ILO Port

[#1]

Question

We have few Blade systems in our organization (c3000 and c7000). I am from network side.

All servers have passthrough (cisco blade switch - WS-CBS302-HPQ) switch and ILO switch ports and these switches are connected to Cisco Switch (cisco WS-C4948-10GE).

Now, when I do "sh cdp neighbors" in my cisco switch I see that my cisco switch is connected with WS-CBS302 Fastethernet0. But with Fastethernet0 we do not have any physical connection and Fa0 is also not physical visible too.

All the Chasis ILO ip, Servers ILO IP are getting from this Fa0 -> which is connected to my cisco 4940 Fa0/21 port.

My Question is nn Chassis blade switch,
1) What is this FastEthernet0 Port is?
2) Is Chassis ILO port can be managed by login through WS-CBS302 switch (other than Chassis login)
3) If I put IP in Fastether0 then from Chassis GUI I can login to the management of the Chassis Switch. But If I do not give any IP to Fa0 then I can not manage the chassis switch from Chassis login. So is it mandatory to give IP to fa0 of WS-CBS302 to manage it from Chassis GUI.

I would be glad if any body can answer these questions or give URL or short doc regarding the recommended network connectivity of the Chassis servers.

Answer

1) What is this FastEthernet0 Port is?
A dedicated interconnect port to connect the whole management subsystem and the switch.

2) Is Chassis ILO port can be managed by login through WS-CBS302 switch (other than Chassis login)
No

3) If I put IP in Fastether0 then from Chassis GUI I can login to the management of the Chassis Switch. But If I do not give any IP to Fa0 then I can not manage the chassis switch from Chassis login. So is it mandatory to give IP to fa0 of WS-CBS302 to manage it from Chassis GUI.
Yes, it's mandatory.