C-3000 Pass-Thru Port Mappings (Fault Tolerant )

[ARubio]

HI. I have a c-3000 enclosure with the latest firmware (2.41) with two (2) Ethernet Pass-Thru interconnects inserted in bays 1 & 2. The onboard administrator identifies all the enclosure components with the health green light.
I also have a single BL465c G5 blade server in the enclosure in bay 1 with only the embedded Ethernet LAN cards. (no mezzanine cards).
These LAN boards should be mapped to Ports 1 and 9 if I had only one Ethernet Pass-Thru module.
Since I have two interconnects, the mapping should be going to port 1 in interconnect 1 and port 1 in interconnect 2 for a fault tolerance configuration to two Cisco external Ethernet switches.
Mappings stay in interconnect 1 ports 1 & 9 with a total disregard for the second interconnect.
All the documentation that I have searched tells me that the mappings to both interconnect should work automatically but it just doesn't.
I cannot find a configuration setting that will allow manual port mappings. Any ideas??
Thanks in advance....

[Matti_Kurkela]

The mappings of all integrated NICs on all (both full- and half-height) blades in a c3000 enclosure are mapped to bay 1. This mapping is hard-wired in the enclosure backplane and cannot be changed at all.

(Unless you are a *very* large customer and can convince HP it's worth the trouble to design and build custom c3000 backplanes for you.)

Attached is a .zip file with port mapping diagrams of both c3000 and c7000 chassises. You should find the same diagrams in the Installation Guide of your chassis.

Where did you found the claim that the mapping should change when you plug in a second interconnect? Could you provide a link or other reference?

MK

[Adrian Clint]

I cant think of any HP documentation that states this.
There is the occasional diagram that can be mis-interpreted but only if the text accompanying the diagram is missing or incomplete.
See attached pdf

[ARubio]

I would like to thank you for your replies. If you look at the HP BladeSystem c3000 Enclosure Quick Specs ( http://h18004.www1.hp.com/products/quickspecs/12790_na/12790_na.html ) you will see that Ethernet Pass-Thru module should be ordered in quantities of two (2). Why would HP recommend that if all the port are going to be mapped only to interconnect one? I quote
"Ethernet Pass-Through Module for HP BladeSystem
NOTE: The Ethernet Pass-Thru Module is shipped as a single unit and should be ordered in quantities of two."

If you also see the slide that you sent me, you will notice how the embedded nic 1 goes to interconnect 1 and there is a dotted line from embedded nic 2 to interconnect 2.
I have the HP official courseware on C-class (HP BladeSystem c-Class Solutions I â Technologies, Planning, and Deployment) Rev. 6.31 and there is a slide that also shows the connection to both interconnects. I am attaching the slide.

At the end, if HP recommends to purchase interconnect in pairs for fault tolerance so there has to be a way to connect the nics to both interconnects. Dis I just wasted money in a second pass-thru? Any ideas???

[Adrian Clint]

Yes... I've looked at the current quickspecs,benefits and Q&A and it does look like it is now not easy to understand that NIC1 & NIC2 goto Interconnect 1 only. I think they used to have a diagram in the quickspecs that did show this (badly).

I am assuming that the reason why it states order in pairs is that statement is left over from the c7000 quickspecs that obviously the c3000 quickspecs were copied from. It does state at the top of that section that you should pick minimum of one ethernet interconnect - which is true.

I cant open the Zip that Matti posted so cant see the slide. But the one I posted is a pdf for both c7000 and c3000 - are you looking at the 1st page which is c7000?

I have no doubt that the blade training guides for the Pass-thru show that diagram....but it works for the c7000 only. If the training manuals are later and include the c3000 then there is a separate diagram showing how the interconnects work on the c3000.

If you go and download the c3000 installation or maintenance guides .... the NIC/Internet mapping is in there.

So yes.... they are not very good in the basic customer facing docs at explaining that if you want to have full redundancy on a c3000 you need to order a 2nd NC326m mezzanine card to use a redundant pass-thru.

You are not the first to be caught by this and I am suprised that they have still not updated the webpage/quickspecs to make it obvious.