Ethernet ports

Use the Ethernet ports panel to display and change how Ethernet ports on the system are being used.

Ethernet ports for each node are on the rear of the system and are used to connect the system to iSCSI-attached hosts, external storage systems, and to other systems that are part of remote-copy partnerships. The panel indicates whether a specific port is being used for a specific purpose. You can modify how the port is used by selecting Actions. Select either Modify Remote Copy, Modify iSCSI Hosts, or Modify Storage Ports to change the use of the port.

For each Ethernet port, a maximum of one IPv4 address and one IPv6 address can be designated. Each port can be simultaneously used for Remote Copy over IP, iSCSI target for hosts, or as an iSCSI initiator for external storage connectivity. You can have any combination of these configurations for the Ethernet ports or you can define one port to exclusively handle a specific type of connections. If you are using remote copy between a local and remote system using Ethernet ports, you must specify which ports are used for remote copy operations by creating a remote copy group. The remote copy group indicates the set of local and remote Ethernet ports that can access each other through a long-distance IP connection. For a successful partnership to be established between two systems, the remote copy group must contain at least two ports, one from the local system and the other from the remote system. You can configure more than two ports from the same system in the Remote Copy group to allow for IP connection failover if either the local or remote system experiences a node or port failure.

The following best practices apply to setting up IP partnerships: