Got new E-series -- questions about optimally setting up storage and network

[kevincorrie]

So I got a new E-series SAN and was wondering about setting up the volumes the best way possible.  It seems I've heard that setting up the volumes a certain way or at certain capacities can optimize performance.  Is that true?  I have a single 60-disk pool setup and am looking to setup ~20TB volumes to use as backup targets.  Does is matter at all how I lay out the volumes?

Also, is there a best practice as far as connecting with iSCSI and maximizing network throughput and redundancy?  Each controller has two interfaces connected, and I typically use the MS iSCSI Initiator to connect a host to one interface on each controller in sort of a poor man's load balancing.  Doing this, I've noticed there will still be several sessions listed in the target properties.  Is this right?  Is there a better way to do it?

Thanks for your answers!

[Ryan_Rodine · Accepted solution]

The volume configuration tweaking is usually done with traditional RAID volume groups.  You shouldn't have to mess with that on a Disk Pool.

Below is a link to the set up guide for Windows iSCSI.  Couple key things to point out- Make sure you have the DSM installed for multipath support,  have a connection established to each port on each controller, enable jumbo frames across the board if possible.

http://docs.netapp.com/ess-11/topic/com.netapp.doc.ssm-exp-ic-win/home.html

[kevincorrie]

Thanks for the tips.  I'm glad you brought up DSM.  I've heard of it and wondered if I need it.  I found and installed "Data ONTAP DSM for Windows MPIO" ver 4.1.  I hope that's the right thing.  The document you linked to said there's no config required.  So I just install it and continue to use iSCSI Initiator like normal?

Also, I setup a single disk pool (60 disks)  with 24 equal volumes of 20684 GiB.  The console is yelling at me now that I'm over capacity.  It says I've allocated 99% and the threshold is 85%.  Is there a way for me to acknowledge or disable this warning?  I intend to use the full capacity of this SAN and do not want this alert in my face, possibly distracting from other real problems.

[Ryan_Rodine]

The E-Series DSM is actually different than the Data ONTAP DSM.  You can find it at the link below, look on the right side of the page.  You are correct in that there is no config needed for the DSM other than installing it:

https://mysupport.netapp.com/site/products/all/details/eseries-santricityos/docsandkb-tab/download/62735/11.60.2/downloads

Yep, you can turn off those alerts if you are carving up the full capacity ahead of time.  In SAM, Storage -> Pools & Volume Groups -> View/Edit Settings -> Settings Tab (uncheck the Capacity alerts).