Flex-10 and VC domain questions

[Igor Karasik]

Hi,

Our current environment in one of our locations:
- Two C7000 enclosures,
- In each enclosure we have
* 2 HP 1/10Gb-F Virtual Connect Ethernet Modules in interconnect bays 1 and 2, connected to our network backbone
* 2 HP 1/10Gb-F Virtual Connect Ethernet Modules in interconnect bays 3 and 4, connected to our iSCSI network

iSCSI network is physically different from our network backbone.

VC domain "1" defined for enclosure 1 and VC domain "2" defined for enclosure 2. No stacking links currently exist.


We have now ordered additional C7000 enclosure with * 2 HP Flex-10 Virtual Connect Ethernet Modules in bays 1 and 2.
We plan to connect new Flex-10 modules to our network backbone with 2 * 10GB links ,and to our iSCSI network with 4 * 1GB links
Our Network backbone is based on 3COM S7910E switch and the iSCSI network is based on Nortel switches.

Questions:
1) Can we connect Flex-10 to 1GB RJ-45 ports on a Nortel network switch ? Which transceiver/cables do we need?
2) Can we connect Flex-10 to 10GB SFP ports on a 3COM switch ?
Which Transceiver/cables do we need ? 3COM ports have 10GB SR SFP (not SFP+ !!!) transceivers. Can we use 3COM SFP 10Gb fiber Cables ?
3) We want to stack VC in all 3 enclosures to one VC domain. Is it possible although our iSCSI network is physically different from our network backbone ? Generally speaking, we don’t want our regular network traffic and iSCSI to interfere with each other. However, we will still have to connect our regular network and iSCSI to the same Flex-10 module.
What cables do we need to order – we need to connect 4 * HP 1/10Gb-F Virtual Connect Ethernet Modules in two enclosures (8 VC's) and 2 * Flex-10 Virtual Connect Ethernet Modules in the third enclosure ?
4) How can we stack (in the future :-)) more than two Flex-10 modules? Each Flex-10 module has only one CX4 port…

Thanks !

[Ken Henault · Accepted solution]

1) Yes, HP Bladesystem 1Gb RJ-45 SFP Opt Kit
453154-B21

2)Yes, you'll use 3COM SFP on the 3COM end, and HP SFP+ on the HP end. HP BladeSystem 10Gb SR SFP+ 455883-B21

3) Yes, all networks are carried over the stacking links

4)You only need one connection per VC module for stacking. You can use any port on the VC module for stacking.

From the FAQ:
Are there limits to which Virtual Connect FC modules can be in a stacked configuration?
Any VC-FC module can be used as long as that same type of VC-FC module is used in the same specific bay in every enclosure in the stack domain. For instance, if a customer puts the forthcoming 8 Gb VC FC module in bay 3 of one enclosure, the customer needs to put the same 8 Gb VC FC module in bay 3 of every enclosure of a multi-enclosure stacked domain. When an HP VC-FC module in installed in an interconnect bay, the only module that can be installed in the horizontally adjacent interconnect bay is another VC-FC module of the same type.
Is there a limit to how many Ethernet or Fiber Channel Virtual Connect modules I can stack within the enclosures that make up the Virtual Connect Domain?
Yes. A maximum of 16 Ethernet and 16 Fiber Channel Virtual Connect modules will be supported per Virtual Connect domain in a stacked configuration

[Igor Karasik]

Ken, many thanks !
Questions 1 and 2 are clear now.

3) The question is if our regular network traffic and iSCSI will not interfere with each other when we will stack VC modules ?

In order to connect CX4 port of 1/10Gb-F Virtual Connect Ethernet Module to CX4 port of Flex-10 Virtual Connect Ethernet Modules in the third enclosure we need to order only
HP 1m 10GbE CX4 Cable 444477-B22, without any transceiver, right ?


4) Thanks, I miss this document "HP BladeSystem Virtual Connect Interconnects - Multi-Enclosure Stacking Support" before.
The question now if "Virtual Connect FC modules" mean HP Virtual Connect 4Gb/8Gb Fibre Channel Module or HP 1/10Gb-F Virtual Connect Ethernet Module too?
Once and for all - can we stack our 3 enclosures:
in two enclosures we have HP 1/10Gb-F Virtual Connect Ethernet Modules in interconnect bays 1 and 2 and in third enclosure we will have HP Virtual Connect Flex-10 10GB Ethernet Module in
interconnect bays 1 and 2 ?

Thanks.