Review two-node storage switchless with single switch deployment network reference pattern for Azure Local

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This article describes the two-node storage switchless with single TOR switch network reference pattern that you can use to deploy your Azure Local solution. The information in this article also helps you determine if this configuration is viable for your deployment planning needs. This article targets the IT administrators who deploy and manage Azure Local in their datacenters.

For information about other network patterns, see Azure Local network deployment patterns.

Scenarios

Scenarios for this network pattern include laboratories, factories, retail stores, and government facilities.

Consider this pattern for a cost-effective solution that includes fault-tolerance at the system level, but can tolerate northbound connectivity interruptions if the single physical switch fails or requires maintenance.

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Physical connectivity components

As shown in the following diagram, this pattern has the following physical network components:

• Single TOR switch for north-south traffic communication.

• Two teamed network ports to handle management and compute traffic, connected to the L2 switch on each host

• Two remote direct memory access (RDMA) network interface cards (NICs) in a full-mesh configuration for east-west traffic for storage. Each node in the system has a redundant connection to the other node in the system.

• As an option, some solutions might use a headless configuration without a BMC card for security purposes.

:::image type="content" source="media/two-node-switchless-single-switch/physical-components-layout.png" alt-text="Diagram showing two-node switchless physical connectivity layout." lightbox="media/two-node-switchless-single-switch/physical-components-layout.png":::

Networks	Management and compute	Storage	BMC
Link speed	At least 1 Gbps. 10 Gbps recommended	At least 10 Gbps	Check with hardware manufacturer
Interface type	RJ45, SFP+ or SFP28	SFP+ or SFP28	RJ45
Ports and aggregation	Two teamed ports	Two standalone ports	One port

Network ATC intents

For two-node storage switchless patterns, two Network ATC intents are created. The first for management and compute network traffic, and the second for storage traffic.

:::image type="content" source="media/two-node-switchless-single-switch/network-atc.png" alt-text="Diagram showing two-node switchless Network ATC intents" lightbox="media/two-node-switchless-single-switch/network-atc.png":::

Management and compute intent

• Intent Type: Management and compute
• Intent Mode: Cluster mode
• Teaming: Yes. pNIC01 and pNIC02 are teamed
• Default Management VLAN: Configured VLAN for management adapters isn't modified
• PA & Compute VLANs and vNICs: Network ATC is transparent to PA vNICs and VLAN or compute VM vNICs and VLANs

Storage intent

• Intent type: Storage
• Intent mode: Cluster mode
• Teaming: pNIC03 and pNIC04 use SMB Multichannel to provide resiliency and bandwidth aggregation
• Default VLANs:
  • 711 for storage network 1
  • 712 for storage network 2
• Default subnets:
  • 10.71.1.0/24 for storage network 1
  • 10.71.2.0/24 for storage network 2

For more information, see Deploy host networking.

Follow these steps to create network intents for this reference pattern:

1. Run PowerShell as administrator.

2. Run the following command:

   Add-NetIntent -Name <Management_Compute> -Management -Compute -ClusterName <HCI01> -AdapterName <pNIC01, pNIC02>
   Add-NetIntent -Name <Storage> -Storage -ClusterName <HCI01> -AdapterName <pNIC03, pNIC04>
   

Logical connectivity components

As illustrated in the following diagram, this pattern has the following logical network components:

:::image type="content" source="media/two-node-switchless-single-switch/logical-components-layout.png" alt-text="Diagram showing single-node switchless physical connectivity layout." lightbox="media/two-node-switchless-single-switch/logical-components-layout.png":::

Storage Network VLANs

The storage intent-based traffic consists of two individual networks supporting RDMA traffic. Each interface is dedicated to a separate storage network, and both might utilize the same VLAN tag. This traffic is only intended to travel between the two nodes. Storage traffic is a private network without connectivity to other resources.

The storage adapters operate on different IP subnets. To enable a switchless configuration, each connected node supports a matching subnet of its neighbor. Each storage network uses the Network ATC predefined VLANs by default (711 and 712). However, these VLANs can be customized if necessary. In addition, if the default subnets defined by Network ATC (10.71.1.0/24 and 10.71.2.0/24) aren't usable, you're responsible for assigning all storage IP addresses in the system.

For more information, see Network ATC overview.

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Next steps

Learn about the two-node storage switchless, two switches network pattern