iSCSI traffic through Nexus 9372

[sungard.apac]

Hi Friends,

I have installed 2 Nexus 9372PX-E in my Network. 

I am trying to pass iSCSI traffic through this switch but it is not working. Can these switches act as transit for iSCSI traffic

iSCSI traffic is between ESX host and SAN server. Nexus 9372PX-E connects both these components, however the iSCSI traffic is not flowing between ESX host and SAN server.

Is there any limitation of Nexus 9372PX-E which doesn't allows iSCSI traffic to pass through it ?

Regards,

Prakash Matuwani

[Walter Dey · Accepted solution]

Hi Prakash

I assume you mean iSCSI data traffic, not iSCSI boot ?

Are you operating Nexus 9372PX-E in Cisco NX-OS Software mode or in Application Centric Infrastructure (ACI) mode.

iSCSI is simply SCSI over TCP/IP.

This Nexus switch is a L2 / L3 switch, totally agnostic to upper layer protocols, running on top of TCP.

Therefore, YES, iSCSI does work over Nexus 9372 !

Walter.

[yualme]

Hello Walter,

Can you please let me know in which case we need to create Fibre Channel over Ethernet if we can simply pass iSCSI traffic via Nexus switch.

[Walter Dey]

Fibre channel over Ethernet works over so called loss less Ethernet, which the underlying switch has to support; in addition, the switch has to support some FCoE functionality, like FCF (forwarder). FCoE is essentially Ethernet, therefore L2 !

iSCSI is very simply a TCP application. Therefore L3, routable.

see eg.

http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/products/collateral/switches/nexus-5000-series-switches/white_paper_c11-495142.html

[yualme]

Thanks Walter , that clarifies the things