Dell PowerStore 9000X Quick start guide

Brand: Dell

Model: PowerStore 9000X

Category: Network switches

Type: Quick start guide

This manual is also suitable for

Dell EMC PowerStore

Network Planning Guide

1.0

May 2020

Rev. A01

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Additional Resources...................................................................................................................... 5

1 PowerStore models and network hardware overview....................................................................... 6

Using this guide......................................................................................................................................................................6

PowerStore deployment models..........................................................................................................................................7

PowerStore appliance nodes................................................................................................................................................7

Top-of-Rack (ToR) switches...............................................................................................................................................8

Dell EMC PowerSwitch S4148F-ON............................................................................................................................. 8

Dell EMC PowerSwitch S4148T-ON............................................................................................................................. 9

Dell PowerSwitch S5248F-ON...................................................................................................................................... 9

PowerStore logical topology...............................................................................................................................................10

Top-of-Rack (ToR) switch connectivity options and requirements ............................................................................. 11

Switch to switch (L2) connectivity options................................................................................................................12

Node to Top-of-Rack (ToR) switch connectivity requirements..............................................................................14

Part I: PowerStore T model: Network Planning................................................................................ 15

2 PowerStore T model out-of-band management switch.............................................................. 16

PowerStore T model out-of-band management switch connectivity.....................................................................16

3 PowerStore T model: Network configuration requirements........................................................ 18

PowerStore T model appliance networks................................................................................................................... 18

PowerStore T model network VLAN requirements.................................................................................................. 20

IP address requirements for initial configuration....................................................................................................... 20

4 Prepare to configure the networks.......................................................................................... 22

Preparing to configure PowerStore............................................................................................................................ 22

Part II: PowerStore X model: Network Planning...............................................................................23

5 PowerStore X model: Network configuration requirements....................................................... 24

PowerStore X model networks....................................................................................................................................24

PowerStore X model networks VLAN options.......................................................................................................... 25

IP addresses for network configuration .................................................................................................................... 26

6 Prepare to configure the networks.......................................................................................... 27

Preparing to configure PowerStore............................................................................................................................ 27

A Discovering PowerStore Appliances.............................................................................................28

Discover your system..........................................................................................................................................................28

Discovery with a direct connection.............................................................................................................................28

Discovery with remote connection............................................................................................................................. 29

Contents

Contents 3

B PowerStore Network Setup Preparation Worksheets.................................................................... 30

PowerStore T model: Network Setup Preparation Worksheet (blank)....................................................................... 30

PowerStore T model: example of completed Network Setup Preparation Worksheet............................................. 32

PowerStore X model Network Setup Preparation Worksheet (blank)........................................................................ 34

PowerStore X model: example of completed Network Setup Preparation Worksheet.............................................36

C PowerStore Initial Configuration Worksheets............................................................................... 39

PowerStore Initial Configuration Worksheet (blank)......................................................................................................39

PowerStore T model: example of a completed Initial Configuration Worksheet......................................................... 41

PowerStore X model: example of a completed Initial Configuration Worksheet........................................................ 44

4 Contents

Additional Resources

As part of an improvement effort, revisions of the software and hardware are periodically released. Some functions that are described in

this document are not supported by all versions of the software or hardware currently in use. The product release notes provide the most

up-to-date information about product features. Contact your technical support professional if a product does not function properly or

does not function as described in this document.

Where to get help

Support, product, and licensing information can be obtained as follows:

• Product information

For product and feature documentation or release notes, go to the PowerStore Documentation page at www.dell.com/

powerstoredocs.

• Troubleshooting

For information about products, software updates, licensing, and service, go to www.dell.com/support and locate the appropriate

product support page.

• Technical support

For technical support and service requests, go to www.dell.com/support and locate the Service Requests page. To open a service

request, you must have a valid support agreement. Contact your Sales Representative for details about obtaining a valid support

agreement or to answer any questions about your account.

Preface

Additional Resources 5

PowerStore models and network hardware

overview

This chapter includes the following information.

Topics:

• Using this guide

• PowerStore deployment models

• PowerStore appliance nodes

• Top-of-Rack (ToR) switches

• PowerStore logical topology

• Top-of-Rack (ToR) switch connectivity options and requirements

Using this guide

This guide is designed to help you prepare to configure your switches and networks for PowerStore.

This document provides guidelines and requirements to allow you to reserve the necessary resources, and make decisions about how you

will deploy your switches and networks for PowerStore. The PowerStore Network Configuration Guide for Dell PowerSwitch Series

provides specific steps for deploying both PowerStore T model appliances and PowerStore X model appliances with Dell PowerSwitch

Series. If you are not deploying with Dell PowerSwitch Series, then see your proprietary documentation for specific steps.

What is included in this guide

This document begins with the PowerStore models and network hardware overview chapter followed by the following two parts.

Table 1. Part descriptions

Part Chapters Description

Part 1: Deploying PowerStore T model

Switches and Networks

2 - 4 Describes the guidelines and requirements to configure the switches and

networks for PowerStore T model deployments.

Part 2: Deploying PowerStore X model

Switches and Networks

5 - 7 Describes the guidelines and requirements to configure the switches and

networks for PowerStore X model deployments.

Refer to PowerStore deployment models in the following section for descriptions of the different PowerStore deployment models.

Hardware demonstrated in this guide

While there are different deployment options, this guide describes the requirements to deploy PowerStore with:

• A single cluster consisting of one appliance with a single base enclosure

• Two Top-of-Rack (ToR) switches

• One out-of-band (OOB) management switch for PowerStore T model deployments

NOTE: PowerStore X model deployment is not supported with an OOB management switch.

Supporting documentation

In addition to reading through this document, you should also read through the following guides, prior to configuring your switches and

networks:

• PowerStore Planning Guide

6 PowerStore models and network hardware overview

• PowerStore Hardware Information Guide

PowerStore deployment models

The different PowerStore models support different types of storage.

Table 2. PowerStore deployment models

Deployment Model numbers Supported configuration Refer to

PowerStore T model

appliance

• 1000T

• 3000T

• 5000T

• 7000T

• 9000T

Supports block (Storage Area Network (SAN)), file

(Network Attached Storage (NAS)), and Virtual

Volume (vVol) workloads with the software stack

deployed directly on the bare metal of the system.

NOTE: Hypervisor deployments are not

supported on this model.

Part 1: Deploying PowerStore T

model Switches and Networks

PowerStore X model

appliance

• 1000X

• 3000X

• 5000X

• 7000X

• 9000X

Supports block (SAN-only), and vVol workloads

with a hypervisor installed on the system. The

system software is deployed on the hypervisor,

which enables deployment of virtual machines

(VMs) and customer applications within the

hardware.

NOTE: File (network attached storage

(NAS)) services are not supported on this

model.

Part 2: Deploying PowerStore X

model Switches and Networks

PowerStore appliance nodes

PowerStore appliances are deployed with a minimum of one base enclosure. Each base enclosure consists of two nodes.

A base enclosure consists of two nodes. Node A is the bottom node and Node B is the top node (flipped upside down in enclosure). The

port layouts on both nodes are the same.

4-port card

Management ports

Service ports

I/O Module

1 3

Figure 1. PowerStore base enclosure nodes and ports

Figure 2. 4-Port card port numbers

PowerStore models and network hardware overview

NOTE: The examples used in this guide describe how to cable port 0 and port 1 of the 4 port card on the base enclosure

nodes. See the

PowerStore Clustering and High Availability White Paper

for specific steps to add more ports to provide

additional bandwidth and fault tolerance.

Top-of-Rack (ToR) switches

PowerStore requires connectivity to a pair of Top-of-Rack (ToR) switches to ensure high availability.

NOTE: While the switches are referred to as Top-of-Rack (ToR) switches, they do not need to be installed at the top-of-

the PowerStore hardware rack.

Supported switches

See the PowerStore Support Matrix for the list of supported switches. The Support Matrix is available from the Dell support site

at:www.dell.com/support.

Deploying with PowerSwitch Series

PowerStore can be purchased with the following Dell EMC PowerSwitch Series running OS10 Enterprise Edition (OS10EE).

• S4148F-ON

• S4148T-ON

• S5248F-ON

For further information about the Dell PowerSwitch Series running Operating System 10 Enterprise Edition (OS10EE) refer to the

following documents.

Table 3. PowerSwitch documentation resources

Document Reference Location

Dell EMC PowerSwitch S4100-

ON Series Installation Guide

PowerSwitch site preparation requirements,

step-by-step procedures for rack mounting

and desk mounting, inserting modules, and

connecting to a power source.

For Dell EMC S4148F-ON, and S4148T-ON

switches go to the Dell EMC PoweSwitch

S4148-ON/S4148T-ON/S4148FE-ON

Documentation page at:

https://www.dell.com/support/home/us/en/04/

product-support/product/networking-s4148f-on/

docs

For Dell EMC S5248F-ON switches go to the

PowerSwitch S5248F-ON Documentation page

at:

https://www.dell.com/support/home/us/en/04/

product-support/product/networking-s5248f-on/

docs

S5200F-ON Series Installation

Guide

OS10 Enterprise Edition User

Guide

Contains the necessary steps to install the

operating system, access the switch remotely,

and run the switch commands.

Dell EMC PowerSwitch S4148F-ON

Connectivity to PowerStore nodes is through the ports on the I/O panel.

Figure 3. S4148F-ON switch I/O Panel

• 48x10GbE

• 4x10/25/40/50/100GbE

Connectivity to S4000 series switches from a jumpbox or laptop is done through the serial console port.

PowerStore models and network hardware overview

Serial Console Port

Management Port

Figure 4. S4000 series PSU-side

Dell EMC PowerSwitch S4148T-ON

Connectivity to PowerStore nodes is through the ports on the I/O panel.

Figure 5. S4148T-ON switch I/O-side

• 48x10 GBASE-T

• 4x10/25/40/50/100GbE

Connectivity to S4000 series switches from a jumpbox or laptop is done through the serial console port.

Serial Console Port

Management Port

Figure 6. S4000 series PSU-side

Dell PowerSwitch S5248F-ON

You can configure PowerStore with dual Dell PowerSwitch S5248F-ON switch models.

Figure 7. S5248F-ON I/O-side

• 48x25GbE

• 4x10/25/40/50/100GbE

Connectivity to S5000 series switches from a jumpbox or laptop is done through the serial console port.

PowerStore models and network hardware overview

Serial Console Port

Management Port

Figure 8. S5248 PSU-side

PowerStore logical topology

The following diagrams demonstrate the logical network topology for a PowerStore T model deployment, and a PowerStore X model

deployment.

PowerStore T model logical topology

PowerStore T base enclosure

Management Production

Embedded

module

Embedded

module

ToR 2ToR 1

Storage

Internal

NAS

Remote Discovery

Management

Management VLANS or Subnets Production VLANS or Subnets

Figure 9. PowerStore T model logical topology and network paths

PowerStore models and network hardware overview

PowerStore X model logical topology

PowerStore X base enclosure

ToR 1

Embedded

module

ToR 2

Embedded

module

Management Production

Storage

Internal

Remote Discovery

Management

Management VLANS or Subnets

Production VLANS or Subnets

vMotion

Figure 10. PowerStore X model logical topology and network paths

Top-of-Rack (ToR) switch connectivity options

and requirements

PowerStore requires connectivity to a pair of Top-of-Rack (ToR) switches.

This section describes the requirements for:

• Switch to switch (L2) connectivity

• Node to ToR switch connectivity

NOTE:

PowerStore T model deployments also require connectivity to at least one out-of-band management switch. See

PowerStore T model appliance out-of-band management switch requirements for details.

PowerStore models and network hardware overview 11

Switch to switch (L2) connectivity options

It is recommended to use one of the following options to connect the switches together.

Table 4. Switch to switch interconnect options

Switch interconnect options Recommendation

1. Multi-chassis Link Aggregation

Group (MC-LAG)

Dell highly recommends using MC-LAG for connectivity between the switches.

2. Reliable L2 uplinks If MC-LAG is not an option, then the next best recommended connectivity between the switches is

to use reliable L2 uplinks.

NOTE: If neither MC-LAG or reliable L2 uplinks is an option, you can use a Direct Trunk Link, but this is not

recommended.

Multi-chassis Link Aggregation Group (MC-LAG) interconnect

It is highly recommended that you deploy PowerStore with an MC-LAG interconnect between the two ToR switches.

In an MC-LAG environment, the two switches are treated as one logical switch. This allows you to add all the uplinks from both switches

into a single port channel that will span the MC-LAG.

Layer 3 – Core Uplinks

Uplink A Uplink B

Layer 2 – ToR Switches

Port Channel

MC-LAG

Interconnect

Figure 11. ToR switches with MC-LAG interconnect

NOTE: Port location for the reliable high speed uplinks may change depending on switch vendor or model.

MC-LAG is a switch interconnection technology that joins a number of independent Top-of-Rack (ToR) switches into a single virtual

chassis. MC-LAG allows the link aggregation (LAG) port groups to span multiple chassis, enabling better resilience of the LAG connection.

Additionally, MC-LAG enables traffic going from switch to switch using the full bandwidth of the available connection, without using

spanning tree protocol (STP), which would disable some links to prevent loops.

MC-LAG is a general name for the technology, however certain vendors use their own proprietary terminology to define MC-LAG

connectivity.

Table 5. Vendor specific MC-LAG technology

Vendor Proprietary MC-LAG technology

Dell Virtual Link Trunking (VLT)

12 PowerStore models and network hardware overview

Table 5. Vendor specific MC-LAG technology(continued)

Vendor Proprietary MC-LAG technology

Cisco Virtual PortChannel (vPC)

Brocade Multi-Chassis Trunking (MCT)

NOTE: Refer to your vendor's documentation to determine their technology for MC-LAG.

MC-LAG connectivity requirements are:

• A minimum of two connection cables in parallel with a high speed reliable connection.

• Connections must be made through the high speed ports on the switch. Verify with your switch provider documentation where the

high speed ports are located on your switch.

• Use two cables that support connectivity between the high speed ports. For example 100Gbps Direct Attached Cables (DAC) would

be required to connect the MC-LAG ports together.

Reliable L2 uplink interconnect

Using a reliable L2 (Ethernet level) connection through the uplinks to connect the ToR switches is an acceptable alternative to MC-LAG

for PowerStore deployments.

With a reliable L2 connection you can port-channel the uplinks on each physical switch, which requires creating two port-channels instead

of one.

Layer 3 – Core Uplinks

Uplink A Uplink B

Layer 2 – ToR Switches

Port ChannelPort Channel

Figure 12. ToR switches with reliable L2 uplink interconnect

NOTE: Port location for the reliable high speed uplinks may change depending on switch vendor or model.

Reliable L2 uplinks require redundant, high speed connections.

PowerStore models and network hardware overview

Node to Top-of-Rack (ToR) switch connectivity

requirements

A dual switch topology requires that each of the base enclosure appliance nodes have at least one connection to each of the Top-of-Rack

(ToR) switches to provide redundancy at the NIC and switch levels.

Figure 13. Node to ToR switch cabling

When cabling the nodes to the switches:

• Port 0 and Port 1 on the same node must connect to opposite switches

• Port 0 on Node A, and Port 0 on Node B must connect to opposite switches

• Port 1 on Node A, and Port 1 on Node B must connect to opposite switches

PowerStore models and network hardware overview

PowerStore T model: Network Planning

Topics:

• PowerStore T model out-of-band management switch

• PowerStore T model: Network configuration requirements

• Prepare to configure the networks

PowerStore T model: Network Planning 15

PowerStore T model out-of-band

management switch

This chapter includes the following information.

Topics:

• PowerStore T model out-of-band management switch connectivity

PowerStore T model out-of-band management

switch connectivity

In addition to the two Top-of-Rack (ToR) switches required for all PowerStore T model deployments, connectivity to an out-of-band

(OOB) management switch is required for system management and discovery.

Node to out-of-band management switch

The out-of-band (OOB) management switch is connected through the 1 GbE management port on each of the appliance base enclosure

nodes as demonstrated in the following diagram.

Figure 14. Connection to the OOB management switch

• Deployment with at least one OOB management switch is required.

• The OOB management switch can be configured with or without a management VLAN.

• The OOB management switch ports must support untagged native VLAN traffic for remote discovery.

See PowerStore T model appliance networks. in the following chapter for a description of the networks which run over the management

switch.

OOB management switch uplink connections

The following image shows an example of an OOB management switch that connects to two Layer 3 uplink devices. Both of the

connections are connected with a port-channel that offer increased bandwidth and redundancy.

16 PowerStore T model out-of-band management switch

Layer 3 – Management Uplinks

Management

Uplink A

Port Channel

Management

Uplink B

Layer 3 – OOB Management Switch

Figure 15. Out-of-band management switch uplink connections

PowerStore T model out-of-band management switch 17

PowerStore T model: Network configuration

requirements

This chapter includes the following information.

Topics:

• PowerStore T model appliance networks

• PowerStore T model network VLAN requirements

• IP address requirements for initial configuration

PowerStore T model appliance networks

PowerStore T model requires all networks to be unique. It is highly recommended to deploy PowerStore T model with multiple and unique

VLANs to separate the traffic. However, if only one VLAN is available, you have the option to deploy PowerStore T model with a single

VLAN and multiple unique subnets as demonstrated below.

PowerStore T base enclosure

Management Production

Embedded

module

Embedded

module

ToR 2ToR 1

Storage

Internal

NAS

Remote Discovery

Management

Management VLANS or Subnets Production VLANS or Subnets

Figure 16. PowerStore T model network traffic

18 PowerStore T model: Network configuration requirements

Ensure that the PowerStore T model system interfaces are able to communicate to each other through the VLANs shown above. Consult

your network vendor documents to ensure all proper L2 and/or L3 traffic is being routed properly for all networks that PowerStore T

model is utilizing.

Table 6. PowerStore T model networks

VLAN or Subnet Description Switch used Node transport ports

Remote discovery network is generated

automatically by the system and is

broadcasted as untagged traffic over the

management port. This network is used by

the Discovery Utility that is running on a

workstation.

Out-of-band

management

Dedicated 1 GbE Management

Management network traffic which provides

access to:

• Infrastructure services such as DNS, NTP,

and SMTP.

• PowerStore REST API, PowerStore

Manager, and PowerStore CLI

• SupportAssist

Out-of-band

management

Dedicated 1 GbE Management

Storage network (block) traffic and external

data mobility traffic such as replication, and

storage import. PowerStore T model iSCSI

target portals for front-end traffic.

Top-of-Rack (ToR)

switch

First 2 ports of the 4-port card

(LACP bond)

Network attached storage (file) front-end

access such as NFS, SMB, and FTP.

ToR switch First 2 ports of the 4-port card

(LACP bond)

The internal network communication occurs

on the Native VLAN. The internal network is

used:

• To manage internal communication such

as to the cluster database, and between

appliances within a cluster. The intra-

cluster management network is encrypted

with IPSEC.

• For intra-cluster data mobility traffic such

as storage migration between appliances.

• For node-to-node communication to

enable file services when operating in

"Unified," mode.

ToR switch First 2 ports of the 4-port card

(LACP bond)

While configuring your networks, also note the following:

• For multi-appliance cluster configurations, ensure the Internal network as shown above has proper L2 and/or L3 routing on the native

VLAN such that the first 2 ports of the 4-port card can communicate to other appliances on the network.

• If deploying with file services IPv6 is must be enabled on the ToR switches through the native VLAN.

Network configuration in PowerStore

All PowerStore networks must be configured on the switch. The networks are configured in PowerStore as follows:

• Management network must be created the first time you create a cluster through the PowerStore Initial Configuration Wizard.

• Storage network can be created for iSCSI traffic the first time you create a cluster through the PowerStore Initial Configuration

Wizard (ICW). However, you have the option of skipping this step in the ICW if you're using Fibre Channel only. If you want to add the

storage network later in PowerStore Manager, REST API, or CLI". See the Dell EMC PowerStore Clustering and High Availability

White Paper for details.

• NAS server networks are created through the PowerStore Manager, REST API, or CLI after the initial cluster is created in PowerStore

T model.

PowerStore T model: Network configuration requirements

PowerStore T model network VLAN requirements

The following table shows an example of the different type of networks with sample VLAN IDs in a PowerStore T model appliance.

Table 7. PowerStore T model VLAN configuration

Sample

VLAN ID

Network Switch used VLAN Ports Subnet

100 Remote Discovery (runs over the Native VLAN) Out-of-band management Untagged 169.254.x.x/16

100 Management Out-of-band management Untagged y.y.y.y/24

200 Storage Top-of-rack (ToR) switch Tagged y.y.x.y/24

300 NAS servers

NOTE: You can use multiple VLANs if

you are running multiple NAS networks

ToR switch Tagged y.y.z.y/24

1 Internal (runs over the Native VLAN) ToR switch Untagged Internal IPv6 addressing

Untagged traffic

If you want to use the native VLAN for any of your PowerStore networks, you must enter VLAN ID 0 (zero) for any untagged traffic in the

PowerStore Initial Configuration Wizard. PowerStore uses VLAN 0 as a marker for untagged traffic. When you set the VLAN ID to

zero, the network traffic is not tagged (based on the 802.1q standard), and the network takes on the native VLAN. The traffic on that

network is passed as untagged in PowerStore, and the Native VLAN is applied to the untagged traffic through the switch.

IP address requirements for initial configuration

You will need IP addresses to configure the management, and storage networks in PowerStore T model.

Management and storage network IP address

requirements

You will need IP addresses to configure the management and storage networks in PowerStore T model through the Initial Configuration

Wizard (ICW). The ICW runs automatically the first time you discover PowerStore T model.

Table 8. PowerStore T model IP address requirements

Network IP Addresses Required

Management Network Per Appliance Node A 1

Node B 1

Appliance 1

Total Required Per Appliance for Management 3

Per Cluster Cluster IP Address 1

Total Required Per VLAN or Subnet for Management 4

Storage Network

(optional)

Per Appliance Node A iSCSI Target 1

Node B iSCSI Target 1

Total Required Per Appliance for Storage 2

Per Cluster Global Storage Discovery IP

Address (optional)

Total Required Per VLAN or Subnet for Storage 3

20 PowerStore T model: Network configuration requirements

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Dell PowerStore 9000X Quick start guide

Brand: Dell

Model: PowerStore 9000X

Category: Network switches

Type: Quick start guide

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