EBIPA and IP addressing for interconnect modules with their own CLI

[chuckk281]

Terri had a question regarding IP addresses and the Enclosure Bay IP Address (EBIPA)

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Is there a public document clearly explaining that EBIPA will not be able to assign static IP addresses to interconnect modules with their own cli? This includes Cisco and SAN switch interconnects modules where static IP configuration needs to be done from the cli of the switch.

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The discussion:

From Monty:

The Onboard Administrator User Guide clearly calls out the dependency of the server blade or interconnect management processor must be configured for DHCP in order for EBIPA to work.

"When a server blade or interconnect module is inserted into a device bay that has EBIPA enabled, the

management port receives the specific static IP address from the Onboard Administrator if the device is

configured for DHCP. If the device is configured for static IP, then it must be manually reconfigured to DHCP

to change the EBIPA IP address."

The default network configuration of the ProLiant iLO, Integrity iLO, and Virtual Connect modules is DHCP.

I believe that Cisco interconnects and Brocade FC switches have manual IP addresses configured – and would require manual reconfiguration to support EBIPA.

Reply from Terri:

Thanks Monty, that is what I was looking for. I still have customers and techs that believe the c-class can assign a static IP address to a interconnect module that has its own OS/IOS/cli. Static is the key word here.

If interconnect module has its own cli to configure an IP and you want a static IP address, you have to use the appropriate interconnect module model documentation to configure the IP address (like Cisco or Brocade). EBIPA cannot do it.

Input from Vincent:

Right, EBIPA is just a DHCP server running in the OA. To the interconnects, it’s still DHCP, it makes no difference whether the DHCP address comes from the OA (EBIPA) or from another DHCP server.

Note that it doesn’t depend on whether the interconnect has a CLI or not. It depends on whether the interconnect can get its address from DHCP. For example, Virtual Connect modules have a CLI but you can’t set a static address with it (except the domain IP address but that’s something else), they must get their addresses from DHCP.

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Other comments or questions?