[ESXi5] iSCSI multipathing and link aggregation

[thegubble]

Hey all,

Just setup a new host that has 3 network interfaces, and uses iSCSI for storage.

Normally I would give 2 interfaces to iSCSI and 1 left over for network traffic, only thing is this host is going to get a bit of a beating on the network side, and would greatly benefit from 2 (or more) links. Now the kicker, it will also hit the iSCSI link quite hard at times (but not constantly).

The question, can you multipath 3 NIC's for iSCSI traffic, while also allowing those 3 interfaces to be teamed together on a separate VLAN for network traffic. (Allowing network traffic to aggregate over the 3 links to fill out what iSCSI is not using).

Thanks,
Scott.

 

[peanuthead]

No, because you will bind a NIC to the iSCSI VMK port (which will give you your IQN name) whether you are using a VSS or VDS.