Preparing the iSCSI storage for 11gR2 RAC and try to fine tune network performance by using LACP (Link Aggregation Control Protocol). Sometime it called NIC teaming or NIC bonding or trunking.
My original setup was 1 NIC for public network so that administration can be done. Another NIC was used for iSCSI between the NAS and the 2 RAC nodes. It became the bottleneck of 11gR1 test labs and I hope LACP may help as it is better than having one NIC dedicated for each RAC node.
Here are my steps:
- Add the third network card to the FreeNAS guests and then boot it up.
- From Web GUI, click Network –> Interface Management click the LAGG tab. Click the “+” button to add an interface. Default name will be “lagg0”. In Aggregation Protocol select LACP Link Aggregation Control Protocol. In Ports select both em1 & em2 interfaces. Then click the ADD button.
- Under Management tab select the “lagg0” for the interface instead of “em1” for NAS (second interface in my NAS).
- Click Network –> NAS and confirm it is activated and IP address is correct, then SAVE.
- Reboot FreeNAS guest.
- The RAC nodes now can connect the NAS with better bandwidth.
My Adventure with VirturalBox 