Compliance and Storage Network Isolation

Question

I have two tenants in a multitenant environment that access the same iSCSI array.  The iSCSI array has a limitation in that can only use one IP address on one vLAN.  the result of this is that using this array means sharing a vLAN between two tenants, even though it is a non-routed vLAN dedicated to iSCSI.  (ESXi vmkernel adapters from HA clusters in both tenants connect to the same iSCSI array).  Tenant A has no special compliance requirements, but Tenant B does.   The LUNs in the storage array are mapped only to the appropriate IPs for the appropriate ESXi servers in the respective environments to access. But will sharing this vLAN among iSCSI vmkernel ports in both tenants mean that Tenant B will be non-compliant with respect to a standard such as HIPAA?  The vmkernel ports would be in the same broadcast domain.

Answer 1

It matters if the traffic is routed or not. "Routing" traffic and "switching" traffic are two different things and the "bandiwidth" rating on "routing" traffic versus "switching" traffic are considerably lower. More takes place when a "packet" is routed than when it just uses layer 2 traffic. This must be taken in consideration when planning traffic between your VM servers and its respective "storage, VMs and etc. Personally, I would never have that traffic "routed". Never. Do it if you like. I wouldn't recommend it. Any time your "hop" to a target... you introduce latency. Maybe your network fabric can handle it now... But what will happen when you start adding to your environment?
Remember the maximumn throughput on a 1 GB connection is 125mbs. Even creating a 2 member bond just gives you 250/mbs. Throw a "hop" in the mix....... I just don't like the numbers. Especially if you're going to run several VM guests on one server.
I feel your pain. Oracle VM can be a complicated product to use if you don't understand its full functionality. If you don't have your system in production.... then change it. Go through the headache now. Oracle VM works very well when it is setup properly. Very well. I just implemented a RAC environment running Oracle's ERP systems for several hundred users. It works great. Haven't had one problem since the migration. Performance is spectacular...