Dedicated management Blade, is it needed?

[petrus_kl]

Hi,

I'm new to Blade-servers and enclosures so this might be a stupid question.

We have a c7000 enclosure and one of the blades is dedicated to managing the enclosure and EVA 4100.

So my question is that is it necessary to have a dedicated management Blade to manage the servers and our EVA 4100.
Ideally we would like to virtualize the tools or install them in a non-blade server. Blades aren't cheap and we are running out of space in our enclosure.

The tools I've used are the Onboard administrator and EVA Command view, but I'm not sure what else there is installed. What I understand, is that all the devices (switches, EVA and Onboard admin) have separate IP:s that can be accessed anywhere from the network.


Thanks for the answers in advance.

-Petrus

[The Brit]

In a nutshell, the answer is NO.

The Blade enclosure is managed from the Onboard Administrator, the blades are managed either at the OS level or through the iLO interface, and the Interconnect Modules are managed via their own software (if appropriate)

You didn't mention what types of Interconnect modules you have installed (and if you are new to this, the options are almost endless). The most common types are network switch modules (managed via their own (manufacturers) software), SAN Switches (same), passthrough's (Dont know), and Virtual Connect modules (Ethernet and SAN).

Virtual Connect modules, ENet and SAN, are managed using the VC Manager software which runs on the module.

Basically, if the module has a CLI, then you can probably connect via Telnet or SSH and administer the module. Many, including the VC Manager, have GUI interfaces which are fairly simple to manage.

If you make your questions a little more specific, we will try to add more specific information

HTH

Dave.

[Steven Clementi]

"In a nutshell, the answer is NO. "

I don't agree with this totally.

My answer is: No, it does not need to be on a blade, but you probably do need a server that you can access all the components from and run the software packages related to them. In some cases you can use a virtual server to run the tools, in other cases, you need a physical box.

Examples:

Most c-Class Interconnects have a web interface so there is no extra software requirements. They can be managed from anywhere on the network as long as the computer you are using meets the requirements for management. (IE. Don't Use IE 8.0, you might need java, etc.)

The enclosure itself (the OA) is a web interface, no extra software.

Brocade and/or h-Series SAN Interconnects have a web interface/java applet that runs.

Cisco SAN Interconnects need java based software utility to be managed. Can be virtual server or physical server.

Command View EVA generally needs to be a physical server, but there are way to virtualize it. Not supported at this time.

Other software that might be on your current "Management Server" might be IRS, or Insight Remote Support... the software that monitors your EVA and the System Event logs and phones home to HP when there are problems with your EVA. This is a software package that needs to be on a server. Typically a physical server, but it might be supported now in a virtual environment. Last/First time I installed it, it was suggested that you don't use a virtual environment.

As mentioned, type to list some of the components you do have in your enclosure and we can get more specific with answers/workarounds/ideas/etc.


Steven

[Torsten.]

In a large environment, you need a lot of tools for monitoring/managing, e.g. EVA CV, SIM, IRS etc ... so you need likely 1 or more management servers for the environment.

[The Brit]

Returning to the original post,

"...it necessary to have a dedicated management Blade to manage the servers and our EVA 4100."

The question was NOT whether it is necessary to have a dedicated server, the question was,

"Is it necessary to have a dedicated BLADE!"

Answer: NO - it is not necessary to have a dedicated management blade!

Dave

[Torsten.]

You are right, Dave. The management server could be a blade or another non-blade server.