During a node replacement, iSCSI LIFs drop while NFS LIFs stay online. Which explanation is suggested by the scenario?

During a node replacement, iSCSI LIFs drop while NFS LIFs stay online. Which explanation is suggested by the scenario?

• A. iSCSI LIFs fail over automatically
• B. iSCSI requires multipathing
• C. NFS LIFs cannot migrate
• D. SLM was disabled

Answer: (B)

iSCSI needs multiple paths to stay up when a node is taken out of service. If you only have a single path for iSCSI, the iSCSI LIF becomes unavailable during the node replacement and the iSCSI sessions drop. When multipathing is configured, there are alternate paths to the iSCSI target, so IO can fail over to another path and the connection remains intact. The observation that iSCSI LIFs drop while NFS LIFs stay online fits this: NFS connections tend to survive node maintenance because IP-level failover or LIF migration keeps the export reachable, whereas iSCSI without multiple paths loses its only path. So the scenario suggests that multipathing is required for iSCSI to maintain connectivity during maintenance.

iSCSI needs multiple paths to stay up when a node is taken out of service. If you only have a single path for iSCSI, the iSCSI LIF becomes unavailable during the node replacement and the iSCSI sessions drop. When multipathing is configured, there are alternate paths to the iSCSI target, so IO can fail over to another path and the connection remains intact. The observation that iSCSI LIFs drop while NFS LIFs stay online fits this: NFS connections tend to survive node maintenance because IP-level failover or LIF migration keeps the export reachable, whereas iSCSI without multiple paths loses its only path. So the scenario suggests that multipathing is required for iSCSI to maintain connectivity during maintenance.