What is the correct practice when connecting PowerStore to front-end switches?

The correct practice for connecting PowerStore to a front-end network is to use redundant switch fabrics. This architecture provides high availability by eliminating single points of failure. By connecting each PowerStore node to two separate, independent switches (Fabric A and Fabric B), host connectivity is maintained even if one switch, cable, or network port fails. This design is fundamental for ensuring continuous data access in enterprise environments and is a standard recommendation for both iSCSI and Fibre Channel SANs.

B. Use direct attach to hosts only: While PowerStore supports direct-attach configurations, it is not the universal correct practice; switched fabrics are required for scalability to connect multiple hosts and are a common deployment model.
C. Use only one port per node: This practice creates a single point of failure and limits performance. Using multiple ports per node is recommended for both redundancy and increased bandwidth through link aggregation.
D. Disable multipathing: Multipathing software is essential for managing redundant paths to the storage. Disabling it would eliminate the ability to perform load balancing and automatic path failover, severely compromising high availability.

1. Dell PowerStore: Networking Guide for PowerStore T Models (April 2023)

Page 10

Section: Network high availability: "To ensure high availability

Dell Technologies recommends using redundant top-of-rack switches. For both Ethernet and Fibre Channel networks

use two switches for redundancy. Connect each node in the appliance to both switches to ensure that there is no single point of failure." This directly supports the use of redundant switch fabrics (Answer A) and contradicts using only one port (Answer C).

2. Dell PowerStore: Best Practices Guide (February 2022)

Page 13

Section: iSCSI Best Practices: "For high availability

we recommend using two separate switches for redundancy. This configuration is also known as an air-gapped network." This reinforces the recommendation for redundant fabrics (Answer A).

Page 17

Section: Host Connectivity and Multipathing: "Multipathing software is required on hosts that are connected to PowerStore to manage the paths to the system. This software provides the functions of load balancing and path failover." This directly contradicts disabling multipathing (Answer D).

3. Dell PowerStore: Planning Guide (April 2023)

Page 21

Section: Network considerations: The guide presents multiple network topology diagrams for both PowerStore T and PowerStore X models

all of which depict connections to redundant switches as the standard configuration

invalidating the "direct attach only" approach (Answer B) as a universal best practice.