Effects/risks etc. if switchless connection will be configured with an ongoing cluster and network topology and Switch Embedded Teaming has been configured - Azure Stack HCI

Rolaine Nicdao 46 Reputation points
2020-10-20T02:37:26.357+00:00

Hello,

I've already seen that it is possible for a Switchless connection for Azure Stack HCI. However, can you help me find some documents or have an idea on the effects/risks etc. if switchless connection will be configured to change the network connection of the storage with an ongoing cluster and network topology is Switch Embedded Teaming has been configured? BTW, the hardware is Dell EMC. Hope you can help me out in this.

Thank you!

Rolaine

Azure Stack HCI
Azure Stack HCI
A hyperconverged infrastructure operating system delivered as an Azure service that provides security, performance, and feature updates.
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  1. Steven Ekren 166 Reputation points
    2020-10-28T19:44:17.173+00:00

    Hello @Rolaine Nicdao ,

    If I understand your question correctly, you are asking if you can take an existing system that is using a switch for its interconnect network, and changing it to switchless.

    If that is correct, you should be able to change but remember that all the storage traffic is transiting that network and if disrupted it can have a negative effect on the system stability as well as the data resiliency.

    If you do want to change it, I'd suggest taking the workloads running on the system offline, then offline the virtual disks, then stop the cluster. Then reconfigure the network to switchless, ensuring that the the networks are all running as expected. For good measure reboot the nodes an check the networking, then start the cluster and online the virtual disks and the workloads. As a best practice we always recommend verifying you have a good backup of data anytime you are re-configuring a system.

    I hope this helps,
    Steven Ekren
    StevenEk@Microsoft.com