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:

•A PowerEdge system with the latest PowerEdge BIOS version found on the Dell Support website at support.dell.com

•Local hard drive for initial operating system installation

•Either local FAT32 partition or network share to store initial boot image

•Broadcom NetXtreme Network adapter drivers and firmware from the Dell support website at support.dell.com. For the supported versions of drivers and firmware, see the Dell PowerVault MD3000i Support Matrix located on the Dell Support website at support.dell.com.

•Broadcom NetExtreme and NetExtreme II User’s Guide located on the Broadcom LOM media or on the Dell Support website at support.dell.com.

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

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

•Any disk imaging software such as Symantec™ Ghost.

NOTE: If deploying a base image to multiple systems, ensure that all systems that use the operating system base image are of the same hardware configuration.

NOTE: For the latest supported firmware and driver versions, see the Dell PowerVault MD3000i Systems Support Matrix located on the Dell Support website at support.dell.com.

40

Instructions to Configure BFi for Broadcom NIC