topic Re: Blades not getting connectivity / Virtual Connect / Specific Bays in BladeSystem - General

Blades not getting connectivity / Virtual Connect / Specific Bays

Lash J — Wed, 27 Apr 2011 06:45:58 GMT

Hi All,

I am currently experiencing a connectivity issue on our blade infrastructure.

We have the following

2 x C7000 Enclosures
32 x BL460c G6 Servers
Virtual Connect configured in stacking mode.
1 x Ethernet Uplink on each Enclosure
Boot from SAN on ALL servers
Servers running Either XenServer or ESXi

Enclosure 1 is running fine with Ethernet + SAN connectivity.

Enclosure 2 is running ALMOST fine.
Bays 9,12,14 are affected by a connectivity issues.
OS is installed but no ethernet connectivity is available.

I have tried installing Windows 2008 R2 on disk on one of those 3 bays to rule out any OS-related issue, but even on Windows I do not get ethernet connectivity.

IF I move the VC Profile of let's say server in Bay 9 to another Bay, the server gets connectivity fine in the other bay.

For more info,

OA is on v3.11 - Updated last night.

VC Manager is currently on v2.12 - quite old I know, but I will be able to update only during the weekend.

The problem I need to explain now mainly is why the server will get connectivity in one bay, and not in another.

Any insight on this?

Thanks for any replies.

Re: Blades not getting connectivity / Virtual Connect / Specific Bays

gregersenj — Wed, 27 Apr 2011 07:12:07 GMT

I have never seen this problem.
But here's some suggestions.

Hung VC module -> Reboot
FW -> Upgrade
Defective VC -> Replace
Broken Connectors -> Replace
Corruptet Profile -> delete prfile and create new.

I would suggest You do a full FW upgrade on the enclosures.
All servers > FW DVD 9.20.
VC > 3.15, or newer (Better check)
OA > 3.21. Its been out for a long time, so its good.

read the C7000 Technology Brief, you will find it on the web.

I will post one more replay, with my personal notes on what to beware of with FW upgrades.

BR
/jag

Re: Blades not getting connectivity / Virtual Connect / Specific Bays

gregersenj — Wed, 27 Apr 2011 07:15:09 GMT

Issue Broadcom and ESX 4.1 see vmware kb 1029368
http://kb.vmware.com/kb/1029368 Broadcom nic.

See also kb 1029398 for a patch

Windows. ILo Fw 1.81 or older. Must upgrade Ilo driver first see:
http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/Document.jsp?locale=en_US&objectID=c01802766

Windows Broadcom driver. Windows 2003, 2008. If Broadcom driver is older than ver. 4.6.16.0,
Then 4.6.16.0 must be installed first:
http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/SoftwareDescription.jsp?lang=en&cc=us&prodTypeId=3709945&prodSeriesId=2510357&swItem=MTX-64aadf41b8b44edbb5ec5d3f30&prodNameId=3288154&swEnvOID=1005&swLang=8&taskId=135&mode=4&idx=1

Re-enumeration at BIOS upgrade
http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/Document.jsp?objectID=c01953720〈=en&cc=us&taskId=101&prodSeriesId=2510357&prodTypeId=15351

Upgrade seq.
1. BIOS
2. ILO
3. PMC
4. OA
Inteconnect modules.
1, 2 and 3 done booting on the FW DVD. Then you don't need to think over the sequence.

http://h18004.www1.hp.com/products/blades/components/c-class.html#tab3_content

Currently PSP 8.60 and FW DVD 9.20.

If VC is older than 1.34, then VC should be upgraded prior to OA.
http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bc/docs/support/SupportManual/c02225412/c02225412.pdf
Page 16.

NIC 10Gbe: 5.2.22.0 â 6.2.16.0 No success
5.2.22.0 â 6.0.60.0 â 6.2.16.0 Success

BR
/jag

Re: Blades not getting connectivity / Virtual Connect / Specific Bays

The Brit — Wed, 27 Apr 2011 09:38:17 GMT

Hi,
You dont give any information on possible error messages in VCM system log??

Are your stacking links all correctly configured and linked ??

Dave

Re: Blades not getting connectivity / Virtual Connect / Specific Bays

Robert_Jewell — Thu, 28 Apr 2011 18:38:05 GMT

Also...
Is this is a config you just build and find its now not working? Or was this working before and now it is not? If so, were any changes at all made?

-Bob