C7000 - BL460-G7 Midplane network connectivity

[GraemeC]

Hi,

I'm hoping someone can answer a question for me.

We have a C7000 enclosure which has no Flex10 interconnect switches installed, however the G7's come with internal adapters which support Flex10.

If I install 2 G7 Blades in the same enclosure and configure their internal adapters to be 10Gb, will I be able to transfer data at 10Gb between the two Blades only (because any traffic will only hit the C7000 midplane and not go out onto the switch interconnects which only 1Gb capable?

Many thanks,

Graeme

[Bart_Heungens]

Hi,

Actually it is not important, but which interconnect modules do you have installed?

Nevertheless, all onboard NIC's and mezannine slots are hardwired connected to the I/O modules so no the blades cannot communicate with each other via 10Gb via the backplane... They must pass through the passthrough, switch of VC modules...

Kr,

Bart Heungens

[GraemeC]

Hi Bart,

Thanks for the info.

Our passthru modules are GbE2c Layer 2/3 switches.  

I guess I'm going to need to buy Flex10 or Flexfabric modules as replacements.

Regards,

Graeme

[Bart_Heungens · Accepted solution]

You're welcome...

Indeed you will need Flex10 or FlexFabric modules...

You have G7 blades so the FlexFabric modules would be best... If you don't want/need the FlexHBA - FCoE functionallity; Flex10 modules are OK too (and cheaper). But then you only have ethernet at 10Gb, no SAN trafic...

Kr,

Bart

[GraemeC]

We already have Fibre pass-thru modules installed in the enclosures which are then connected to our SAN so the Flex10 will do.

I'm going to try and get a couiple of these on "Try before you buy", and see if I can get our Provisioning Servers talking 10Gbe to our XenServers.

Graeme

[MSAlexander]

Hello, Bart!

What's the problem with FlexHBA - FCoE functionality in case of using FlexFabric?

You meant If I used FlexFabric as only interconnect module in my c7000 enclosure, I would lose some functionality considering FlexHBA? What functionality it would be?

Do I really need any SAN-connection module in addition to FlexFabric module?

[Bart_Heungens]

Hi,

No it is the other way around... If you use the FlexFabric modules you can have ethernet and SAN trafic in the same module on the same JOM's inside the G7 blades...

If you would use Flex10 modules these support only ethernet trafic so you would need additional SAN modules...

And you cannot use the HBA functionality inside the G7 LOM...

Kr,

Bart

[MSAlexander]

Ok. I see...

But how can you comment on this "Each redundant pair of Virtual Connect FlexFabric modules provide 8 adjustable downlink connections ( six Ethernet and two Fibre Channel, or six Ethernet and 2 iSCSI or eight Ethernet) to dual port10Gb FlexFabric Adapters on servers."  concerning FlexFabric.  What does it mean? I always think there isn't any physical port on the back of the blade switch... Especially different types of port like FC or Ethrenet...

Thanks, in advance!

[Bart_Heungens]

Every VC module can be seen as a 24ports module. 16 ports are connected to the inside blade slots, 8 ports are available on the outside of the module to upling to your existing network. With Flexfabric you can choose yourself for these 8 ports which type of trafic they will support. All 8 ethernet, or 6 ethernet and 2 FC or 4 ethernet and 4 FC... That is defined by you in the VC config.

Kr,

Bart

[MSAlexander]

Ahhh, I see the point!

Thank you, Bart!