Dell EqualLogic PS6210XS EqualLogic PS Series Storage Arrays iSCSI Initiator a - Page 7

1 About High-Availability iSCSI Data Transfer When you optimize your SAN environment for high availability (HA), you increase the fault tolerance of the SAN. Fault tolerance provides protection from component failures and minimizes service disruptions. Many causes of service disruptions can occur in a data center. Some of the more common disruptions are: • Hardware failure in servers, NICs, cables, switches, storage controllers, and disks • Software failure such as bugs or application crashes • Updates to software, driver, or hardware firmware In most cases, if your data center is designed correctly for redundancy, the SAN can tolerate service disruptions. In some cases, however, a redundant design is not sufficient to allow applications and operating systems to continue to operate during disruptions. For example, problems with software or updates to software and firmware can cause disruptions that redundancy cannot manage. In these cases, other best practices are typically required to tune applications and operating systems to continue to operate without being affected. This document describes the actions that you can take to ensure a highly available iSCSI data transfer that minimizes the possibility of service issues with Dell EqualLogic SANs. NOTE: If you have a Dell proactive service agreement, your Dell Technical Support representative can help you analyze your SAN environment and ensure that it is set up correctly for high availability. For more information about Proactive Maintenance, visit dell.com/services. High-Availability Procedures You must perform certain procedures to optimize your Dell EqualLogic SAN environment for high availability (HA) and non-disruptive operation. Read the following sections and then perform the recommended actions: • Update Initiators and Drivers is recommended before you begin the configuration process. • Configure Your Hosts for High Availability contains general operating system recommendations and guidelines to configure settings on your servers to ensure high availability. • Configure Your Network for High Availability outlines the general best practices that are required to configure a redundant iSCSI network. Update Initiators and Drivers Dell recommends that you keep initiators and drivers up to date. A list of supported initiators can be found in the PS Series Configuration Guide . Apply the recommended modifications to your operating system and iSCSI initiators as described in this guide. See: http://en.community.dell.com/techcenter/storage/w/wiki/equallogic-configuration-guide About High-Availability iSCSI Data Transfer 7