Virtual connect vs switch in c7000

[SAM_24]

Hi,

What is the difference between VC-ENET module vs ethernet switch or pass-thru module in a blade enclosure? I couldn't make out the difference.

Thanks.

[Jan Soska]

Hello,
main diferences:
a) VC-enet - virtual switch made by HP (no cisco etc), no L3 functions, cheaper then b)

b) eth switch - normal full switch made by common switch vendors (HP, Cisco...)

c) pass-through modules - no switch in blade sasi, instead there is had cabling and you connect blades directly to you non-blade ethernet infrastructure (maybe cheapest, but you loose cabling enhancements of blades, simply no point if you really need/want blades)

Jan

[The Brit]

To go alittle further,

VC allows the virtualization of mac addresses and WWID's, i.e. at boot time, the "REAL" hardware addresses and WWIDs are overwritten by the Virtual values.

The big advantage of this is that blades can be swapped or moved without having to do any changes to network or SAN setup. Within VC the network and SAN configuration for each server is set up in a "profile". This profile can be moved to any server in the enclosure, and when booted, that server will assume the configuration of a failed blade (assuming of course that they have compatible hardware characteristics).

Dave.