[CentOS] iSCSI best practices

[John R Pierce]

On 12/10/11 8:56 PM, Ryan Wagoner wrote:
>> So 2 questions :
>> >  - how important is it to have it on its own network?
>> >  - is it OK to use an unmanaged switch (as long as it is Gigabit), or are
>> >  there some features of a managed switch that are desirable/required with
>> >  iSCSI?
>> >
> At the very least keep the iSCSI traffic on its own vlan. You don't want
> unnecessary broadcast traffic on your storage network. I would also stay
> away from unmanaged switches. You want a higher end switch that supports
> cut through mode. Store and forward will cause higher latency.

and, yet another reason to isolate iSCSI to a dedicated SAN segment is 
that its normally uses rather minimal security, just using the server's 
IP address for the host masking.  yes, it can be used with higher levels 
of security at the expense of increased complexity, but if its on its 
own dedicated network, this is sufficient.



-- 
john r pierce                            N 37, W 122
santa cruz ca                         mid-left coast