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Re: Expanding network on a DL180 Gen6

 
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azkerm
Advisor

Expanding network on a DL180 Gen6

Hi Guys,

The current HP DL180 server which I have is equipped with only 2 LAN ports. I'm having hard time figuring out whether the read/write operations slow due to the server (using only a single LAN) or because of the switches. 

However, I could see a massive amount of read/write happening as per ESXi logs and I would like to expand the LAN to allocate more bandwidth to the server using link aggregation. But I'm quite confused as to what would be the compatible to use the available PCIe slot.. if we can use?

Any advise will be appreciated.

 

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parnassus
Honored Contributor

Re: Expanding network on a DL180 Gen6

Do you want to aggregate (to team) existing 2 ports or you want to add an additional (multiple ports) NIC to your HP ProLiant DL180 Gen6 Server?

In both cases you should be able to team all the ports you plan to use (let's say, initially, using both existing 2 ports) and then, on the vSphere Networking of the considered vSphere Standard Switch (VSS), create (or modify) a Team(ed) Standard Switch with all required Physical Adapters available at the moment (let's say vmnic1, vmnic2) and configure it by selecting "Route based on IP Hash" as the (outgoing) Load Balancing Algorithm.

Pay attention that the default Load Balancing Algorithm in vSphere is generally not the "Route based on IP Hash" for Team(ed) NICs. The default Load Balancing Algorithm in vSphere should be the "Route based on the originating virtual port ID".

Once you select the "Route based on IP Hash" you're required to explicitly configure the connected Switch as reported below (Static Trunk). This is valid on a vSphere 5.1/5.5 with VSS.

Switch side you need to create a LAG (Link Aggregation Group) with involved ports as members, set it to use Static Trunk (no IEEE 802.3ad LACP in this case, at least until you start to use a vSphere Distributed Switch VDS on a vSphere 6 instead of the classic vSphere Standard Switch VSS).

Interesting links:


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azkerm
Advisor

Re: Expanding network on a DL180 Gen6

I want to add an additional NIC to the server allowing to do NIC teaming.

I understand the rest of the information that you have given but I'm quite stuck in selecting the compatible NIC part for the server. If you could advise me on where to look at and what would be the compatible parts, then I can source for them.

Nonetheless, thank you for the detailed information on NIC teaming on ESXi... 

parnassus
Honored Contributor
Solution

Re: Expanding network on a DL180 Gen6

Have a look at HP ProLiant DL180 Gen6 QuickSpecs (go to sheet 31/60 about HP Networking options): there you should find recommended HP Gigabit and 10 Gigabit Ethernet (copper/optical fiber) Adapters.

As example the (412648-B21) HP NC360T PCI-E Dual Port Gigabit Server Adapter or the (435508-B21) HP NC364T PCI-E Quad Port Gigabit Server Adapter both look good choices.


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azkerm
Advisor

Re: Expanding network on a DL180 Gen6

Thank you for the information. This should do for me. :)