PowerConnect 8024 – Sample iSCSI Configuration – LAGged (Non-Stacked)

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First, I would highly recommend you have a view of my earlier post that summarizes the various (platform independent) optimizations you can implement on an iSCSI fabric. These could be configured upfront, or tried  re-actively in case you have any performance or packet loss issues. the post can be found here https://hasanmansur.com/2012/10/14/switch-fabric-setup-for-equalogic-iscsi-powerconnect-switches/

This is the second of the two installments on configuring Powerconnect 8024 as iSCSI switches. The first one covered stacked configuration of these switches, and can be found here http://wp.me/s2OfK0-357. In this post, i intend to provide the details on configuring the 8024 switches in a LAGged, Non-stacked configuration. Topology-wise, most of the details are inherited from the first post for stacked config, except for the following differences:

• Stacking inter-connects have been replaced with LAGs between the two switches.
• The fabric is isolated, i.e. it does not have uplinks to any Core/Edge Switches. If such uplinks are needed, one has to be mindful of the fact that unlike the stacked config, where you could have a LAG/Port channel split across both switches, going to an upstream single logical switch/chassis, the same cannot be done here. As the switches are LAGged, they are two distinct chassis. Thus, you cannot “Split” channels or LAGs across both switches. such capability can be provisioned through Force10 VLT, Cisco vPC, or other MLAG implementations, but only for the downstream switches. there is no equivalent option available on Powerconnect 8024. Thus, you can have a link each from both switches, going to an upstream switch, multiple links from each 8024 going to an upstream switch, or single/multiple links going to multiple upstream switches. All the topologies are possible, but you have to plan out the STP priorities beforehand to make the forwarding topology of your network, deterministic. STP would likely block one of the alternate paths, and retain it as a backup.

Here goes:

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