Dell PowerVault 775N Dell PowerVault NAS Fibre Channel Cluster Platform - Page 6

www.dell.com | support.dell.com High-Availability Cluster Configurations This section provides information about the supported operating systems, HBAs, and HBA drivers for your NAS cluster configuration. NOTICE: All cluster nodes in a NAS cluster must run the same operating system. NOTICE: HBAs installed in NAS clusters using redundant paths must be identical. PowerVault NAS cluster configurations are tested and certified using identical HBAs installed in all cluster nodes. Using dissimilar HBAs in your cluster nodes is not supported. HBA Support for NAS Cluster Configurations NAS cluster nodes can use any of the following HBAs: Emulex LP9002L, Emulex LP982, Emulex LP9802, or QLogic QLA2340. See "Installing Peripheral Components in Your NAS Cluster Node PCI Slots" for PCI slot recommendations. HBA Connectors Only optical HBA connectors are supported. Fibre Channel Switches • Dual (redundant) fabric configurations are required. • A maximum of 16 switches may be used in a SAN. • A minimum of two and a maximum of eight Inter-Switch Links (ISLs) may exist between any two directly communicating switches. A single ISL is permitted only when connecting to a remote switch in an EMC® MirrorView™ configuration. • A maximum of three hops (the number of ISLs that each data frame must traverse) may exist between a host and a storage system. Rules and Guidelines When configuring your NAS cluster, all cluster nodes must contain identical versions of the following: • Operating systems and service packs • Hardware drivers, firmware, or BIOS for the NICs, HBAs, and any other peripheral hardware components • Systems management software, such as Dell OpenManage™ systems management software and EMC Navisphere® storage management software Maximum Distance Between Cluster Nodes • The maximum cable length allowed from an HBA to a switch, from an HBA directly connected to a storage system, or from a switch to a storage system is 300 meters using multimode fiber at 2 Gb/sec. This distance may be increased through the use of switch ISLs. 6 Platform Guide