We have several Dell 6248 swtich stacks (of 3 each) that form the backbone of our iSCSI Storage network. We need to perform firmware updates on the switch stacks, but are concerned about the downtime required.
By way of information our storage is exclusively Dell/Equallogic PS6000 series enclosures with 3 or 4 GigE uplinks per enclosure.
As you might already know, these switches can't be upgraded a member at a time, and the reboot required to upgrade the switches is on the order of two minutes (i.e. longer than the iSCSI initiator timeout for a volume).
Does anyone have any suggestions for how we might be able to accomplish a iSCSI SAN switch stack upgrade while minimizing downtime?
Thanks for any help or suggestions.
Joe