Ethernet portset

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The system supports Ethernet portsets for host attachment, backend storage connectivity, and IP replication traffic where every host object must be associated with a Ethernet Channel portset through which it can access system.

Each physical Ethernet Port can have maximum 64 IP addresses with each IP on unique portset. However, for each port IP address can be shared between multiple unique portsets for different functions. Each port can bind to only single IP address per portset for specific Ethernet functions like host attachment (iSCSI ), backend storage connectivity (iSCSI only), and IP replication. In most cases, host attach IP addresses can be separated by VLANs or subnets or a combination of both for multi-tenant scenarios. For cloud environments, each Ethernet port supports a maximum of two IP addresses and VLANs per port for multiple clients that share storage resources on the system.

Requirements for Ethernet portsets

In general, Ethernet portsets have the following requirements:
Ethernet Portsets
  • Portsets are system-wide objects where IP addresses from all nodes might be included in the portset for host, storage, and replication functions.
  • Each IP address in a portset must be configured on a separate Ethernet port.
  • Same ports can share IP addresses across different portsets that allow the same IP address to be used for host, storage, and remote-copy traffic. All shared IP addresses must use the same port and have the same VLAN, gateway, and prefix. When IP addresses are shared among multiple portsets, the system creates a logical copy of the IP address and its attributes, rather than a new IP address.
  • Portsets that are owned by different ownership groups can share an IP address.
  • A port can have 64 unique or shared IP addresses. All 64 IP addresses can be IPv4 or IPv6, or a mix of IPv4 and IPv6.
  • The Port Type field value defines if the portset is Ethernet. If you are using the command-line interface, specify ethernet in the port_type parameter of the mkportset command.
  • Each port can be configured with only one unique routable IP address (gateway specified). The routable IP can be shared among multiple portsets.
  • Portset 0 is a default portset that is automatically configured when the system is updated or created. Portset 0 is a host portset by default and cannot be deleted even if it is empty. Portset 0 serves as the default portset for any IP addresses and host objects that are configured without a portset specified. Portset 0 allows administrators to continue with an original configuration that does not require multi-tenancy. After an update, all configured Ethernet-based host objects are automatically mapped to portset 0.

A Ethernet portset can be defined to an ownership group. When you define an ownership group for portsets, you can limit and restrict users to view and manage only specific portsets. The Portset 0, Portset 3, and replication portset are always globally owned and only global administrators can assign and modify IP addresses to the portsets. For more information, see Ownership groups.

In a typical configuration, a portset object is first created and then the IP address object and host object are configured. When an IP address or host is configured, a portset must be specified, or the default portset 0 is selected. For more information, see Hosts.