Mixing VC-ENET and Cisco Catalyst Switched in same c7000

[Chris Magargee_2]

We are running a POC in our environment with a c7000 and a mix of Itanium and Xeon Blades. In the Interconnet Bays with have two VC-Enet modules (Bays 1 & 2), two VC-FC modules (Bays 3 & 4), two Brocade Switches (Bays 5 & 6), and two Cisco Catalyst 3020 Switches (Bays 7 & 8).

We have been using the VC Modules for awhile and they have been working great. What we are attempting now is to point several of the blades to use one of the Cisco switches, instead of the VC-Enet Modules. We still plan to use the VC-FC connestions for these Blades. I powered down those particular Blades, modified their VC profiles to only use the VC-FC, and powered them back up.

One of our Network Engineers configured the "virtual" ports on the Cisco Switch in Bay 7, which is connected to our WAN, for each those Blades (Ports 3, 4, & 5). In the Onboard Administrator, I have looked at the port mappings for that Cisco Switch and it shows no connections to any of the 16 Ports/Device Bays.

Did we miss a step somewhere or do we have to rip out the VC-Enet modules completely if we want to use the Cisco switches?

Thanks!
Chris

[Terri Harris]

Note: If you want to use the VC-FC modules you have to keep the VC-Enet modules.

Are you familiar with the NIC port mapping on the c7000 enclosure?

For network connectivity with the integrated/embedded NIC controllers, the Ethernet connectivity must come out interconnect bays 1 & 2. If you have a Virtual Connect solution, the VC-Ethernets modules must be here.

If you want Cisco Catalyst 3020 switches to get the traffic from the integrated NICs, you must cable each VC-Enet module to the desired 3020 Interconnect switch.

Then in Virtual Connect, your Server Profile needs to include the VC-Enet modules.

You cannot change the port mapping of NICs (or FC HBAs) in the c7000 since this is hard-wired. So you will still have to go through the VC-Enet modules first.

Do you have Ethernet mezz cards in slot 2 or 3 in these blade servers?

[Chris Magargee_2]

Terri wrote:
"Note: If you want to use the VC-FC modules you have to keep the VC-Enet modules.

Are you familiar with the NIC port mapping on the c7000 enclosure?

For network connectivity with the integrated/embedded NIC controllers, the Ethernet connectivity must come out interconnect bays 1 & 2. If you have a Virtual Connect solution, the VC-Ethernets modules must be here.

If you want Cisco Catalyst 3020 switches to get the traffic from the integrated NICs, you must cable each VC-Enet module to the desired 3020 Interconnect switch.

Then in Virtual Connect, your Server Profile needs to include the VC-Enet modules.

You cannot change the port mapping of NICs (or FC HBAs) in the c7000 since this is hard-wired. So you will still have to go through the VC-Enet modules first.

Do you have Ethernet mezz cards in slot 2 or 3 in these blade servers?"

So I really cannot pull off what we want try short of adding the extra cables between the FC-Enet Modules and the Cisco Switch module or ripping out the FC-Enet Modules and putting the Cisco Switches into Bays 1 & 2. Then I will lose the VC-FC capability without the FC-Enet Modules in Bay 1 & 2, correct? I may do that anyway just for this POC.

Also the only Mezz cards in these Blades are the Q-Logic FC cards in Slot 1.

Thanks!
Chris

[Terri Harris · Accepted solution]

Correct - if you remove the VC-Enet modules the VC-FC modules will become just a FC pass-thru that can aggregate traffic. No virtual addressing.

Otherwise the way you COULD use the 3020 switches in interconnect bay 7 & 8 is by adding a Ethernet mezz card in mezz slot 2 to each blade. This would allow Ethernet connectivity from the mezz 2 card (NIC ports 3 & 4 only) out to the 3020 switches. Or you add a mezz 3 Ethernet card and get ports 1 & 2 out the 3020 switches.

I think you have all the possible options now.

[Chris Magargee_2]

Thanks Terri for the info, you answered by questions!