Basic Network Fabric Questions about a C7000 BladeSystem

[brhunt]

Hello,

I am assisting a client who owns a C7000 chassis and BL460c half height server blades. They also have 2 GB2ec switches installed.

My first question is to make sure that I have a correct understanding of how the ethernet fabric hooks together.

First, as far as port numbering goes, I assume that ports 1-16 of a GB2ec correlate to blade servers 1-16, and that the external ports are labeled as 17-21?

Assuming that the chassis has 16 BL460c's and one GB2ec installed: All 16 NIC-1 ports and the 5 external ports of the GB2ec "see" each other (at layer-2), is that correct? So if I plug one of the external ports of the GB2ec into the core switch stack, all 16 servers are "on the LAN"?

If that assumption is correct, let's say that we plug in the second GB2ec. Now all NIC-2 ports of the servers "see" each other. But, they are completely separated from the other GB2ec switch, correct? So if I plug both GB2ec's into the core switch stack, no bridge loop would occur?

Again, assuming that is correct, can I make ports on the two GB2ec switch "see" each other? For example, can I take port-10 of GB2ec-1 and port-10 of GB2ec-2 and port-17 of GB2ec-1 and put them into a VLAN were they all "see" each other? Or is there another (better) way to cross connect ports from the two switches?

Thanks much for all replies.

Bryan Hunt

[Blazhev_1 · Accepted solution]

Hi,

I'm not a networking expert, but as much as it concerns blades:

1. ports 1-16 of a GB2ec correlate to blade servers

ports 17 & 18 are the crosslinks between redundant GBE2s, port 19 is the port to onboard administrator.

Ports 20-24 are the uplink ports.

"Assuming that the chassis has 16 BL460c's and one GB2ec installed: All 16 NIC-1 ports and the 5 external ports of the GB2ec "see" each other (at layer-2), is that correct?"
- YES

"If that assumption...." - yes, by the default the crosslinks(the internal connection between both switches -17&18 is disabled by default)

"Again, assuming " - enabling ports 17&18, which are to be used for a 2-port trunk between both switches

or you can VLAN them at OS & Switch level.

for more detailed info and examples you can check :

http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bc/docs/support/SupportManual/c00701973/c00701973.pdf?jumpid=reg_R1002_USEN

page 48 abou VLANs
30 - ports

Regards

[brhunt]

Blazhev,

That is *exactly* the document I needed, thanks much.

Am I supposed to award points in this forum? What is reasonable?

Thanks again for your help.

Bryan Hunt