HP Virtual Connect technical fundamental 101

1. © Copyright 2010 Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.6
VIRTUAL CONNECT
FUNDAMENTAL 101

2. © Copyright 2010 Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.9
TOO MANY CABLES OR TOO MANY SWITCHES
AND EVERYONE GETS IN THE ACT…
SAN
LAN
Server Administrator
A
B
C
Spare
ENET
Switc
h
FC
Switc
h
NICHBA
WWN
MAC addr
NICHBANICHBANICHBA
Storage Administrator
Network Administrator
Blade Enclosure
• Pass-through
modules can
drown you
in cables
• Switches work great
but can
overwhelm
in numbers
• LANs & SANs must
follow the moving
server, requiring
effort from everyone
and delaying
resolution

3. © Copyright 2010 Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.10
TRADITIONAL CHOICES
PASS-THROUGH SOLUTION
Advantages
• No switches to manage
Disadvantages
• Pass-through modules can
drown you in cables
• LANs & SANs must follow
the moving server, requiring
effort from everyone and
delaying resolution
NICHBANICHBANICHBANICHBA
ENETPass-
Through
FC
Pass-
Throug
h
Server Administrator
Blade Enclosure
MAC addr
WWN
Network Administrator
Storage Administrator
A
B
C
Spare
LAN
SAN

4. © Copyright 2010 Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.11
PASS THROUGH: TOO MANY CABLES
PROBLEM: ERROR PRONE & COSTLY
Datacenter
16 Blades x 8 NICs each = 128 Cat6 patch cables
per Blade Chassis

5. © Copyright 2010 Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.12
TRADITIONAL CHOICES
SWITCH
NICHBANICHBANICHBANICHBA
ENE
T
Switc
h
FC
Switch
Server Administrator
Blade Enclosure
MAC addr
WWN
Network Administrator
Storage Administrator
A
B
C
Spare
LAN
SAN
Advantage
• Reduce cabling
Disadvantages
• More switches to
manage
• LANs & SANs must
follow the moving
server, requiring
effort from everyone
and delaying
resolution

6. © Copyright 2010 Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.13
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

7. © Copyright 2010 Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.14
SAN wwn
Mac address
NICHBA
mac1
wwn1
NICHBA
mac2
wwn2
NICHBA
mac3
wwn3
LAN
SAN
LAN
SAN
Blade Enclosure
NortmalSwitch
X
Register 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
only when the server
arrived).
WHAT HAPPEN WHEN YOU REPLACE A
SERVER?

8. © Copyright 2010 Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.15
SAN wwn
Mac address
NICHBA
mac4
wwn4
NICHBA
mac2
wwn2
NICHBA
mac3
wwn3
LAN
SAN
LAN
SAN
Blade Enclosure
NormalSwitch
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?

9. © Copyright 2010 Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.16
NICHBA
mac1
wwn1
NICHBA
mac2
wwn2
NICHBA
mac3
wwn3
LAN
SAN
LAN
SAN
Blade Enclosure
HPVirtualConnect
Register 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
only when the server
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

10. © Copyright 2010 Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.17
NICHBA
wwn1
NICHBA
mac2
wwn2
NICHBA
mac3
wwn3
LAN
SAN
LAN
SAN
Blade Enclosure
HPVirtualConnect
X
Register 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
only when the server
arrived).
VIRTUAL CONNECT ELIMINATES THE NEED TO HAVE THE
NETWORK/STORAGE TEAM TO BE PRESENT ALL THE
TIMES
SAN wwn
Mac address
mac1
mac2
mac3
wwn1
wwn2
wwn3
mac1
wwn1
mac1

11. © Copyright 2010 Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.18
NICHBA
wwn4
NICHBA
mac2
wwn2
NICHBA
mac3
wwn3
LAN
SAN
LAN
SAN
Blade Enclosure
HPVirtualConnect
Register 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
only when the server
arrived).
VIRTUAL CONNECT ELIMINATES THE NEED TO HAVE THE
NETWORK/STORAGE TEAM TO BE PRESENT ALL THE
TIMES
mac1
wwn1
SAN wwn
Mac address
mac1
mac2
mac3
wwn1
wwn2
wwn3
mac4

12. © Copyright 2010 Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.19
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

13. pNIC pNIC
Server Blade 2Server Blade 1
Virtual
Connect
For Ethernet
works 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’

14. Trunking terminology
Cisco 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

15. 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

16. 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

17. pNIC pNIC
Server Blade 2
VC-Enet
Server Blade 1
VC-Enet Uplinks
Load Balancing and Redundancy
pNIC pNIC pNIC pNIC
Server Blade
16
…
pNIC pNIC
Server Blade 3
Aggregatelink
LAN 1
Activ
e
Standby

18. pNIC pNIC
Server Blade 2
VC-Enet
Server Blade 1
VC-Enet Uplinks
Advanced Load Balancing & Fault Tolerance
pNIC pNIC pNIC pNIC
Server Blade
16
…
pNIC pNIC
Server Blade 3
LAN 1
Aggregate1 Aggregate2

19. 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 1
VLAN100
VLAN200
LAN 1

20. © Copyright 2010 Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.27
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

21. 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

22. 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

23. 30 12 February 2015 HP Confidential - HP Restricted after 17 November 2008HP Confidential

24. Flex10 Virtual Connect
Fundamental

25. 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 Indicators
Indicates 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)

26. 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

27. 34 12 February 2015
Network connections today
with traditional server blades
1Gb
LOM
Dual
NIC
Quad
NIC
8connections require
8interconnect modules
(Speeds are fixed at 1Gb/s or 10Gb/s)

28. 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

29. 36 12 February 2015
Simplifying Blade Server Interconnect
1Gb Switch 1Gb Switch
1Gb Switch 1Gb Switch
1Gb Switch 1Gb Switch
1Gb 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

30. FlexFabric Virtual
Connect Fundamental
Subtitle Placeholder

31. 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

32. ©2009 HP Confidential3939
HP 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)

33. FlexFabric Adapter Mapping
With 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 NIC
Flex NIC
Flex NIC/FCoE/iSCSI
Flex NIC
FlexFabric
Adapter Port 2
Flex NIC
Flex NIC
Flex NIC/FCoE/iSCSI
Flex NIC
FlexFabric
Adapter Port 1

34. 41
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

35. 42
FlexFabric Adapter– Physical Functions

36. ©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

37. © Copyright 2010 Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.44
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

38. Insight Software
Fundamental