Configuring a PowerConnect 5424 or 5448 Switch for use with an iSCSI storage systemThis is a featured page

This document can be used to help configure a Dell™ PowerConnect™ 5424 or 5448 switch for use with an Internet SCSI (iSCSI) storage system. It was created by Tom from our iSCSI interoperability lab for a customer using a Dell PowerVault™ MD3000i; however, it applies to any other iSCSI storage device on this family of switches.

Assumptions

  • The user has network administration experience.
  • Newest switch firmware is running; at the time this document was created, firmware version 2.0.0.35 was used.
  • If running on an older version, download the package from the Dell support site and follow the upgrade directions.
  • Examples here are from the console serial port on the rear of the switch.

Configuration Instructions


*********************
console> show version
SW version 2.0.0.35 ( date 27-Jan-2009 time 18:13:34 )
Boot version 2.0.0.0 ( date 12-Nov-2008 time 12:56:52 )
HW version 00.00.01
console>
*********************

Next, to have a known starting point, delete the current startup configuration and reboot the switch to return the switch to the factory default configuration.

*********************
console> enable
console# delete startup-config
Delete startup-config [y/n]? y

console# reload
You haven't saved your changes. Are you sure you want to continue ? (Y/N)[N] y
This command will reset the whole system and disconnect your current session. Do you want to continue ? (Y/N)[N] y
Shutting down ...
*********************


When the switch prompts you for the setup wizard, say no. You need to choose an appropriate IP address, mask, and gateway for your network. In the future, you can use Telnet to manage the switch instead of the console serial port.

*********************
Would you like to enter the setup wizard (you must answer this question within
60 seconds)? (Y/N)[Y] N

console> enable
console# configure
console(config)# port jumbo-frame
console(config)# spanning-tree mode rstp
console(config)# interface range ethernet g1-24
console(config-if)# flowcontrol on
console(config-if)# spanning-tree portfast
console(config-if)# exit
console(config)# interface vlan 1
console(config-if)# sntp client enable
console(config-if)# ip address xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx 255.255.255.0
console(config-if)# exit
console(config)# ip default-gateway xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx
console(config)# enable password level 15 xxxxxx
console(config)# line telnet
console(config-line)# password xxxxxx
console(config-line)# exit
console(config)#
*********************


This configuration gives you a good working switch for your back-end iSCSI network. Since this is a back-end network, there won't be any VoIP traffic, and you can remove this stuff from the default configuration.

*********************
console(config)# voice vlan oui-table remove 00036b
console(config)# voice vlan oui-table remove 00096e
console(config)# voice vlan oui-table remove 0001e3
console(config)# voice vlan oui-table remove 000fe2
console(config)# voice vlan oui-table remove 0060b9
console(config)# voice vlan oui-table remove 00d01e
console(config)# voice vlan oui-table remove 00e075
console(config)# voice vlan oui-table remove 00e0bb

*********************


And again, since this is a back-end iSCSI network, you really have no need to prioritize iSCSI; (there is no other traffic) and you can remove this stuff too.

*********************
console(config)# no iscsi enable
console(config)# no iscsi target port 860
console(config)# no iscsi target port 3260
*********************

Now that you have finished the configuration, copy the running configuration to Flash. You will need to reboot for the jumbo frame command to take effect.

*********************
console# copy running-config startup-config
Overwrite file [startup-config] ?[Yes/press any key for no] y ....01-Jan-2000 00:04:10 %COPY-I-FILECPY: Files Copy - source URL running-config destination URL flash://startup-config
01-Jan-2000 00:04:17 %COPY-N-TRAP: The copy operation was completed successfully
Copy succeeded
console#
console# reload
This command will reset the whole system and disconnect your current session. Do you want to continue ? (Y/N)[N] y
Shutting down ...

*********************

You may want to add a few more creative things to your configuration to customize it to your environment, but add them one at a time and then test.



Jeff_Sullivan
Jeff_Sullivan
Latest page update: made by Jeff_Sullivan , Aug 17 2009, 4:16 PM EDT (about this update About This Update Jeff_Sullivan Edited by Jeff_Sullivan

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Keyword tags: 5424 5448 iSCSI POWERCONNECT
More Info: links to this page
Started By Thread Subject Replies Last Post
aseniuk Setting up 2 VLANs 0 Jan 25 2010, 9:47 AM EST by aseniuk
Thread started: Jan 25 2010, 9:47 AM EST  Watch
I really like to say that write up is quite good for us new to the iSCSI game.
I have 1x 5448 swtich that we would like to setup as the iSCSI (VLAN'd) and the rest of the switch to be used for network traffic for the servers we have. Is there any thing special I would need to change to get that going?
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Keyword tags: iSCSI VLAN
steve_o2 iSCSI configuration 2 Nov 10 2009, 4:13 AM EST by DylanGoh
Thread started: Aug 27 2009, 10:14 PM EDT  Watch
Great write-up. My performance over two dedicated Intel NICs went from 22mb/sec to 73mb/sec after these changes.
I also will now setup a 4 port LAG between 2 5424 switches for redundant paths to my Equallogic PS5000.
What performance is everyone else seeing over iSCSI?
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holografique need more details 3 Oct 29 2009, 8:30 PM EDT by nebdude
Thread started: Sep 9 2009, 2:54 PM EDT  Watch
this is a good start. but we need more details around:

- best practice for configuration 2x 5424 to act as a primary and secondary switch and the use of LAG or LACP groups (either via copper or fiber ports)

- how to configure VLAN routing for when it comes time to have your iSCSI array replicate it's data to another site (subnet).

- how to configure STP to ensure management uplinks from each switch back to a single core switch

My typical configuration invovles creating the dedicated iSCSI VLAN on the core switch, then setting up an access port uplink on the primary and secondary 5424 on that iSCSI VLAN. I then use the other 3 fiber ports as the LAG/LACP group for the ISL trunk (per Equallogic Guidelines). This essentially gives me a dedicated iSCSI VLAN on the core and the iSCSI switches, and it's routable through the core to be able to route out to external sites for array replication. I can also access the array and other iSCSI devices management from your user networks for day-to-day management, email alerting, etc. etc.

the problem I have is that if the uplink on the primary switch goes doen (or it fails) I lose complete management access to the secondary switch, even though it has it's own dedicated fiber uplink to the core on the iSCSI VLAN.
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