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Dell PowerProtect Data Manager Appliance 5.16.0.0 Installation Guide for DM5500

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Connect network cables

To deploy the DM5500, there are requirements and considerations for onsite networking, switches, and cabling.

The DM5500 recommended configuration requires five network cables to the customer's network; one iDRAC connection and four network connections. The four network connections include two for the DM5500 management traffic and two for data traffic.

Figure 1. DM5500 recommended network connections (optical SFP28/SFP+ ports)
This image shows the recommended network connections for a DM5500 with optical SFP28/SFP+ ports.
Figure 2. DM5500 recommended network connections (copper 10GBASE-T ports)
This image shows the recommended network connections for a DM5500 with copper 10GBASE-T ports.

Four network ports are required for standard installation. Two ports are used for the customer management IP address, and two ports are used for the data uplinks to the public customer network. Port 1 on the LOM PCIe slot 1 and port 1 in PCIe slot 4 are the customer management IP ports and should go to different switches for improved reliability and fault tolerance. Port 2 on the LOM PCIe slot 1 and port 2 in PCIe slot 4 are the uplink ports that are used for data traffic and should go to different switches. Additional free ports can be used in PCIe slot 3 for networking use cases where the customer needs to set up a separate replication network, or additional backup networks using separate uplinks.

The iDRAC cable requires a 1 GbE BASE-T connection. In the DM5500 configuration with optical SFP28/SFP+ ports in PCIe slots 3 and 4, a separate 1 GbE BASE-T switch is required for the iDRAC connection in addition to the two optical switches. In the DM5500 configuration with copper 10GBASE-T ports, the iDRAC cable could be connected to either of the two copper switches, or to a third 1 GbE BASE-T management switch.

The data uplink connections use a routable public VLAN to communicate with the rest of the company network where the backup targets will be located. You should consult with your network administrator for proper VLAN planning and configuration for your network environment. Use the LC-to-LC optical cables or direct attach (twinax) cables provided by Dell when connecting the GbE ports on the DM5500 to the external network.

The following table shows the combinations of NIC ports on the DM5500, depending on how the customer configures the HBAs. A maximum of six optical ports are available, and a maximum of ten copper ports are available.

Table 1. DM5500 NIC combinationsThis table describes the DM5500 NIC combinations.
LOM (PCIe slot 1) NIC (PCIe slot 3) NIC (PCIe slot 4) Number of NIC ports
2 x 25 GbE SFP28 2 x 25 GbE SFP28 2 x 25 GbE SFP28 6 x 25 GbE SFP28
2 x 10 GbE SFP+ 2 x 10 GbE SFP+ 2 x 10 GbE SFP+ 6 x 10 GbE SFP+
2 x 10 GBASE-T 4 x 10 GBASE-T 4 x 10 GBASE-T 10 x 10 GBASE-T

The network cable requirements by switch type are described in the following table.

Table 2. Network cabling requirementsThis table describes the DM5500 network cabling requirements.
Switch type NIC type Speed Cable required
25 GbE SFP28 SFP28 25 GbE LC-to-LC optical cable with SR optical GBICs or twinax cable
10 GbE SFP+ SFP+ 10 GbE LC-to-LC optical cable with SR optical GBICs or twinax cable
1 GbE BASE-T (RJ45) 1 GbE Cat 5/6 cable with RJ45 connection for iDRAC

Before you connect the DM5500 to the switch(es), consider the following:

  • The DM5500 is compatible with all SFP+ switches that support 10 GbE or 25 GbE and VLAN. If the 10 GbE and 25 GbE switches (optional) are unique to each other, ensure to connect 10 GbE to 10 GbE or 25 GbE to 25 GbE. If the switches are separated by speed, they must share a common VLAN and be able to share that VLAN across all switches used for the DM5500.
  • It is recommended you configure the DM5500 with two switches for redundancy and fault tolerance.
  • You must configure all the network ports in slots 1, 3, and 4 to run at the same speed; you cannot configure a mix of 10 and 25 GbE.
  • You must turn off Cisco port security on the customer uplink ports.
  • You can configure VLAN separation on a single physical network connection; VLAN separation across multiple physical network connections is not required. You configure multiple VLANs at the virtual layer, not the physical layer.
    NOTE:In the PowerProtect Data Manager Appliance Configuration UI, you initially configure one VLAN. After you complete the initial appliance configuration in the Data Manager Appliance Configuration UI, you can add additional VLANs in the Data Manager Appliance UI.
  • You can configure switch ports as access (untagged) or trunk (tagged) ports. Trunk mode is recommended and is required in a multi-VLAN environment.
    • Access ports: Use this configuration when you want the switch ports to pass traffic for a single VLAN. You can have all external ports in access mode and enter the VLAN as 0 in the Data Manager Appliance Configuration UI. In this case, the switch handles the traffic separation.
    • Trunk ports: Use this configuration when you want the switch ports to carry traffic for all the VLANs that are accessible to the switch. You must enter the specific VLAN ID for your network in the Data Manager Appliance Configuration UI.

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