Hi Stephan, not an expert about iSCSI (I work with FC SAN Fabrics) but it seems that, in your scenario, all boils down to what ports' speeds you have to connect with.
If I read
this DELL Knowledge Base Article correctly, if you're going to connect a iSCSI enabled
DELL PowerStore with a 10Gbps network infrastructure then at least a 9MB of Shared Packet Buffer is required (which, as far as I understand, it means that 9MB would be enough), higher speeds require generally deeper packet buffers (thus larger size): 25Gbps seems to require at least 32MB of Shared Packet Buffer.
At this point the real question would be:
is really the Aruba 6300 Switch series suitable for the Ethernet based Storage Network I want to setup considering the specific iSCSI implementation I've in mind?To stay on the safe side (and thinking you're going to connect a lot of servers at the speed of 25Gbps) I would say I'm going to use Aruba CX 83xx Switch series (like the 8320, 8325 or 8360 <- all of them provide (a) 32MB Packet Buffer and (b) 10/25Gbps speeds on most port with 40/100Gbps speeds on few ports generally used for uplinks or VSX ISL)
but those switches families require a totally different
budget compared to the Aruba 6300.
Original Message:
Sent: Jun 13, 2022 01:35 AM
From: Unknown User
Subject: iSCSI and packet buffer
Hi, we're about to replace our SAN, probably with Dell PowerStore. In the end we'll need two switches for iSCSI, each with 2 x 25 GbE and 4 x 10 GbE.
As Aruba is our standard switch supplier, I wanted to use Aruba CX 6300 for that purpose. Now, Dell insists that the switch must have 32 MB packet buffer (or 9 MB if using 10 GbE only) - "to avoid packet loss large buffer is needed. If even just one packet is lost everything need to be retransmitted and that really kills performance."
Aruba CX 6300 has only 8 MB packet buffer though. Seems like the only Aruba switches with 32 MB are the ones with 48 100-GbE ports.
How do you see this? Do you think Dell made up the 9 MB requirement to sell their own switches? Or are Aruba switches simply not designed for iSCSI?