Reference Guide

vStart 100 and 200 VMware vSphere Reference Architecture
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SAN vSwitch Configuration
Figure 5.
An additional VMkernel port is created on the iSCSI subnet serving as the default vmkernel port for
storage heartbeat traffic with the EqualLogic storage. This heartbeat sits outside of the iSCSI software
initiator and does not consume any additional iSCSI storage connections. It is simply used as the lowest
vmkernel port for vmkping and other iSCSI network functions. This heartbeat has to be the lowest
VMkernel port on the vSwitch and is not bound to the software initiator.
5.3.1 EqualLogic Group and Pool Configuration
Each EqualLogic array (or member) is assigned to a particular group. Groups help in simplifying
management by enabling management of all members in a group from a single interface. Each group
contains one or more storage pools. Each pool must contain one or more members and each member is
associated with only one storage pool. Figure 6 shows an example of a group with three members
distributed across two pools.