic requirements.

  • Deploy
    ONTAP Select Deploy administration utility

  • vSphere/ESXi
    Either a vSphere server or ESXi host, depending on how the host is managed in your cluster deployment

  • Hypervisor server
    ESXi hypervisor host

  • OTS node
    An ONTAP Select node

  • OTS cluster
    An ONTAP Select cluster

  • Admin WS
    Local administrative workstation

Summary of network traffic requirements

The following table describes the network traffic requirements for an ONTAP Select deployment.

Protocol / Port Direction Description

TLS (443)

Deploy to vCenter server (managed) or ESXi (unmanaged)

VMware VIX API

902

Deploy to vCenter server (managed) or ESXi (unmanaged)

VMware VIX API

ICMP

Deploy to hypervisor server

Ping

ICMP

Deploy to each OTS node

Ping

SSH (22)

Admin WS to each OTS node

Administration

TLS (443)

Deploy to OTS nodes and clusters

Access ONTAP

TLS (443)

Each OTS node to Deploy

Access Deploy

iSCSI (3260)

Each OTS node to Deploy

Mediator/Mailbox disk