Dell SC8000 - Virtual Port Mode

Front-End Connectivity Modes
Dell Compellent 97
Virtual Port Mode
Virtualportmodeprovidesportandcontrollerredundancybyconnectingmultipleactive
portstoeachFibreChannelorEthernetswitch.
Invirtualportmode,eachphysicalporthasaWWN(WorldWideName),andisalso
assignedanadditionalvirtualWWN.ServerstargetonlythevirtualWWNs.During
normalconditions,all
portsprocessIO.Ifaportorcontrollerfails,avirtualWWNcanbe
movedtoanotherphysicalWWNinthesamefaultdomain.Whenthefailureisresolved
andportsarerebalanced,thevirtualportreturnstothepreferredphysicalport.
Virtualportmodeprovidesthefollowingadvantagesoverlegacy
mode:
 Increasedperformance:Becauseallportsareactive,additionalfront‐endbandwidthis
availablewithoutsacrificingredundancy.
 Improvedredundancy:Portscanfailoverindividuallyinsteadofbycontroller.
 SimplifiediSCSIconfiguration:EachfaultdomainhasaniSCSIcontrolportthat
coordinatesdiscoveryoftheiSCSIportsinthedomain.WhenaservertargetstheiSCSI
portIPaddress,itautomaticallydiscoversallportsinthefaultdomain.
Fault Domains in Virtual Port Mode
Faultdomainsgroupfront‐endportsthatareconnectedtothesameFibreChannelfabric
orEthernetnetwork.Portsthatbelongtothesamefaultdomaincanfailovertoeachother
becausetheyhavethesameconnectivity.
Thefollowingrequirementsapplytofaultdomainsinvirtualportmode:
 Aseparatefaultdomainmustbecreatedforeachfront‐endFibreChannelfabricor
Ethernetnetwork.
 Afaultdomainmustcontainasingletypeoftransportmedia(FCoriSCSI,butnot
both).
 DellCompellentrecommendsconfiguringatleasttwoconnectionsfromeachcontroller
toeachFibreChannelorEthernetnetwork(faultdomain).
Requirements for Virtual Port Mode
ThefollowingrequirementsmustbemettoconfigureaStorageCenterinvirtualport
mode.
Note: DellCompellent stronglyrecommendsusingvirtualportmodeunlessthe
networkenvironmentdoesnotmeettherequirementsforvirtualportmode.
Requirement Description
License TheStorageCentermustbelicensedforvirtualportmode.
Switches Front‐endportsmustbeconnectedtoFibreChannelorEthernetswitches;
serverscannotbedirectlyconnectedtocontrollerfront‐endports.