hp virtual connect technical fundamental101 v2.1

© Copyright 2010 Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.6

VIRTUAL CONNECT FUNDAMENTAL 101


TOO MANY CABLES OR TOO MANY SWITCHES AND EVERYONE GETS IN THE ACT…

SAN

LAN

Server Administrator

A

B

C

Spare

EN

ET

Sw

itc

h

FC

Sw

itc

h

NIC

HB

A

WWN

MAC addr

NIC

HB

AN

ICH

BA

NIC

HB

A

Storage Administrator

Network Administrator

Blade Enclosure

• Pass-through modules candrown youin cables

• Switches work great but can overwhelm in numbers

• LANs & SANs must follow the moving server, requiring effort from everyone and delaying resolution


TRADITIONAL CHOICESPASS-THROUGH SOLUTION

Advantages

• No switches to manage

Disadvantages

• Pass-through modules candrown you in cables


NIC

HB

AN

ICH

BA

NIC

HB

AN

ICH

BA

EN

ET

Pa

ss-

Th

rou

gh

FC

Pa

ss-

Th

rou

g

h


Blade Enclosure

MAC addr

WWN



A

B

C

Spare

LAN

SAN


PASS THROUGH: TOO MANY CABLESPROBLEM: ERROR PRONE & COSTLY

Datacenter

16 Blades x 8 NICs each = 128 Cat6 patch cables

per Blade Chassis


TRADITIONAL CHOICESSWITCH

NIC

HB

AN

ICH

BA

NIC

HB

AN

ICH

BA

EN

E

T

Sw

itc

h

FC

Sw

itch


Blade Enclosure

MAC addr

WWN



A

B

C

Spare

LAN

SAN

Advantage

• Reduce cabling

Disadvantages

• More switches to manage



ADDING SERVERS

LAN

SAN

• Add BL685c slot-8

• Network Admin

− Server mac address allow access to network

• Storage Admin

− Create LUN, allow wwn to access LUN

• Server Admin

− Deploy OS/App image to server

• Mac address and wwn not known until server arrives

− All 3 persons must be present to get servers working


SAN wwn

Mac address

1

NIC

HB

A

mac1

wwn1

NIC

HB

A

mac2

wwn2N

ICH

BA

mac3

wwn3

LAN

SAN

LAN

SAN

Blade Enclosure

No

rtm

alS

witch

XRegister the MAC

address with the

Network team.

Registration can occur

only when the server

arrived.

Register the WWN with

the SAN team.

(Registration can occur


arrived).

WHAT HAPPEN WHEN YOU REPLACE A SERVER?


SAN wwn

Mac address

1

NIC

HB

A

mac4

wwn4

NIC

HB

A

mac2

wwn2

NIC

HB

A

mac3

wwn3

LAN

SAN

LAN

SAN

Blade Enclosure

No

rma

l S

witch

Need to involve the

Network team again to

register the new MAC4

address.

Need to involve the

SAN team again to

register the new WWN4

address

WHAT HAPPEN WHEN YOU REPLACE A SERVER?


1

NIC

HB

A

mac1

wwn1

NIC

HB

A

mac2

wwn2N

ICH

BA

mac3

wwn3

LAN

SAN

LAN

SAN

Blade Enclosure

HP

Virtu

alC

on

ne

ct

Register the MAC

address with the

Network team.



arrived.


the SAN team.



arrived).

VIRTUAL CONNECT ELIMINATES THE NEED TO HAVE THE

NETWORK/STORAGE TEAM TO BE PRESENT ALL THE

TIMES

mac1

wwn1

mac2

wwn2

mac3

wwn3

SAN wwn

Mac address

mac1

mac2

mac3

wwn1

wwn2

wwn3


1

NIC

HB

A

wwn1

NIC

HB

A

mac2

wwn2N

ICH

BA

mac3

wwn3

LAN

SAN

LAN

SAN

Blade Enclosure

HP

Virtu

alC

on

ne

ctX

Register the MAC

address with the

Network team.



arrived.


the SAN team.



arrived).



TIMES

SAN wwn

Mac address

mac1

mac2

mac3

wwn1

wwn2

wwn3

mac1

wwn1

mac1


1

NIC

HB

A

wwn4

NIC

HB

A

mac2

wwn2N

ICH

BA

mac3

wwn3

LAN

SAN

LAN

SAN

Blade Enclosure

HP

Virtu

alC

on

ne

ct

Register the MAC

address with the

Network team.



arrived.


the SAN team.



arrived).



TIMES

mac1

wwn1

SAN wwn

Mac address

mac1

mac2

mac3

wwn1

wwn2

wwn3

mac4


SIMPLIFY AND MAKE YOUR DATACENTER CHANGE-READY WITH VIRTUAL CONNECT

• Simplify networks

− Reduce cables without adding switches to manage

• Simplify server connections

− Cleanly separate server enclosure from LAN and SAN

• Change servers in minutes, not days

− Add, move, and replace servers fast without affecting your LANs or SANs

pNIC pNIC

Server Blade 2Server Blade 1

Virtual

Connect

For Ethernetworks across

multiple stacked

enclosures

How do VC-Enet uplinks look from the data center network perspective?

• Does not participate in data center STP

• Automatic loop prevention inside VC

• Allows aggregation of links to data center networks (LACP and fail-over)

• Supports VLAN tagging on egress or pass-through of VLAN tags

• Supports Link Layer Discovery Protocol

pNIC pNIC pNIC pNIC

Virtual Connect

Manager (VCM)Server Blade

16…

?From the outside,

VC-Enet uplinks look a lot like a bunch of

NICs on a big server (or pool of servers)

‘LAN-safe’

Trunking terminologyCisco Terms/

Protocol

Industry Terms/

Protocol

HP VC Terms/

Protocol

Diagram

Trunking

*(ISL)

Vlan Trunking

(802.1Q)

Shared Uplink Set (SUS)

(802.1Q)

Channeling

*(PAGP)

Port Trunking

(LACP or 802.3ad)

Auto

(LACP)

Trunking + Channeling

*(ISL + PAGP)

Vlan Trunk + Port Trunk

(802.1Q + LACP)

Shared Uplink Set + Auto

(802.1Q + LACP)

* Cisco Proprietary

protocols. Cisco switches are

also compatible with industry

standard protocols.

2

2

pNIC pNIC

Server Blade 2

VC-Enet

Server Blade 1

VC-Enet Uplinks (1/2)Redundancy

pNIC pNIC pNIC pNIC

Server Blade

16…pNIC pNIC

Server Blade 3

LAN 1

vNet

Activ

e

Standby

2

3

pNIC pNIC

Server Blade 2

VC-Enet

Server Blade 1

VC-Enet Uplinks (2/2)Redundancy

pNIC pNIC pNIC pNIC

Server Blade

16…pNIC pNIC

Server Blade 3

LAN 1

vNet

Faile

d

Active

pNIC pNIC

Server Blade 2

VC-Enet

Server Blade 1

VC-Enet UplinksLoad Balancing and Redundancy

pNIC pNIC pNIC pNIC

Server Blade

16…pNIC pNIC

Server Blade 3

Aggregatelink

LAN 1

Activ

e

Standby

pNIC pNIC

Server Blade 2

VC-Enet

Server Blade 1

VC-Enet UplinksAdvanced Load Balancing & Fault Tolerance

pNIC pNIC pNIC pNIC

Server Blade

16…pNIC pNIC

Server Blade 3

LAN 1

Aggregate1 Aggregate2

pNIC pNIC

Server Blade 2

VC-Enet

Server Blade 1

VLAN Tagging

pNIC pNIC pNIC pNIC

Server Blade

16…

Data Center Switch

Shared Uplink

VLAN100 VLAN200

pNIC pNIC

Server Blade 3

SUS1

VC_LAN 1VLAN100

VLAN200

LAN 1


VIRTUAL CONNECT 101 Virtual Connect Key Value

– Key Message: Virtual Connect can simplify and converge your

server edge connections, integrate into any standards based

networking infrastructure and reduce complexity while cutting

your costs.

• Reference: http://h18004.www1.hp.com/products/blades/components/vc-

interconnects.html

http://h18004.www1.hp.com/products/blades/components/vc-interconnects.html

28

V1.2 Content

HP Virtual Connect family at a glance

HP Virtual Connect Enterprise Manager

Management

HP 1/10Gb-F VC-Ethernet Module

HP Flex-10 10Gb VC-Ethernet Module

HP 8Gb 24-Port VC-Fibre Channel Module

HP 8Gb 20-Port VC-Fibre Channel Module

HP VC FlexFabric 10Gb/24-Port Module

Ethernet Converged networking Fibre Channel

4x 1Gb Ethernet (RJ45)

HP 1/10Gb-F Virtual Connect Ethernet Module

16x 1Gb Ethernet – Connects to one NIC in each HH blade server bay

1x 10Gb – Cross-link between adjacent VC-Enet modules

Management Interfaces to Onboard Administrator

1x 10Gb Ethernet (CX4)

Usable as data center links or

as stacking links. 2x 10Gb Ethernet (XFP)

Support for copper or fiber 10Gb

connectivity to the data center

MidPlane

Faceplate

2x 1Gb Ethernet (SFP)

Support for copper or fiber 1Gb

connectivity to the data center

30 12 February 2015 HP Confidential - HP Restricted after 17 November 2008HP Confidential

Flex10 Virtual Connect Fundamental

32

16x 10GBASE-KR Ethernet – Connects to one (1Gb or 10Gb) NIC in each HH blade bay

2x 10Gb Ethernet – Cross-link between adjacent VC-Enet modules

Mgmt Interfaces to Onboard Administrator (Enet & I2C)

HP Virtual Connect Flex-10 10Gb Ethernet Module

MidPlane:

Port Number & Status IndicatorsIndicates whether a data center link (green),

stacking link (amber), or highlighted port (blue).

1x 10GBASE-CX4 Ethernet or

1x SFP+ module (X1)

Recessed

module reset

button

5x SFP+ modules (X2-6)

(1GbE or 10GbE)

2x Crosslinks (midplane) or

2x SFP+ module (X7-8)

33 12 February 2015

Divide and Fine Tune• What is “Flex-10” technology?

− Two components:

• 10Gb Server NIC’s that can be carved into multiple individual FlexNIC’s

− OS transparency - Each FlexNIC is recognized by server ROM as an individual NIC with its own driver.

− The Bandwidth for each FlexNIC is user defined from 100Mb to 10Gb.

• HP Virtual Connect Flex-10 10Gb Ethernet Module

− The first and only Interconnect Module that manages the server connections to the data center network

− Recognizes and manages each FlexNIC as part of a server profile

34 12 February 2015

Network connections today with traditional server blades

1Gb

LOMDual

NIC

Quad

NIC

8connections require

8interconnect modules(Speeds are fixed at 1Gb/s or 10Gb/s)

35 12 February 2015

Flexible NIC (FlexNIC) Technology

• Evolve to 10Gb at your own speed

− Flex-10 10Gb NIC's are PCI Physical Function devices

− OS independent

− Server ROM recognizes them as individual NIC's

− Speeds can be set per NIC from 100Mb to 10Gb in 100Mb increments

E E EEE EE E

Server Server

E E E E

1Gb LOM Dual NIC Quad NIC

E E EE

E

E

E

E 2.5Gb

1.75Gb

0.25Gb

5.5Gb

10Gb LOM Total: 10Gb

36 12 February 2015

Simplifying Blade Server Interconnect

1Gb Switch 1Gb Switch1Gb Switch 1Gb Switch1Gb Switch 1Gb Switch1Gb Switch 1Gb Switch

10Gb Flex-10 10Gb Flex-10

Interconnect Modules Interconnect Modules

Threefold increase in server network connections

Threefold decrease in the number of I/O modules required

Fine tune network speeds based on application needs

Add server ports without adding more switches

E E EEE EE E

Server Server

E E E E

1Gb LOM Dual NIC Quad NIC

E E EE

10Gb LOM

Each 10Gb Server connection supports up to (4) 2.5Gb NIC’s

NIC speed settings can be adjusted in 100Mb increments from 100Mb to 10Gb.

Traditional Server Next Generation Flex-10

Server

FlexFabric Virtual Connect Fundamental

Subtitle Placeholder

38

V1.2 Content

New Virtual Connect FlexFabric module FlexFabric adapters

All the greatness of VC Flex-10

Plus, connects data, FC and iSCSI

Plus, works with existing network gear

HP Virtual Connect FlexFabric 10Gb/24-port Module

ProLiant G7

blades

with integrated

FlexFabric

adapter

FlexFabric Adapter

mezzanine cards

HP Confidential 2010

The world’s simplest way to connect to any network

HP Virtual Connect FlexFabric 10Gb/24-Port Module

©2009 HP Confidential3939HP Restricted – Internal Use

VC FlexFabric 10Gb/24-Port Module Details

16 Individually Configurable Downlink Ports to midplane

10 Gb Ethernet, Flex-10, Flex-10/FCoE, Flex-10/iSCSI

2 x 10Gb Cross-links between adjacent FlexFabric modules

Mgmt Interfaces to Onboard Administrator (Enet, RS232, and I²C)

2x Cross-links (midplane)

or

2x Enet SFP+ ports (X7-

X8)

Four Ethernet Uplink Ports

–Ethernet only (1/10Gb)

–SFP+ SR/LR/ELR/LRM/Copper DA

–Stacking supported for Ethernet Only (FCoE future upgrade)

Four Configurable Uplink Ports

– Individually configurable as FC or Ethernet

– Ethernet 10Gb (only), Fibre Channel: 2/4/8 Gbps

– FC uplinks – N_Ports, just like legacy VC-FC module

uplinks

– Stacking supported for Ethernet Only (FCoE future

upgrade)

FlexFabric Adapter MappingWith VC FlexFabric Modules

Second PF can be either Ethernet, FCoE or iSCSI, but it absolutely must have the

same personality between ports 1 and 2 on the same FlexFabric adapter.40 ©2010 HP Confidential

Dual Port

FlexFabric Mezz or

LOM

VC FlexFabric Modules

I/O Bay 2

I/O Bay 1

Flex NICFlex NIC

Flex NIC/FCoE/iSCSIFlex NIC

FlexFabric

Adapter Port 2

Flex NICFlex NIC

Flex NIC/FCoE/iSCSIFlex NIC

FlexFabric

Adapter Port 1

41

FlexFabric Adapter – PF Rules/Behavior

• PXE boot can only be enabled on the 1st PF

− VC allows only one port to be PXE enabled per server profile

• iSCSI/FCoE boot and PXE are supported on the same port, but on different PFs:

− FCoE and iSCSI boot can not be enabled at the same time

− 1st PF can be PXE boot enabled and 2nd PF can be iSCSI boot

OR

− 1st PF can be PXE boot enabled and 2nd PF can be FCoE boot

• Unutilized physical functions will be hidden from the OS

42

FlexFabric Adapter– Physical Functions

©2010 HP Confidential43

One integrated device does it all

0.5

2

.0

3.5

4.0

10 Gb

Any connection, any network Any speed Any capacity

Fine-tune network, storage connections to meet any need

20 Gb standard

…and add up to

40Gb more

©2010 HP Confidential


VIRTUAL CONNECT 101 Virtual Connect Key Value

– Key Message: Virtual Connect can simplify and converge your

server edge connections, integrate into any standards based

networking infrastructure and reduce complexity while cutting

your costs.

• Reference: http://h18004.www1.hp.com/products/blades/components/vc-

interconnects.html

http://h18004.www1.hp.com/products/blades/components/vc-interconnects.html

Insight Software Fundamental