Virutal Connect Enterprise Manager (VCEM) questions?

[chuckk281]

Stephen had some VCEM questions:

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Hi - we have a large customer who has evaluated Matrix and decided that it does not offer significant improvements over their current in-house developed automated deployment system (they already use HPOO to reliably and very quickly deploy VMs).

However they are very interested in using the VCM CLI or VCEM CLI scripts to extend their current HPOO based system to deploy physical blades.

So myself and the customer have a few questions about VCI and VCEM scripting which I hope some of you may be able to advise on:-

(1) VCM and VCEM both have CLI interface - can both VCMCLI and VCEMCLI commands be put into HPOO scipts?

(presumably under the "hood", Matrix contains such scripts. I know VCEM contains example scipts).

(2) assuming that VCM CLI and VCEM CLI both do basically the same thing, but VCEM is an extra cost option, why should customer use VCEM-CLI rather than VCM-CLI scripting?

(VCEM comes with support, VCM does not?)

(VCEM would allow them to manage their VC MAC addressing and manage multiple VC domains, more scalable, etc).

(3) VCEM is normally installed into the SIM CMS server or the Matrix CMS server but can VCEM be installed as a standalone application, without using CMS? (this customer does not use HP SIM to manage their ProLiant estate and wants to avoid introducing new software if it is not needed).

Any comments?

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Fred replied:

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VCEM complements and expands upon the capabilities provided by VCM.

Each instance of VCM can manage a single domain of between one and four enclosures. VCEM can manage up to 250 domains. VCEM centralizes MAC and WWN allocation for its managed domains.

When using VCM, MACs and WWNs must be managed at each VCM instance which raises the risk of conflicting assignments and inefficient use of the address space. VCEM allows profiles to be moved between domains whereas with VCM, they are limited to a single domain.

VCEM’s domain groups provide consistency and 1-to-many management of multiple VC domains. VCEM integrates with SIM to provide automatic failover of VC profiles, auditing, eventing and user access controls (RBAC).

Please let me know if you have any questions or want to discuss further.

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Here is a link to the VCEM quickspecs: Virtual Connect Enterprise Manager

Here is a link tot he VCEM product page: http://h18004.www1.hp.com/products/blades/components/ethernet/vcem/index.html