Update: Check out the latest multi-vendor iSCSI post!

I usually don’t write about other peoples’ articles on this blog, preferring to stick to my own independent work. But this time I’m making an exception.

If you use or are interested in VMware ESX 3.x and iSCSI, you simply must go read Chad Sakac’s post on the topic. Co-written with just about everyone in the industry (including EMC, VMware, NetApp, Dell/EqualLogic, and HP/Lefthand), Chad has put together a “cheat sheet” on the ins and outs of iSCSI connectivity and performance in ESX 3.x.

Top takeaways (and I’ve been preaching about these for a while myself, too!)

• Ethernet link aggregation doesn’t buy you anything in iSCSI environments
• iSCSI HBA’s don’t buy you much other than boot-from-SAN in ESX, either
• The most common configuration (ESX software iSCSI) is limited to about 160 MB/s per iSCSI target over one-gigabit Ethernet, but that’s probably fine for most applications
• Adding multiple iSCSI targets adds performance across the board, but configurations vary by array
• Maximum per-target performance comes from guest-side software iSCSI, which can make use of multiple Ethernet links to push each array as fast as it can go

Thanks for putting together such a great article, guys!

This post can also be found on Gestalt IT: Essential Reading for VMware ESX iSCSI Users!

© sfoskett for Stephen Foskett, Pack Rat, 2009. | Essential Reading for VMware ESX iSCSI Users!
This post was categorized as Enterprise storage, Gestalt IT, Virtual Storage. Each of my categories has its own feed if you'd like to filter out or focus on posts like this.