Virtual Connect Enterprise Manager Quick Start Implementation Guide
4
VCEM Operation Model and Key Concepts
VCEM provides a central point of server profile management for HP BladeSystem Virtual Connect
domains.
Virtual Connect (VC) technology offers substantial benefits to System/LAN/SAN Administrators by
providing unique features like server profile and FlexNIC. Virtual Connect configures LAN/SAN
connectivity of the server blades inside HP BladeSystem enclosures. A Virtual Connect server profile is a
logical grouping of server connection attributes that can be assigned to any bay within a BladeSystem
enclosure. When assigned to an enclosure bay, the server in that bay assumes the attributes of the
server profile. Each HP BladeSystem enclosure equipped with Virtual Connect is managed by VC’s
embedded Virtual Connect Manager (VCM). VCM allows IT Administrators to stack up to 4 enclosures to
form a single VC Domain.
VCM and VC stacking technology can have some operation overhead when more enclosures are
deployed. VCEM is the product to address these overheads. You can leverage VCEM benefit when you
want to deploy two and more enclosures. The demo setup of this white paper uses two HP c7000
enclosures.
The following table is a comparison of managing multiple Virtual Connect enclosures using VCM vs.
VCEM
Using VCM
Using VCEM
Need to access individual VC domain to
configure and manage server profiles
Manage server profiles from multiple domains with
a centralized VCEM console.
Server Profile mobility is contained in a Virtual
Connect domain, which is 1 HP BladeSystem
enclosure without VC stacking and up to 4
enclosures with VC stacking
Server profile can be applied, moved and copied
across multiple enclosures. VCEM can control up to
250 Virtual Connect Domains, 1000 BladeSystem
Enclosures. VCEM allows profile movement from
one VC domain to another VC domain within the
same or different domain group
Without a central pool allocation, Administrators
must plan accordingly to ensure each VC
domain has a unique range of MAC/WWN
address pool assignment so we don’t have
duplicate addresses when deploying more VC
domains.
VCEM assigns MAC/WWN addresses to various
VC domains from a central pool so duplicate
MAC/WWN addresses won’t occur.
The same LAN/SAN configuration must
repetitively be provisioned when trying to set up
a new enclosure.
The existing LAN/SAN VC configuration will be
automatically synched to new enclosures when they
are imported into the same VCEM domain group.
If there is a change to VC LAN/SAN
configuration, such as adding a new VLAN into
an existing VC network trunk, the same
configuration has to be applied to each
enclosure separately by logging into each VC
domain.
Any change to the LAN/SAN VC configuration
needs to be only done once at an enclosure and the
change will be synched to all the enclosures in the
same VCEM domain group.
It’s also important that readers understand the implementation model of VCEM when it controls multiple
VC domains and there are some important concepts associated with VCEM deployment.
Concepts
Notes
VC Domain
A VC domain defines a BladeSystem LAN/SAN connections and
server profiles created for the servers inside the enclosure.