FAS 2240-2 SAN Cabling Qestions

[tbayteladmin]

Hello,

We are looking at the new FAS 2240-2 filer to use as a SAN in an HA (dual controller) arrangement.  This unit has some different options from previous units, and we are wondering about how this unit is cabled up.  Has anyone out there, seen or worked with this unit yet, and could answer any of the following:

It looks like this unit does not have any FC connections onboard, and using it as a FC SAN, would require purchasing the dual-port FC mezzanine card (one per controller)?

Is the inter-cluster communication for this unit internal, just as it has been for previous single chassis HA arrangements?  In other words we would only need to cable up our storage network, with the cluster network internal?

If we wanted to use a FC expansion shelf with this unit, could we connect the expansion shelf to one FC port on each controller, with each of the other FC ports on each controller to our storage network?  We would loose the multipath connection to our storage network, but is this a functional option?

Is it possible to use the SAS connectiors for additional SAS shelves, while using the FC ports in a mulitpath arrangement to our storage network, as another option?

Thank you,

Paul

[scottgelb]

The interconnect is in the shelf itself so no cluster cabling.  The FC option is a 2-port mezzanine card that goes in the PCM on each node and needs to be added.  The options for the mezz card are 2x 10GbE or 2x8/4/2 FC. 

You could use one port initiator and one target but without MPHA that isn't a best practice but could be done... I heard something and need to check to make sure target mode is supported (might be 8.1.1 but not sure if that is what was in the release preso).

The 2 onboard sas ports can be used for additional sas shelves and are independent of the fc ports.

[tbayteladmin]

Sounds like things work mostly like I thought, but I wanted to confirm with someone else.

I will need to check if both initiator and target mode are supported though.  I never thought to check that.

Sounds like the SAS expansion shelves are the way to go, if you want to retain the MPHA.  In the past we have used FC expansion shelves with our filers, so if we needed to use one of our existing shelves we could, but for the future, SAS may be the way to go.

[scottgelb]

The FAQ on Field Portal lists ok for initiator or target so it looks ok to use as an FCP target.

5.8    CAN THE FC PORTS ON THE MEZZANINE CARD BE USED IN TARGET OR INITIATOR MODE?

Yes, the FC ports on the FAS2240 mezzanine card can also be set to target or initiator mode.

[tbayteladmin · Accepted solution]

Looks like my questions are answered now.

Thanks again.

Paul