Home > Storage > PowerMax and VMAX > Storage Admin > iSCSI Implementation Guide for Dell EMC Storage Arrays Running PowerMaxOS > Example 2: PowerMaxOS iSCSI multitenancy or port consolidation
As network port speeds increase to 25 GbE and beyond, Ethernet implementations are moving towards port consolidation as the larger port speeds allow network administrators to consolidate different workloads onto “fewer but bigger” ports in the environment. This port count reduction and workload consolidation results in a reduction CAPEX and OPEX costs as power consumption, cabling, and overall management costs can be dramatically lowered.
Port consolidation means that multiple distinct storage environments will be sharing the same Ethernet port, therefor the ability to implement storage multitenancy is a key requirement. The following configuration example expands upon the basic PowerMaxOS iSCSI Target Model by introducing the concepts of storage multitenancy and port consolidation. In this second example, a second storage environment (Prod2) is added to original Prod1 environment from example 1. The Prod2 environment uses two unique targets, each with its own IP Interface, which are sharing the same ports used by the Prod1 environment.
In example 2, Prod2 uses completely different IP subnets and its own unique single VLAN (VLAN 82). The use of a unique separate VLAN for the Prod2 environment achieves storage network isolation from the Prod1 environment on the shared PowerMax SE ports. Volumes designated for the Prod1 environment are provisioned through the Prod1 targets, while volumes designated for the Prod2 environment are provisioned through the Prod2 targets. Because of the VLAN capability provided by the PowerMaxOS iSCSI target model, the Prod1 and Prod2 storage volumes can be accessed through the same port, while still being isolated from each other. This configuration example shows how the PowerMaxOS iSCSI target model allows for more efficient use resources in a multitenant environment.
A multipathing enabled masking view for the above Prod2 configuration would include the following components: