Users Guide

Managing networks

You can configure logical networks that represent your environment, for the tagged and untagged VLANs. These logical

networks are used to provision the appropriate VLANs on the associated switch port for the physical server NIC port.

NOTE: VLANs are only assigned to servers connected to switches in Fabric mode. For servers connected to switches in Full

Switch mode, the VLAN information is ignored.

In tagged networks, a port handles multiple VLANs. VLAN tagged networks help identify which packet belongs to the VLAN on

the other side. A packet is tagged with a VLAN tag in the Ethernet frame. A VLAN ID is put in the header to identify the network

to which it belongs.

In untagged networks, one port handles only one VLAN.

To view the list of networks, click Configuration > Networks. The Networks page with the list of networks is displayed. You

can view the name, description, and VLAN ID of the networks.

A summary of the selected network is displayed on the right side.

You can perform the following tasks on the Networks page:

● Define networks

● Edit networks

● Delete networks

● Export networks

Topics:

• SmartFabric VLAN management and automated QoS

• Defining networks

• Editing networks

• Exporting network configurations

• Deleting network configurations

SmartFabric VLAN management and automated QoS

Besides assigning VLANs to server profiles, SmartFabric Services automate QoS settings based on user input. When a VLAN is

created and you select the related traffic type (such as iSCSI and vMotion), the SFS engine assigns the correct QoS setting to

that VLAN. You can also select a “metal” such as gold and bronze to assign your own priority values to the traffic.

Table 22. Network traffic types - QoS settings

Network Traffic Type Description QoS Setting

General Purpose (Bronze) Used for low-priority data traffic 2

General Purpose (Silver) Used for standard/default priority data

traffic

General Purpose (Gold) Used for high–priority data traffic 4

General Purpose (Platinum) Used for extremely high–priority data

traffic

Cluster Interconnect Used for cluster heartbeat VLANs 5

Hypervisor Management Used for hypervisor management

connections such as the ESXi

management VLAN

Storage - iSCSI Used for iSCSI VLANs 5

88 Managing networks