Re: iSCSI network questions

[DrFranken <midrange@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Let's start with one easy answer: Support is provided for IBM Servers 
listed on the compatibility list and this support includes many blades 
in both S and H Blade centers. No Dell (or HP (or ??? )) servers are on 
that list.

If the lack of support doesn't stop you, it's possible that you might be 
able to make them work in some fashion.  One thing unlikely to work is 
the powering on and off of the servers when the NWSD is varied on or off 
respectively. There is a component of IBM i iSCSI support called the 
Service Processor Manager that doesn't know anything about reaching out 
to a Dell or HP server and turning it on or off. If you are OK doing 
that yourself manually then you can proceed.

Next you'll need to have iSCSI initiators that are compatible with the 
IBM i targets. I don't suspect that this part is all that hard but you 
are definitely on your own with any issues or needed support at the very 
least.

Next thing to consider is that part of the concept of this support is 
that a failed server can be readily replaced with a functioning one. If 
you have a standby unit and truly know what you're doing it could be a 
minute or less. That assumes that the new and old server are compatible, 
if they're not, and when using 'whatever is lying around', it's very 
likely they are not. That being the case it's unlikely you'll have any 
redundancy that way.

In short it might work after a fashion, but I'd not waste my time on it 
except perhaps as a curiosity.

  - Larry "DrFranken" Bolhuis.

On 5/11/2012 10:56 AM, Anderson, Kurt wrote:
> Hi,
>
> Me again on the iSCSI topic.
> I'm working on a proposal to use a Power system to house our network database (currently using MS SQL Server) as well as to run our web servers.  In addition, we currently we have three physical web servers, each running TomCat, and I'm thinking we could run those each as instances on the Power system.
>
>
> 1.       Are we required to use IBM's blades in an iSCSI network?  We have some Dell PowerEdge servers that we'd like to be able to use.
>
> 2.       When using the i as the main server, it provides the DNS service right?
>
> 3.       I was asked if IIS would run on Power?  I'm guessing not, but maybe there's something like it?  Or it could run on one of the blades?
>
> 4.       We'd be using a box off-site.  Is remote backup a possibility?  My online searching has failed me.  We do have a dedicated line to the off-site location.
>
> This has definitely been a learning experience (for someone who rarely deals with hardware or the network in general).   The only reason I got involved is because we had a smattering of hardware failures, and I couldn't help but ask, "What can we get onto the Power system?"
>
> Thanks for any feedback.
>
> Kurt Anderson
> Sr. Programmer/Analyst
> CustomCall Data Systems