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Add more NICs into blade server

 
Andika Kurniantoro
Occasional Contributor

Add more NICs into blade server

Hi,

I have BL460c G6 servers hosting by a c7000 enclosure.

by default these kind of server has 2 10G NICs. How could i add an additional NIC? I've got some idea to add a NIC into my server logically without add any more physically ones, but unfortunatelly I have no idea how to do it. Is it actually possible ?

Any help will be very appreciated.

thanks!

--
Dika
12 REPLIES 12
Trygve Henriksen
Respected Contributor

Re: Add more NICs into blade server

According to this document:
http://h18004.www1.hp.com/products/quickspecs/13238_na/13238_na.html
(At a Glance section)
there's a list of Mezzanine card types, and one option is
"Ethernet server adapter mezzanine options for additional network ports "

So, I checked a bit around...
On this page you'll find among other things, quad-port mezzanine cards.
http://h18004.www1.hp.com/products/blades/components/c-class-adapters.html

You probably have to add a switch in the rear of your c7000, though. (I'm not an expert on mezzanine cards and the whole inteconnect thingamajig...)

Alternatively, one of these boxes and a couple of PCI-whatever cards?
http://h18004.www1.hp.com/products/blades/expansion/index.html
(There may be a speed penalty, though. Also, you get patch cables sticking out the front of your c7000, then, and that just doesn't look nice.)
Jan Soska
Honored Contributor

Re: Add more NICs into blade server

Hello,
have on mind that you need additional switches / virtual connects in blade chasis when using mezzanine cards in blade servers. Of course, it depends on configuration.

Jan
Zygmunt Krawczyk
Honored Contributor

Re: Add more NICs into blade server

1) If you want add two 1GbE to each server, the cheapest way is to add one 2-port 1GbE mezzannine card to each server and two 1GbE pass-thru interconnect modules to c7000.

2) You can replace interconnect modules installed in bay 1 and 2 of c7000, by HP Virtual Connect Flex-10 modules. Then two 10G NICs of each blade server will convert to eight FlexNICs.

Read the doc:
HP Virtual Connect Flex-10 technology: Convergence with FlexFabric components
http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bc/docs/support/SupportManual/c01608922/c01608922.pdf
Eric Datwyler
Frequent Advisor

Re: Add more NICs into blade server

If you need more interfaces without adding any physical interfaces, you could setup VLANs in the NCU and each VLAN will spawn off a new virtual interface. Of course, you'll need to configure your switchport as a trunk in order to carry multiple VLANs over a single link.
pz7rx8
Advisor

Re: Add more NICs into blade server

The Bl460 G6 2 nics are flex-10 nics that are logically 8 nic adapters.
Steven Clementi
Honored Contributor

Re: Add more NICs into blade server

First... What Interconnects do you have available in your Blade Enclosure?

Second, if you have the appropriate interconnects, you use the Virtual Connect manager to define Server profiles. In your Server Profiles is where you can split your Flex-Nic's into 8 logical adaptors and assigned them to various network profiles.



Steven
Steven Clementi
HP Master ASE, Storage, Servers, and Clustering
MCSE (NT 4.0, W2K, W2K3)
VCP (ESX2, Vi3, vSphere4, vSphere5, vSphere 6.x)
RHCE
NPP3 (Nutanix Platform Professional)
DerekS_1
Frequent Advisor

Re: Add more NICs into blade server

Depends on what operating system you are using. If you use VMware ESX(i) you can simply configure additional VLANs in ESX and on the upstream switch.
Xavier C
New Member

Re: Add more NICs into blade server

I have the same problem that Dika have, BUt in server profile only show me 2 NICs. I can not add the other SIX and the LOM:1-b,c,d remains disconnected on Virtual Connect.

What can i do?? :'(



Port d1 Detailed statistics
LOM:1-a Device Bay 1 (ProLiant BL490c G6) Multiple Networks Profile_server1 Linked 1 Gb
LOM:1-b Device Bay 1 (ProLiant BL490c G6) Not Linked 0 Mb
LOM:1-c Device Bay 1 (ProLiant BL490c G6) Not Linked 0 Mb
LOM:1-d Device Bay 1 (ProLiant BL490c G6) Not Linked 0 Mb
The Brit
Honored Contributor

Re: Add more NICs into blade server

Xavier,
Open the profile in VCM, Put your cursor inside the "Ethernet Connections" box, and Right-click. Select "New Connection"

Dave