Integrity - c7000 - BL860c - Cisco 3020

[Five Tenets]

We have 2 BL860c Intregity Blades running Windows 2003 Server inside a c7000 Rack.

We also have 2 internal Cisco 3020 switches.

What I would like to know is how to team 2 of the 4 NICs together on each BL860c for redundancy. I want each NIC of the team to come from both of the 3020s for redundancy also.

I am not worried about speed or load balancing.

Is if possible to team NIC 1 and NIC 2 from each Blade together while these NICs are criss crossed to both switches for redundancy?

What special precautions do I need to make on the 3020, if it is possible.

Is there a better way to team 2 NICs for redundancy across 2 internal 3020s?

My goal is to team NIC 1 and 2 for each blade across 2 3020s inside VLAN 1. Then I would like to team NIC 3 and 4 across 2 3020s using the interconnect on VLAN 2.

Thanks for any help!

[Five Tenets]

What I'm trying for is port redundancy, NIC redundancy, and also Switch redundancy.

From Blade 1 I would like to team NIC 1 and NIC 2 together.

NIC 1 would be a downlink port coming from 3020 #1 and NIC 2 would be a downlink port coming from 3020 #2.

Same for NIC 3 and NIC 4 but over a different VLAN and using the Interconnect.

[Five Tenets]

Anything special to note in the HP teaming software?

Do I need to verify anything in the VC?

Thanks again!

[Terri Harris]

Just to clarify how the port mapping works on the c7000:
Embedded NIC ports 1 & 3 will come out the Cisco 3020 in interconnect bay 1. Embedded NIC ports 2 & 4 will come out the 3020 in interconnect bay 2.
There is no built-in link between the 2 Cisco 3020 switches.
You may know this already, so I don't know if this information helps or not.

[Five Tenets]

Thanks Terry!

So, does it make sense and is it possible to Team NIC 1 and 2 together to provide fault tolerance across both 3020s?

Is there a better way to have fault tolerance across the 2 3020s for the 2 BL860cs to prevent a port/nic failure?

Thank you again!
FT

[Terri Harris]

It makes a lot of sense to do NIC teaming, especially where the 2 ports are going out separate Ethernet switches.
When you run the NCU (HP's NIC teaming software) you'll hve 2 fault tolerance options. One is strictly FT, meaning one port is active and the other is not, its stays in standby mode waiting for the primary to fail. If you chose Load Balancing instead then both ports will carry traffic and if one fails, the other port will carry all the traffic.
Make sure the NIC driver is current and you get the latest NCU. Then you should have no problems setting it up.

[Five Tenets]

Thanks again!

Right now I have it set for "Automatic", which negotiates to "TLB with FT".


Which is the latest and correct driver NCU?

On HP's site to download NIC drivers for the Itanium BL860c I see 2 categories:

1) "Driver - Network" which says the current version is 10.35.0.0 (a) 17 Apr 2008

2) "Driver - NIC" which says the current version is 10.35.0.0 14 Sep 2007

We current have loaded 10.35.0.0 9 May 2007. Why are the dates diff on 10.35.0.0!?!?

What is the difference in the 2 categories above? Which one is the right version and driver?


The same applies for the NCU:

1) "Utility - Network" which says the current version is 8.60.0.1 (c) 15 Oct 2008. Previous version is 8.57.0.7 (F)
17 Apr 2008.

2) "Utility - NIC" which says the current version is 8.56.0.6 14 Sep 2007

* We are using NCU v8.57.0.7 with a team driver of 8.57.0.0 16 Oct 2007.

I don't even see 8.57.0.0 on HP's revision history!?


Thanks again!
FT

[Five Tenets]

This was my hunch....I wonder as noted above if we are even using a correct version let alone the latest version.

I strong agree and belive it may have something to do with drivers, etc. simply because I can't find our exact version on their download drivers site.

Thanks again Terri!
FT

[Five Tenets]

Believed to be driver version problem