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Dell PowerFlex Appliance with PowerFlex 4.x Administration Guide

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Networking pre-requisites

Configure the customer network for routing and layer-2 access for the various networks before PowerFlex Manager deploys the PowerFlex appliance cluster.

The pre-deployment customer network requirements are as follows:

  • Redundant connections to access switches using virtual link trunking (VLT) or virtual port channel (VPC).
  • MTU=9216 on all ports or link aggregation interfaces carrying PowerFlex data VLANs.
  • MTU=9216 as default on VMware vMotion and PowerFlex data interfaces.

The following table lists customer network pre-deployment VLAN configuration options:

  • Example VLAN: Lists the VLANs that are used in the PowerFlex appliance deployment.
  • Example multi-VLAN: Lists the multi-VLANs that are used in the PowerFlex appliance deployment.
  • Network type: Type of networks used in the PowerFlex management controller deployment.
  • Descripton: Describes each network or VLAN.
NOTE:
  • VLAN numbers in the table are an example, they may change depending on customer requirements.
  • Configure VLAN 130 on all PowerFlex management controllers connected to access or leaf switches.
  • Configure OOB management multi-VLANs on all access or leaf switches.

In a default PowerFlex setup two data networks are standard. Four data networks are only required for specific customer requirements, for example, high performance or use of trunk ports. For more information, contact your Dell Technologies Support.

PowerFlex supports multi-VLAN or a multi-subnet configuration for all network types other than the data, vSAN, and NSX overlay.

For a multi-VLAN, configure the aggregation switches with corresponding SVI interface and trunk allowed VLAN list. For a multi-subnet, an additional IP address configuration is required for each additional subnet used within the VLAN and first hop redundancy configuration as required.

CAUTION:All defined data networks must be accessible from all storage data clients (SDC). If you have implemented a solution with four data networks, all four must be assigned and accessible from each storage data client. Using less than the configured number of networks will result in an error in PowerFlex and can lead to path failures and other challenges if not properly configured.

VLAN network requirements:

  • VLAN flex-node-mgmt (105) or pfmc-mgmt (130) and flex-stor-mgmt (150) must be routable to each other
    NOTE:For a multi-subnet or multi-VLAN configuration, configure the PowerFlex management VM and NSX Gateway VM with VLAN 130 instead of the hypervisor management that reside on 105. Standard builds without multi-VLAN or multi-subnet can be available on either hypervisor management (105) or management interface (130) of PowerFlex management VM or NSX Gateway VM.
  • VLAN flex-nas-mgmt (250) and flex-stor-mgmt (150) must be routable to each other
  • VLAN flex-node-mgmt (105) or pfmc-mgmt (130) and pfmc-sds-mgmt (140) must be routable to each other

Network requirements for PowerFlex management controller 2.0

Table 1. Network requirements for PowerFlex management controller 2.0The following tables describes the network requirements for PowerFlex management controller 2.0.
Example VLAN Example multi-VLAN Traffic type Network type Description
101 210-224 Hardware Management General purpose For connection to PowerFlex management controller node iDRAC interface and PowerFlex Manager (PowerFlex management platform VMs and ingress controller)
103 - VMware vCenter HA General purpose For VMware vCenter high availability (vCenter HA) network interface
105 240-254 Hypervisor management Hypervisor management For management interface of VMware ESXi, VMware vCenter
130 - PowerFlex management controller for a multi-VLAN or multi-subnet network Hypervisor management For VMware vCenter, CloudLink center, jump server, secure connect gateway (SCG) and PowerFlex Manager (PowerFlex management platform VMs and ingress controller)
140 300-314 PowerFlex management controller 2.0 PowerFlex management PowerFlex management For SVM management interface on management controller PowerFlex cluster
141 - PowerFlex management controller 2.0

PowerFlex data 1

PowerFlex data For SDS-to-SDS and SDS-to-SDC data path
142 - PowerFlex management controller 2.0

PowerFlex data 2

PowerFlex data
143 330-344 PowerFlex management controller 2.0

Hypervisor migration

VMware vMotion For VMware vSphere vMotion interface on management controller vSphere cluster
150 360-374 PowerFlex management Hypervisor management For SVM and PowerFlex storage-only node Management interface
151 - PowerFlex data 1 General purpose For SDS-to-SDS and SDS-to-SDC data path
152 - PowerFlex data 2 General purpose For SDS-to-SDS and SDS-to-SDC data path
153 - PowerFlex data 3 (if required) General purpose For SDS-to-SDS and SDS-to-SDC data path
154 - PowerFlex data 4 (if required) General purpose For SDS-to-SDS and SDS-to-SDC data path

Network requirements for the PowerFlex production cluster

Table 2. Network requirements for the PowerFlex production clusterThe following tables describes the network requirements for the PowerFlex production cluster.
Example VLAN Example multi-LAN Network Name Description Properties
101 210-224 Hardware management For connection to PowerFlex production node iDRAC interface Layer-2/Layer-3 connectivity, MTU=1500/9216
105 240-254 Hypervisor management For VMware ESXi management interface on production vSphere cluster Layer-3 connectivity, MTU=1500/9216
106 270-284 Hypervisor migration For VMware vSphere vMotion interface on production vSphere cluster Layer-2 connectivity, MTU=1500/9216
NOTE:Layer-3 if multi-subnet/multi-VLAN is used.
150 360-374 PowerFlex management For SVM and PowerFlex storage-only node management interface Layer-3 connectivity, MTU=1500/9216
151 - PowerFlex data 1 For SDS-to-SDS and SDS-to-SDC data path Layer-2 connectivity, MTU=9216
152 - PowerFlex data 2 For SDS-to-SDS and SDS-to-SDC data path Layer-2 connectivity, MTU=9216
153 - PowerFlex data 3 (if required) For SDS-to-SDS and SDS-to-SDC data path Layer-2 connectivity, MTU=9216
154 - PowerFlex data 4 (if required) For SDS-to-SDS and SDS-to-SDC data path Layer-2 connectivity, MTU=9216

Network requirements for PowerFlex asynchronous replication (optional)

Table 3. Network requirements for PowerFlex asynchronous replicationThe following tables describes the network requirements for PowerFlex asynchronous replication.
Example VLAN Example multi-LAN Network Name Description Properties
161 390-404 PowerFlex replication 1 For SDR-SDR external communication Layer-3 connectivity, MTU=9216. Routable to replication peer system
162 420-434 PowerFlex replication 2 For SDR-SDR external communication Layer-3 connectivity, MTU=9216. Routable to replication peer system

Network requirements for PowerFlex file (optional)

Table 4. Network requirements for PowerFlex fileThe following tables describes the network requirements for PowerFlex file.
Example VLAN Example multi-VLAN Network Name Description Properties
101 210-224 Hardware management For connection to PowerFlex file node iDRAC interface Layer-2/Layer-3 connectivity, MTU=1500/9216
150 360-374 PowerFlex management For PowerFlex file node operating system management Layer-3 connectivity, MTU=1500/9216
151 - PowerFlex data 1 For SDS-to-SDC data path Layer-2 connectivity, MTU=9216
152 - PowerFlex data 2 For SDS-to-SDC data path Layer-2 connectivity, MTU=9216
153 - PowerFlex data 3 (if required) For SDS-to-SDC data path Layer-2 connectivity, MTU=9216
154 - PowerFlex data 4 (if required) For SDS-to-SDC data path Layer-2 connectivity, MTU=9216
250 - NAS file management For NAS management traffic Layer-3 connectivity, MTU=1500/9216
251 - NAS file data 1 For accessing PowerFlex file data from client Layer-2/layer-3, MTU=1500/9216
252 - NAS file data 2 For accessing PowerFlex file data from client Layer-2/layer-3, MTU=1500/9216

Network requirements for NSX (optional)

Table 5. Network requirements for NSXThe following tables describes the network requirements for NSX.
Example VLAN Example multi-VLAN Network Name Description Properties
101 210-224 Hardware management For connection to NSX node iDRAC interface Layer-2/Layer-3 connectivity, MTU=1500/9216
105 240-254 Hypervisor management For VMware ESXi management interface on NSX Edge cluster (Shared with production vSphere cluster) Layer-3 connectivity, MTU=1500/9216
114 - nsx-vsan (only if required) For VMware vSAN interface on NSX Edge cluster (This is optional meaning only if customer chooses to deploy vSAN on NSX Edge cluster) Layer-2 connectivity, MTU=9216
116 450-464 nsx-vmotion For NSX vMotion on NSX Edge cluster Layer-2/Layer-3 connectivity, MTU=1500/9216
121 - nsx-transport For NSX Transport interface on NSX Edge cluster (Used for NSX overlay) Layer-2 connectivity, MTU=9216
122 - nsx-edge1 For NSX Edge external VLAN1 used for BGP uplink Layer-3 connectivity, MTU=1500
123 - nsx-edge2 For NSX Edge external VLAN2 used for BGP uplink Layer-3 connectivity, MTU=1500
130 - nsx-gateway For NSX Gateway VM on NSX Edge node Layer-3 connectivity, MTU=1500/9216

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