Dual MDS 9000 fabric config

[cmturner20]

Hello,

Wanted to ask a possibly silly question but I'm trying to work out the best option for this new config. 

We are coming off UCS with FI's which currently holds hosts and FC storage from our SAN. This is all well and fine but we are moving to separate Nexus and MDS now. My question is what would the best way to configure two MDS 9000's so if we lose one/reboot one, we do not lose access to the storage across all hosts. SAN has two controllers in active/active so we will be dual homing the controllers across both switches. Do we setup VSAN's per switch with different id's with zones per switch or do we run a port-channel ISL between the two and sync the vsan's/zoning? 

Thanks

[marce1000]

        - FYI : https://www.cisco.com/en/US/docs/storage/san_switches/mds9000/sw/svc/configuration/guide/Dual.pdf

  M.

[cmturner20]

Thank you! I could not find that document anywhere. If using the ISL method, is it safe to assume that if you reboot one fabric, only those paths would go down but it's simpler from a management perspective?

Thanks

[Jason Mooney]

Did you get a chance to review this white paper? Cisco UCS and MDS Better Together White Paper

You would have FI-A connected to MDS-A using multiple Multiple ISLs.  The FI would be in NPV mode.  On the MDS you would enable feature fport-channel-trunk, turn on trunking for the interface, and then form a port-channel to trunk your VSAN to the UCS FI.  Reference the following for more information: Interface Configuration Guide 

[cmturner20]

Sorry, just to be clear, the UCS FI's are being removed completely and will be using standalone Nexus/MDS instead with new standalone servers.