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Important: Even though the Virtual Connect FlexFabric module supports Stacking, stacking only applies to Ethernet traffic. FC uplinks cannot be consolidated, as it is not possible to stack the FC ports, nor provide a multi-hop DCB bridging fabric today.

Designing an HP FlexFabric Architecture for VMware vSphere

In this section, we will discuss two different and viable strategies for customers to choose from. Both provide flexible connectivity for hypervisor environments. We will provide the pros and cons to each approach, and provide you with the general steps to configure the environment.

Designing a Highly Available Network Strategy with Virtual Connect FlexFabric modules and Managed VLANs

In this design, two HP ProLiant c-Class 7000 Enclosures with Virtual Connect FlexFabric modules are stacked to form a single Virtual Connect management domain2. By stacking Virtual Connect FlexFabric modules, customer can realize the following benefits:

Management control plane consolidated

More efficient use of WWID, MAC and Serial Number Pools

Provide greater uplink port flexibility and bandwidth

Profile management across stacked enclosures

Shared Uplink Sets provide administrators the ability to distribute VLANs into discrete and defined Ethernet Networks (vNet.) These vNets can then be mapped logically to a Server Profile Network Connection allowing only the required VLANs to be associated with the specific server NIC port. This also allows customers the flexibility to have various network connections for different physical Operating System instances (i.e. VMware ESX host and physical Windows host.)

As of Virtual Connect Firmware 2.30 release, the following Shared Uplink Set rules apply per domain:

320 Unique VLANs per Virtual Connect Ethernet module

128 Unique VLANs per Shared Uplink Set

28 Unique Server Mapped VLANs per Server Profile Network Connection

Every VLAN on every uplink counts towards the 320-VLAN limit. If a Shared Uplink Set is comprised of multiple uplinks, each VLAN on that Shared Uplink Set is counted multiple times.

2 Only available with Virtual Connect Manager Firmware 2.10 or greater. Please review the Virtual Connect Manager Release Notes for more information regarding domain stacking requirements: http://h18004.www1.hp.com/products/blades/components/c-class-tech-installing.html

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If additional Ethernet bandwidth is necessary, ports Enc0:Bay2:X5, Enc0:Bay2:X6, Enc1:Bay1:X5, and Enc1:Bay1:X6 can be used for additional Ethernet Networks or Shared Uplink Sets.

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13

Virtual Machine FT Logging iSCSI NFS Service Console Management vMotion

NetIOC can be used to control identified traffic, when multiple types of traffic are sharing the same pNIC. In our design example, FT Logging could share the same vDS as the vmkernel, and NetIOC would be used to control the two types of traffic.

With the design example given, there are three options one could choose to incorporate FT Logging:

Table 2-2 VMware Fault Tolerance Options

FT Design Choice Justification Rating

Share with VMotion network

The design choice to keep VMotion traffic internally to the Enclosure allows the use of low latency links for inter-Enclosure communication. By giving enough bandwidth for VMotion and FT traffic, while defining a NetIOC policy, latency should not be an issue.

***

Non-redundant VMotion and FT networks

Dedicate one pNIC for VMotion traffic, and the other for FT logging traffic. Neither network will provide pNIC redundancy.

**

Add additional FlexFabric Adapters and Modules

This option increases the overall CapEx to the solution, but will provide more bandwidth options.

*

Hypervisor Load Balancing Algorithms

VMware provides a number of different NIC teaming algorithms, which are outlined in Table 2-2. As the table shows, any of the available algorithms can be used, except IP Hash. IP Hash requires switch assisted load balancing (802.3ad), which Virtual Connect does not support 802.3ad with server downlink ports. HP and VMware recommend using Originating Virtual Port ID, as shown in Table 2-2.

Table 2-3 VMware Load Balancing Algorithms

Name Algorithm Works with VC

Originating Virtual Port ID

Choose an uplink based on the virtual port where the traffic entered the virtual switch.

Yes

Source MAC Address MAC Address seen on vnic port Yes

IP Hash Hash of Source and Destination IP’s. Requires switch assisted load balancing, 802.3ad. Virtual Connect does not support 802.3ad on server downlink ports, as 802.3ad is a Point-to-Point bonding protocol.

No

Explicit Failover Highest order uplink from the list of Active pNICs. Yes

14

HP Virtual Connect and DCC

Virtual Connect firmware v2.30 introduced Device Control Channel (DCC) support to enable Smart Link, Dynamic Bandwidth Allocation, and Network Assignement to FlexNICs without powering off the server. There are three components required for DCC:

NIC Firmware (Bootcode 5.0.11 or newer)

NIC Driver (Windows Server v5.0.32.0 or newer; Linux 5.0.19-1 or newer; VMware ESX 4.0 v1.52.12.v40.3; VMware ESX 4.1 v1.60)

Virtual Connect Firmware (v2.30 or newer)

15

Appendix A: Virtual Connect Bill of Materials

Table A-1 Virtual Connect FlexFabric module Mapped VLAN BoM

Partnumber Description Qty

571956-B21 HP Virtual Connect FlexFabric Module 4

AJ716A HP StorageWorks 8Gb B-series SW SFP+ 8

487649-B21 .5m 10Gb SFP+ DAC Stacking Cable 2

455883-B21 10Gb SR SFP+ transceiver 4

Or

487655-B21 3m SFP+ 10Gb Copper DAC 4

Table A-2 Virtual Connect FlexFabric module Tunneled VLAN BoM

Partnumber Description Qty

571956-B21 HP Virtual Connect FlexFabric Ethernet Module 4

487649-B21 .5m 10Gb SFP+ DAC Stacking Cable 2

AJ716A HP StorageWorks 8Gb B-series SW SFP+ 8

453154-B21 1Gb RJ45 SFP transceiver 2

455883-B21 10Gb SR SFP+ transceiver 4

Or

487655-B21 3m SFP+ 10Gb Copper DAC 4

16

Appendix B: Terminology cross-reference

Table C-1 Terminology cross-reference

Customer term Industry term IEEE term Cisco term Nortel term HP Virtual Connect term

Port Bonding or Virtual Port

Port Aggregation or Port-trunking LACP

802.3ad LACP

Etherchannel or channeling (PaGP)

MultiLink Trunking (MLT)

802.3ad LACP

VLAN Tagging VLAN Trunking 802.1Q Trunking 802.1Q Shared Uplink Set

17

Appendix C: Glossary of Terms Table C-1 Glossary

Term Definition

vNet/Virtual Connect Ethernet Network

A standard Ethernet Network consists of a single broadcast domain. However, when “VLAN Tunnelling” is enabled within the Ethernet Network, VC will treat it as an 802.1Q Trunk port, and all frames will be forwarded to the destined host untouched.

Shared Uplink Set (SUS) An uplink port or a group of uplink ports, where the upstream switch port(s) is configured as an 802.1Q trunk. Each associated Virtual Connect Network within the SUS is mapped to a specific VLAN on the external connection, where VLAN tags are removed or added as Ethernet frames enter or leave the Virtual Connect domain.

Auto Port Speed** Let VC automatically determine best FlexNIC speed

Custom Port Speed** Manually set FlexNIC speed (up to Maximum value defined)

DCC** Device Control Channel: method for VC to change either a FlexNIC or FlexHBA Adapter port settings on the fly (without power no/off)

EtherChannel* A Cisco proprietary technology that combines multiple NIC or switch ports for greater bandwidth, load balancing, and redundancy. The technology allows for bi-directional aggregated network traffic flow.

FlexNIC** One of four virtual NIC partitions available per FlexFabric Adapter port. Each capable of being tuned from 100Mb to 10Gb

FlexHBA*** The second Physical Function providing an HBA for either Fibre Channel or iSCSI functions

IEEE 802.1Q An industry standard protocol that enables multiple virtual networks to run on a single link/port in a secure fashion through the use of VLAN tagging.

IEEE 802.3ad An industry standard protocol that allows multiple links/ports to run in parallel, providing a virtual single link/port. The protocol provides greater bandwidth, load balancing, and redundancy.

LACP Link Aggregation Control Protocol (see IEEE802.3ad)

LOM LAN-on-Motherboard. Embedded network adapter on the system board

Maximum Link Connection Speed**

Maximum FlexNIC speed value assigned to vNet by the network administrator. Can NOT be manually overridden on the server profile.

Multiple Networks Link Speed Settings**

Global Preferred and Maximum FlexNIC speed values that override defined vNet values when multiple vNets are assigned to the same FlexNIC

MZ1 or MEZZ1; LOM Mezzanine Slot 1; LAM on Motherboard/systemboard NIC

18

Network Teaming Software A software that runs on a host, allowing multiple network interface ports to be combined to act as a single virtual port. The software provides greater bandwidth, load balancing, and redundancy.

pNIC Physical NIC port. A FlexNIC is seen by VMware as a pNIC

Port Aggregation Combining ports to provide one or more of the following benefits: greater bandwidth, load balancing, and redundancy.

Port Aggregation Protocol (PAgP)*

A Cisco proprietary protocol aids in the automatic creation of Fast EtherChannel links. PAgP packets are sent between Fast EtherChannel-capable ports to negotiate the forming of a channel.

Port Bonding A term typically used in the Unix/Linux world that is synonymous to NIC teaming in the Windows world.

Preferred Link Connection Speed**

Preferred FlexNIC speed value assigned by a vNet by the network administrator.

Trunking (Cisco) 802.1Q VLAN tagging

Trunking (Industry) Combining ports to provide one or more of the following benefits: greater bandwidth, load balancing, and redundancy. See also Port Aggregation.

VLAN A virtual network within a physical network.

VLAN Tagging Tagging/marking an Ethernet frame with an identity number representing a virtual network.

VLAN Trunking Protocol (VTP)* A Cisco proprietary protocol used for configuring and administering VLANs on Cisco network devices.

vNIC Virtual NIC port. A software-based NIC used by VMs

*The feature is not supported by Virtual Connect. **The feature was added for Virtual Connect Flex-10 ***The feature was added for Virtual Connect FlexFabric modules

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