Dell PowerFlex 4.6.x Technical Overview

Networking requirements and limitations

In PowerFlex, inter-node communication manages data locations, rebuild and rebalance, and access applications to stored data on one IP network, or on separate IP networks.

Use any of the management interfaces to perform management tasks in the following ways:

• Through a separate network with access to the other PowerFlex components
• On the same network

Configure these options in the following ways:

• During deployment in the full PowerFlex Installer (using the CSV topology file) and using the VMware plug-in
• After deployment with the CLI.

The following table includes the list of PowerFlex networking requirements and supported architectures or configurations.

The following table includes the list of PowerFlex networking requirements and supported architectures for systems with replication.

See the following configuration guidelines used by VxFlex Ready Node for example purposes only:

• Linux examples: R640 and R740xd nodes see Configuring network ports on Linux servers
• VMware ESXi examples: R640, R740xd, and R840 nodes see Configuring network ports on VMware ESXi hosts

This section describes how to choose from these options, depending on the requirements of your organization, security considerations, performance needs, and IT environment.

PowerFlex networking considerations:

• Single IP network: All communications and IOs used for management and for data storage are performed on the same IP network. This setup offers the following benefits:
  • Ease of use
  • Fewer IP addresses required
• Multiple separate IP networks: Separate networks are used for management and for data storage, or separate networks are used within the data storage part of the system. This setup offers the following benefits:
  • Security
  • Redundancy
  • Performance
  • Separate IP roles in order to separate between customer data and internal management
  NOTE:Network high availability can be implemented by using NIC-bonding (see Dell PowerFlex Appliance and PowerFlex Rack with PowerFlex 4.x Cabling and Connectivity Guide) or by using several data networks in PowerFlex.

  For more information about MTU performance considerations and best practices, see the Dell PowerFlex 4.6.x Install and Upgrade Guide.

  NOTE:The MDM cluster IP address limit is 16 IP addresses, which include all cluster members (primary, secondary, and standby).

  Table 3. Range of potential IP address configurationsThe following table describes the range of potential IP address configurations:

  Column in CSV file	MDM Management IP	MDM IP addresses	SDS all IP addresses	SDS-SDS only IP addresses	SDS-SDC only IP addresses
  Comments	Management access	Control network	Rebuild and data path network	Rebuild network	Data path network
  	Optional, but recommended This is not applicable for tiebreaker IP addresses that can be used to provide access to PowerFlex management applications, such as PowerFlex Manager, CLI, REST API, OpenStack. This IP address must be externally accessible.	Mandatory IP addresses used for MDM control communications with SDSs and SDCs, used to convey data migration decisions, but no user data passes through the MDM. Must be on the same network as the data network. Must be externally accessible if no MDM Management IP addresses are used.	IP addresses used for both SDS-SDS and SDS-SDC communications. These IP addresses will also be used to communicate with the MDM.	IP addresses used for SDS-SDS communication only. These addresses are used for rebuild and rebalance operations. These IP addresses will also be used to communicate with the MDM.	IP addresses used for SDS-SDC communication. These addresses are only used for read/write user data operations.

  The following combinations can be used for SDS or SDC:

  • Only SDS All IPs
  • Only SDS-SDS Only IPs + SDS-SDC Only IPs
  • SDS All IPs + either SDS-SDS Only IPs or SDS-SDC Only IPs (can be used in cases of multiple networks; ensure that you do not use the same IP address more than once in the networks).
  • SDS All IPs + both SDS-SDS Only IPs and SDS-SDC Only IPs (can be used in cases of multiple networks; ensure that you do not use the same IP address more than once in the networks).