Problem to design a NAS "small business" infrastructure

[Andrea Carlucci]

Hi to all,

I'm struggling with a customer that has a very limited budget.

He needs a NAS infrastructure but he hasn't budget to buy mid level switches (like 2960S or 3750X).

The NAS will be a EMC VNXe 3150 with 4x1 Gbit interface per SP (configuration with 2 SP), and the virtualized infrastructure it's realized with VMware Esxi 4.1 on 2 host servers DELL R310.

His budget allows him only to buy a small business switch. The model that  I've identified  it's a SRW2048-K9-EU SG300-52 52-port Gigabit Managed Switch.

Is it possible to implement a NAS infrastructure with this components ensuring compatibility with the characteristics of the VNXe( to use iSCSI protocol)?

[bravocarlos · Accepted solution]

I don't know if this is still useful for you but here I go.

a NAS enviroment wouldn't use iSCSI protocol. The iSCSI protocol from the VNXe3150 is for the block or SAN part.

The NAS protocols supported from the VNXe are CIFS and NFS. You shouldn't have any issues working with CIFS and NFS with any model of switches as this is just regular traffic.

For the iSCSI and SAN part, you need a switch that allows at leat the 9000 MTU or jumboframes so you get an improved performance.

Greetings,

C.