The following are some general design considerations to simplify setup and management of the PowerScale/Isilon environment.
- The maximum cluster size for 10/25/40 GbE nodes is 252 nodes.
- The S5232, Z9100, and Z9264 switches configured for back-end operate in SmartFabric mode that minimizes user intervention when configuring PowerScale nodes. In this mode, many of the typical switch CLI functions are disabled.
- Mixing of S5232, Z9100 and Z9264 is supported in leaf and spine architecture. Z9264F is a 2U switch, S5232 and Z9100 are 1U switches.
- Avoid network oversubscription between your uplink and downlink connections between the leaf and spine switches. The total throughput for all nodes connected to leaf must be less than or equal to the total uplink speed from leaf to spine.
- Int-a is the interface to the default internal network. Int-b is the interface to the second internal network for redundancy and failover. Int-a and Int-b must be cabled identically in terms of configuration and leaf spine network architectural design.
- If you have greater than one spine switch in the configuration, ensure that the connections between leaf and spine switches are equally distributed (fully balanced) among all leaf switches.
- Strategically locate the spine switches within a data center. This practice ensures that the cabling is planned, organized, and manageable when scaling out the nodes and switches within the cluster.
- It is important to understand how the switches and nodes will be physically installed to ensure that the correct cable lengths are ordered.
- If possible, design the leaf-spine configuration for the eventual size of the cluster to reduce the need to re-cable the back-end if the cluster expands.
- Try to balance node bandwidth on the leaf switches. For example, do not connect all the performance nodes on one leaf and the archive nodes on the other leaf switch.
- The maximum number of leaves and spines in the cluster should not exceed 17 switches per side (int-a and int-b combined 34 switches per cluster).
- Some leaf/spine configurations will have more than 252 available ports. These ports cannot be used.
- If you need to add Z9264 switches to an existing Z9100 configuration, it is best to convert the spines to the Z9264s and use the Z9100s as leaf switches.
- The solution supports migration from an existing ToR InfiniBand back-end switch flat topology to an L/S back-end network switch architecture.