John was looking to help a customer that was going to change some Virtual Connect domains:
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I have a customer that would like to remove VC Domains from their VC Domain Groups in VCEM, as they don’t think they require this upper level of management of server profiles and the fact that due to the version of VCEM they have running it could complicate their planned VC updates from version 3.18 to 3.70.
They currently have VCEM 6.3.1 installed which I believe was only installed for the initial deployment of their Blade environment, they don’t use any other Insight Dynamic functionality and they don’t have the requirement (or not yet) to be able to move profiles around VC Domains. Being they’re on VCEM 6.3.1 we can’t upgrade the VCDG firmware mode to 3.70 to support the VC update to 3.70 unless they upgrade their existing CMS to Windows 2008, at least VCEM 7.1.1 and SIM 7.x.
So onto my questions.....As the need to update to SPP 2012.10 before they go into Production and haven’t got the time to update the CMS in time, the proposal, as I alluded to, is to stop using VCEM and revert back to managing each VC Domain via VCM...is this possible without breaking the current server profiles and is there a prescribed method of doing this? Or do we not need to worry about the expected firmware incompatible warnings – can we still manage the VC Domain from VCM?
If we can and after the entire Blade environment is updated using SPP 2012.10 we can then enter a consultative period in which we/they can decide if using VCEM should be part of a long term strategy of managing their Blade environment.
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Info from Vincent:
VC firmware 3.70 can be backwards compatible down to a 3.3x domain group firmware mode. You’re currently on 3.18, but VCEM 6.3.1 also supports 3.3x. So what you *could* do is upgrade VC firmware to 3.30 in all the VC domains, then upgrade the VCEM DG firmware mode to 3.3x, and then you can upgrade the VC firmware again to 3.70. The DG firmware mode would stay at 3.3x until you upgrade VCEM, and you wouldn’t be able to use 3.70 features, but that would allow you to be on the SPP you want without upgrading VCEM.
The other solution is indeed to remove the domains from VCEM. Existing assigned profiles will be fine, VCM will see them with externally-defined MAC and WWN after the domain is removed from the domain group, that’s not a problem. Just make sure when you remove a domain from the domain group, that you give it a unique HP pre-defined range for MAC and WWN (and serial numbers if you use those), that will determine where VCM draws addresses for profiles created after the removal. Also make sure you don’t leave any server profile (that you want to keep) unassigned in VCEM, those would stay in VCEM and not be carried into any VC domain.
Info from Mike:
You may need to check the existing VC server profiles if they are created from VCEM or VCM.
If they are created from VCM and later import into VCEM, then it’s possible to keep them without VCEM and trouble free during the update. If they are created directly from VCEM, then it might be more challenging to manage them.
And also input from Kelly:
One more suggestion. Be prepared for this screen after you click on “Remove from VC Domain Group….” in VCEM. The customer will need to choose the MAC/WWN/Serial numbers ranges (depending on what was virtualize) for each enclosures as it leaves VCEM. These will be the ranges used to create new profiles going forward in VCM. This choice does not impact the existing profiles as it is exported.
Since the environment is moving away from VCEM, it will require some additional manual management of the virtual range space. Such as choosing a unique “HP Pre-defined” (1 through 64) for each enclosure. Personally – I have typically placed all enclosure names in a spreadsheet and tracked which enclosure is assigned to which predefined range (just to track which ranges have been used).
Range Information:
Select the MAC, WWN, and Logical Serial Number ranges for each removed VC Domain. The Logical Serial Number range is for VC Domain firmware 2.00 or later.
These address ranges must be unique and distinct to avoid assignment of duplicate addresses. Each selected MAC and WWN address range must also be recorded as an Exclusion Range to avoid assignment by VCEM. To configure an Exclusion Range, navigate to VCEM Home > Administration, and then select MAC Addresses or World Wide Names.
Note: VCEM will configure the released VC Domains to use User-Defined MAC, WWN, and Logical Serial Number range types, except for VC Domains that use Factory-Default ranges.
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Other comments or suggestions?