Connecting MD3200i with or without switches for hyper-v?

Using 2 servers with 2 or 4 nic ports will allow you to direct connect to the storage. You will have redundancy between the controllers. However this config limits you to the 2 servers, adding the switches will allow you to add further servers to the storage. So you could grow a VMware cluster or use other servers for different roles and have one storage platform.

You don't need 5424 switches, these are suggested. Any good gig switch will work but obviously if you pay for a better switch you will get more bells and whistles.

If you require high I/O performance then go for SAS disks, if you need just space then SATA can give that.

The MD3200i had 4 ports per controller so with a dual controller unit, we should be able to connect 4 servers using 2 nics per server, correct?

Bump, Anyone else want to comment on the pros and cons of the three pics above?  Thanks

We just put a couple of setups where we have multiple hosts on MD3000i's with no switches.   It works very well so far.   It's been in production for a few weeks.

You were talking 2 servers so i assumed 2 ports per server, yep you can attach 4 servers directly. The second image showing 4 ports used with only 1 server is down to the amount of lines that would be drawn. Also with this config the port count on the switches is increased.

Diagram 3 is about the norm used in most cases. keeps the port count down but performance is good. The 5424's are listed because they have inbuilt support for iscsi traffic. Some people use jumbo frames for iscsi some don't it's down to infrastructure, personal preference etc.

There are plenty of best practise guides around for various iscsi platforms. You can mix and match to fit your needs and also to get you the best bang for your buck.

This is a good place to look around. All the installs i have done have used 2 switches for failover and redundancy.

Thanks for the info.  I'm leaning toward the direct attached configuration  without the switches.  It seems to be less complicated that way and less equipment that can fail.

Should the MD3200i storage manager software be installed  on a Workstation or on a Server?  Does the machine running the software need to be on 24/7 or only when I want to manage the device? 

Thanks

I suggest putting it on a separate physical bo somewhere on the lan and then configure the out of band management port into you lan subnet and hook it up to your lan network.

You can inband manage as well,   but it's not as seemless and has some irritating consequences all it's own.

Hello,
Using 2 switches, for 2 servers with 8 network cards per server, the highest performance?
In other words, will the servers have access to all ports of the controllers?

So, would there be 1 switch for each MD3200i controller?
I didn't find any documents that are this way.
Can you help me?

Sorry, my english, I'm using a translator.

Hello,
Using 2 switches, for 2 servers with 8 network cards per server, the highest performance?
In other words, will the servers have access to all ports of the controllers?

So, would there be 1 switch for each MD3200i controller?
I didn't find any documents that are this way.
Can you help me?

Sorry, my english, I'm using a translator.

Hello Andrew,

I'm not entirely certain what information you're looking for. If you'd like, you're welcome to post in your native language, that may be a little easier. I'll likely also need a translator, but I did want to try to clarify what was needed.

As far as configuration goes, that isn't something we really get into over the forum (the community certainly can if it wants to, though), but we do have configuration services and I'm happy to help you locate best practice documents, if that's in-line with what you're looking for.

Hello,

Thanks for your help.

I would like to make the image attached.
All NICs would be active as I / O.
it's possible?
Would it perform better?

Page 22 of the deployment guide shows the recommended configuration. https://dell.to/3doo630