HP 7000C how to configure network port mapping

[Jedda]

Hi

HP 7000c is new to me.what i want is to map one port to external network.
I have three blade server all the of them are connected with total 4 network and 2 fiber on each.

Now i want to map one more port,any one who can help me to configure it because onboard administrator i was not able to find any option.

thanks
jed

[The Brit]

Hi Jed,

First of all, Welcome.

Second, in the rear of your c7000 there are 8 "Interconnect" Bays. What type of modules do you have installed there, and what bays are the modules in??

Third, what type and generation blades are you using, and do you have Mezzanine cards installed. If you do, what type of Mezz cards, and which Mezz slots are you using??

You should understand, there is no way of connecting a blade directly to an external network without passing through an interconnect module of some type.

Dave.

[Jedda]

4x HP 1Gb Ethernet Pass-Thru Module for c-Class BladeSystem
2xHP 4Gb Fibre Channel Pass-thru Module for c-Class BladeSystem
3x ProLiant BL460c G1 blade server.

I am not sure about Mezz but i have attached a file,maybe this help you out about mezz.

I know that it should some how connect with interconnect connection. I have worked with IBM blade.

Thanks

[The Brit]

Hi Jed.

Looks good so far.

1. bl460c G1 blade has two onboard NICs. These NICs are HARD-mapped to IC modules in Bays 1 & 2, i.e. NIC port 1 maps to IC Module 1, and NIC Port 2 maps to IC Module 2.

2.The pass-thru modules have 16 HARD downlinks, one to each Server Bay. And 16 outward facing Uplinks. The correspondence is 1-to-1. i.e.

Uplink 1, on passthru module 1, connects to downlink 1, and then to server bay 1, NIC Port 1.
Uplink 2, on passthru module 1, connects to downlink 2, and then to serverbay 2, NIC Port 1.

So any uplink connected to passthru #1 will always talk to Onboard NIC Port 1

Similarly, any uplink connected to passthru #2 will always talk to Onboard NIC Port 2

From your attachment it is not possible to say whether IC 3 & 4 are your additional Ethernet passthru's or your FC passthru's, so I will assume that 3 & 4 are ethernet.

If this is true, then the card on Mezzanine slot 1 must be additional ethernet ports.

The ports on the Mezz1 card are HARD wired to IC Bays 3 & 4, and the rules are similar to above, i.e.

Any uplink connected to passthru #3 will always talk to Mezz1 NIC Port 1

Similarly, any uplink connected to passthru #4 will always talk to Mezz1 NIC Port 2

Again, if the above is true, them the card on the Mezzanine slot 2 must be FC, and the modules in IC Bays 5 & 6 must also be FC. The rules for FC are pretty much the same,

Any uplink connected to FC passthru #5 will always talk to Mezz2 HBA Port 1

Similarly, any uplink connected to FC passthru #6 will always talk to Mezz2 HBA Port 2.

so to summarize, For a server in Bay N,

Onboard NIC Pt 1 -> IC Bay #1, Port N
Onboard NIC Pt 2 -> IC Bay #2, Port N
Mezz 1 NIC Pt 1 -> IC Bay #3, Port N
Mezz 1 NIC Pt 2 -> IC Bay #4, Port N

Mezz 2 HBA Pt 1 -> IC Bay #5, Port N
Mezz 2 HBA Pt 2 -> IC Bay #6, Port N

Note: this makes NIC teaming easy to follow, ie. a team can be set up between the two ports on the Onboard NICs. Try to think of the physical set up as Left/Right redundency.

With the above setup, connecting to the external network/SAN is straight forward. Just connect to the port on the IC module which has the same number as the server you want to talk to. Choose the IC module to give you the correct NIC port.

Dave.

[Jedda]

it´s way above my head :).
one thing is correct 1-4 are network module and 5-6 HBA.

I am running esx in blade server.
Four nic already configured in 7000c for each blade server, how would i add another nic for esx pesap (please explain simple as possible).

lets say how and where i can configure extra nic for esx :).

thanks

[cjb_1]

I don't think you can with pass thru modules. It's a one to one relationship as described.

You would need additional pass thru's in bays 7 and 8 (any maybe more mezz cards).

[Jedda]

Sound like a extra investment. :)
other option if this is not possible?
for example vlan?

[The Brit]

Sorry Jed, I wouldn't want to give you any misleading information.

I am not an ESX, or Network guy, I am basically a Itanium/Virtual connect guy.

However, there are a couple of (perhaps) cheaper options. Unfortunately they involve significant reconfiguration.

e.g.
as suggested, you could put additional passthru's in IC Bay's 7 and 8, but this would require that you put a 4-port Ethernet Mezz card on Mezz slot 2. This would then mean that the FC Mezz would have to move to Mezz1, and the FC passthrus would move to bays 3 & 4 and the FC HBA's to Mezz 1. So now you would have

Ethernet Passthru -- Ethernet Passthru
Fibre Chn Passthru -- Fibre Chn Passthru
Ethernet Passthru -- Ethernet Passthru
Ethernet Passthru -- Ethernet Passthru

in your interconnects. Now, with 4 ports on Mezz2,

Port 1 goes to IC Bay 5
Port 2 goes to IC Bay 6
Port 3 goes to IC Bay 7
Port 4 goes to IC Bay 8

This will get you two additional NICs, (6, compared to the 4 you currently have.)

Long Term, for ESX you should be looking at the G6/7 blades which have 2 onboard flexNIC
(each flexNIC is 10Gb, and can be logically partitioned into 4 virtual NICs with adjustable bandwidth, giving 8 onboard NICs) To use these FlexNICs you will need to replace your passthru's with Virtual Connect. From then on, the sky's the limit.

Sorry the news isnt better.

(PS. I thought my explanation in my previous post was just about as simple as it could be, for such a complicated topic. Try reading it again and draw yourself a diagram as you go.)

Dave.

[Steven Clementi]

Well, lets take a step back.


Why do you need to add an additional nic?

You can do alot with 4 nic's, though having more would be "nice".

How is your ESX networking set up?


Steven

[Jedda]

Dave
Then you must be a virtual connect domain setup guru. :).
Back to my question
The main issue is, i am 1000km away from remote office, I donot to play with hardware remotely.
about your answer
The IC Bay's 7 and 8 are empty.
4-port Ethernet Mezz card on Mezz slot 2.the FC passthrus would move to bays 3 & 4 and the FC HBA's to Mezz 1.
Is it adding new hardware?

I still didnot get what is Mezz for?



Steve,

I would like to add dmz physical link to esx.

Last two option are vlan or remove one of nic from existing configuration.

[The Brit]

Hi Jed,


First, Mezzanine slots: If you open up your half-height blades, you will see that there are 2 Mezzanine slots available (in full height blades there are 3 Mezzanine slots). If you look at the basic blade, half-heights have 2 onboard ethernet NICs (LOM's), and full height blades have 4 LOMs (ignore the "Flex" components since you dont have them). None of the basic blades provide any FC HBA ports, these have to be added. The purpose of the Mezzanine slots is to provide a way of adding additional ports to you server blade.

2. As we discussed yesterday, the connections (i.e. downlinks) between the server blades and the IC Modules are HARD wired, and cannot be altered or worked around. So, for half-height blades,

Onboard NICS map to IC Bays 1 & 2.
Mezz 1 maps to IC Bays 3 & 4
Mezz 2 maps to IC Bays 5 & 6 (if it is a dual port card), and also 7 & 8 if it is a (quad port card)

The configuration of your blade mezzanine slots must be identical (or at least compatible) in all of the blades installed in the enclosure, because they all share the same set of IC modules. In other words, whatever you put in the Mezzanine slots determines (or limits) what you can put in the corresponding IC Bays. There are currently ~10-12 available options for Mezzanine cards (try Google "HP Bladesystem Mezzanine Cards).

With your current configuration, (using pass-thru's), you have the simplest and cheapest option, but also the most limiting. You currently have 4 Ethernet Ports and 2 FC ports available to you. For a relatively small investment (and some reconfiguration) you could increase that to 6 NICs and 2 HBAs. You would however, need to have a pair of hands on-site to do the physical work.

If you remain as you are, you should be able to configure an acceptable, functional ESX setup, however you will probably have to either abandon NIC teaming, or have each NIC assigned to multiple functions.

I am sure that there are ESX experts on this forum who can give you advice in that area.

Maybe start a new thread just on that topic.

HTH

[Jedda]

First of all thanks for explaining me in simple way. :)
What would be small investment? to get 6 nic?
For a relatively small investment (and some reconfiguration) you could increase that to 6 NICs and 2 HBAs. You would however, need to have a pair of hands on-site to do the physical work.

Below option would be my last choiceIf you remain as you are, you should be able to configure an acceptable, functional ESX setup, however you will probably have to either abandon NIC teaming, or have each NIC assigned to multiple functions.

About esx i know a bit about it, only issue was hp blade.

[The Brit]

To get 6 NICs, you would need to get the following;

1. For each of your Server Blades, get a NC325m (416585-B21) 4-Port Ethernet Mezzanine card (so you need 3). ~$400-$500 each.
2. Purchase 2 additional Ethernet Pass-thru's similar to those you currently have. ~$700-$1000 each (refurbs)

So total cost ~$3500 (+/- $1000)

To reconfigure.

1. You need "hands" on site.
2. Shutdown your blades and power-off.
Pull the blades from the chassis.
3. Remove Ethernet passthru's from bays 3 & 4.
4. Move FC Passthru's to bays 3 & 4.
5. Reinstall the Ethernet Passthrus in Bays 5 & 6.
6. Add new passthru's in bays 7 & 8.

So now your interconnect bays look like:
Bay 1:Ethernet Passthru -- Bay 2:Ethernet Passthru
Bay 3:Fibre Chn Passthru -- Bay 4:Fibre Chn Passthru
Bay 5:Ethernet Passthru -- Bay 6:Ethernet Passthru
Bay 7:Ethernet Passthru -- Bay 8:Ethernet Passthru

Log in to the OA and confirm that this is what the OA sees. (Check under Interconnect Bays)

Now, In Each Server:

7. Remove Dual port Ethernet Card from Mezzanine slot 1.
8. Remove HBA from Mezzanine slot 2.
9. Reinstall HBA on Mezzanine Slot 1.
10. Install new Quad port Ethernet card on Mezzanine slot 2.

OK, In slow time, reinsert the blades, one at a time. As they power up, check that The OA sees them correctly. In the OA, select the Server (in Device Bays), and check the Information Tab. Scroll down and you should see the information on the Mezzanine cards.

When your three servers have been reinserted, and all looks OK, then reboot them.

Remember that You may have to make changes on the Servers themselves (I am not a Windoz, or ESX, or VMWare guy), and also, the MAC addresses on most of your network interfaces have changed so you might have some ARP cache issues, (I am not a network guy either), so I always find it useful to have a Network guy on hand.

So Good Luck.

Dave

Again, If you decide to do this, be sure that the "hands" you have on site, are Smart Hands, and be sure to allow your self ample time to perform the work and troubleshoot any issues.

Anyway.

[gregersenj]

I will recommend that you read the technology brief, that will insight in the C-class:
http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bc/docs/support/SupportManual/c00816246/c00816246.pdf

I totally agree with Dave, that you should go for the Virtual Connect flex 10, maybe not for now, but for sure in the future:
Read the Virtual Connect for dummies, its a good book, and for free:
http://h18000.www1.hp.com/products/blades/virtualconnect/connectfordummies/regForm.html

Br
/jag