Dell SC8000 - Front End; Back End; System Administration

Communication Links
Dell Compellent 5
Front End
Front‐Endconnectivityprovidesconnectionsfromserverstocontrollersusingeither
Ethernet(iSCSI)orFibreChannelswitches.Front‐Endconnectivityalsosupportsall
replicationtraffic.
 iSCSIconnectionsprovidereadsandwritesfromaservertoacontrollerthroughan
Ethernetswitch.
 FibreChanneloverEthernet(FCoE)usestheFCoEprotocolfordataonthefrontendfor
losslesstransmissionofdata.
 FibreChannel(FC)connectionsonthefrontendareusedtoprovidereadsandwrites
fromaservertoacontroller.
Back End
Back‐endconnectivityisstrictlybetweenthecontrollersandenclosures.Thefollowing
protocolsaresupportedtocommunicatewiththeenclosures.
 SASusesapoint‐to‐pointswitchedtoptopologyonfourlanes.Eachlanecanperform
concurrentIOtransactionsat6Gb/sec.(Transferspeedsforearlierversionsare3Gb/
sec.)
 FibreChannelconnectionswereusedonthebackendforCT‐SC040controllers.Fibre
ChannelIOcardscanbemigratedfromCT‐SC040controllerstoSC8000controllers.
System Administration
ThefollowingconnectionsareusedforcommunicatingwithcomputersoutsideofStorage
Center:
 Serial:Usedforinitialconfigurationandotherservice‐relatedtasks.
 Ethernet:UsedforadministrationandIPCbetweenthecontrollers.
 ETH0port:Configuration,administration,andmanagementofaStorageCenter.
 ETH1port:Inter‐ProcessCommunications(IPC)betweencontrollers.
 iDRAC:ProvidesaccesstotheIntegratedDellRemoteAccessController(iDRAC)for
integratedpeercontrollermanagementthroughadedicated1GbEthernetport.
Note: TheEthernetportsonthebackofthecontrollercanoperateat10Mb,100
Mbor1Gb.Theseportsarenotusedforserverorenclosureconnectivity.For
optimalperformance,connecttotheportusing1Gbps.