Dell MD3000I manual Pre-Installation Requirements

Pre-Installation Requirements

NOTE: It is strongly recommended that you configure redundant paths to the target from all hosts that are configured with boot from iSCSI. The following instructions incorporate Multi-path I/O (MPIO) configuration. Misconfigured networks or networks under heavy load may interfere with critical communication between the host and the associated boot LUN on the target, causing the system to hang or display a bluescreen. To work-around this issue, configure multiple paths between the host and target. For best practices, configure a redundant iSCSI network on a separate subnets and monitor the network performance. For more information , see the whitepaper Creating Multipath Connections to Dell iSCSI Storage Arrays available on the Dell Techcenter website at www.dell.com/TechCenter.

Before configuring your system for BFi, read this document completely, complete the "Configuration Worksheet" on page 77 and ensure that you have the following:

•Two Intel® PRO/1000 Peripheral Component Interconnect Express (PCIe) single-port Network Interface Cards (NICs) or One Intel PRO/1000 PCIe dual-port network adapter or One Intel PRO/1000 PCIe quad-port network adapter

•Download the Intel PRO PCIe Gigabit drivers, Intel setup drivers and firmware from the Dell support website at support.dell.com. For the supported versions for drivers and firmware, see the Dell PowerVault MD3000i Support Matrix located on the Dell Support website at support.dell.com.

•Intel iSCSI Boot User Guide located on the Intel NIC media or on the Dell Support website at support.dell.com.

•Microsoft® iSCSI Software Initiator with boot support version mentioned in the Dell PowerVault MD3000i Support Matrix located on the Dell Support website at support.dell.com.

•Media of the supported Microsoft operating system or a copy of the Sysprep utility.

•Any disk imaging software such as Symantec™ Ghost.

NOTE: Ensure that all systems that use the operating system base image are of the same hardware configuration.

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Using the F6 Option to Configure Intel BFi