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Can iSCSI LIF and NAS LIF be on the same LIF

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ontap-9
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san
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Applies to

  • ONTAP 9
  • iSCSI
  • NAS
  • LIF

Answer

No, iSCSI LIFs and NAS LIFs (such as NFS/CIFS LIFs) should be separated for the following reasons:
  • NAS LIFs can be freely moved from node to node or belong to a failover group that specifies to which node and port they move during an HA or port failover.
  • SAN LIFs (iSCSI or FC) represent the endpoint of multiple paths established simultaneously between SCSI initiator and SCSI target. The host’s MPIO software manages which paths receive I/O.
  • SAN LIFs do not fail over like NAS LIFs. The failover mechanism for SAN is provisioning multiple paths and using multipathing (MPIO) software on hosts to manage the multiple paths presented to them.
  • Due to this difference in behavior, Ethernet LIFs that serve data using the iSCSI protocol cannot also serve data using a NAS protocol.
However, it is possible to use the same SVM and the same physical or vif port for both iSCSI and NAS LIFs, but they must be configured as separate LIFs.

Additional Information

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