topic Re: Network configuration on fas2020 in Network and Storage Protocols

Network configuration on fas2020

contielectric — Thu, 05 Jun 2025 06:58:54 GMT

Hello everybody,

I'm brand new to Netapp products and actually new to storage all together. I just recently purchased a fas2020 for my office. I'm looking for some basic networking guidance. The filer is an active/active configuration. Controller 1 will be used CIFS data and controller2 will be used for iSCSI data. Each controller as 2 ethernet ports and i have 2 managed gigabit switches in place.

My uncertainty is how to network the controllers. My thought is to connect e0a of controller1 to Switch A and e0b of controller1 to Switch B to prevent a SPOF. The same would be done with Controller2.

With this, i would make the 2 ports of controller1 into a VIF and the 2 ports of controller2 into a second VIF. Does this make sense? Does this follow best practice? Any best practive articles or guides relating to this type of setup would be really helpful too. Like i said, this is all new to me and i want to make sure i'm doing it the right way.

Thanks in advance,

Nick O.

Re: Network configuration on fas2020

radek_kubka — Thu, 10 Sep 2015 23:25:19 GMT

Hi Nick and welcome to the Communities!

My thought is to connect e0a of controller1 to Switch A and e0b of controller1 to Switch B to prevent a SPOF. The same would be done with Controller2.

With this, i would make the 2 ports of controller1 into a VIF and the 2 ports of controller2 into a second VIF.

Yes, it does make sense.

Did you have a look at this thread: http://communities.netapp.com/message/29431#29431?

Regards,

Radek

Re: Network configuration on fas2020

p_maniawski — Mon, 07 Mar 2011 15:41:10 GMT

We're running simmilar configuration. Make sure your switches support cross stack LACP.

Re: Network configuration on fas2020

contielectric — Mon, 07 Mar 2011 17:00:18 GMT

Thanks for your responses.

What if I decide to use a static multimode vif...because static multimode doesn't use LACP, is there still some cross stack requirements?

Re: Network configuration on fas2020

radek_kubka — Mon, 07 Mar 2011 17:27:34 GMT

Cross-stack LACP is a nice have, not a must.

Static multimode vif + non-stackable switches will work just fine for failover purposes, yet you will be limited to one active link - which may, or may not be an issue in your particular case (1x 1Gbit is more than enough for e.g. random access)

Re: Network configuration on fas2020

contielectric — Tue, 08 Mar 2011 16:25:53 GMT

I found out that the my switches are not stackable which throws a wrench into my plans. I'll just have to create my VIFs on the same switch and be vulnerable to SPOF until i can get a pair of managed switches that are stackable.

Thanks for your help.

Re: Network configuration on fas2020

contielectric — Fri, 11 Mar 2011 22:23:06 GMT

Hello again....I ran into another problem. I got the VIFs up and running and everything was working good until i rebooted the controllers. After reboots, both interfaces (e0a and e0b) are in the down state and there's OnTap knows nothing about the VIFs when i run the vif status command. Do i need to save this configuration? If so, what is the command? I have not come across this in all of my readings. Any help would be much appreciated.

Nick

Re: Network configuration on fas2020

p_maniawski — Mon, 14 Mar 2011 15:02:32 GMT

Yes,

> savecore.