Service Manual

Virtual Server Networking
Virtual server networking (VSN) is supported on the S4810, S4820T, S5000, and MXL switch platforms.
As a part of the Open Automation package, VSN provides real-time communication between the Dell
Network fabric and the virtual servers to automate network management and configuration tasks throughout
the data center. VSN provides a closed-loop provisioning system; for example, the automatic reprovisioning
of virtual local area networks (VLANs) and port profiles across multiple switches simultaneously, thereby
increasing employee productivity and minimizing human error.
Because Open Automation supports hypervisors from multiple vendors, data center managers can use a
single mechanism to simultaneously support multiple hypervisors and their current management tools.
VSN installs as a self-contained package and requires the Smart Scripting package.
NOTE
: VSN is supported only on standalone switches and VMware virtual distributed switches (VDS); it is
not supported in stacked configurations.
Topics:
• Overview
• Install VSN
• Installing VSN
• Enabling VSN in a Hypervisor Session
• Changing VSN Settings
• Discovery
• Connectivity
• Running VSN Scripts
• Disabling a Hypervisor Session
• Removing a Hypervisor Session
• Uninstalling VSN
• Viewing VSN Information
Overview
Virtual server networking is an Open Automation tool that enables Dell Networking switches and routers in a
data center network to retrieve configuration information from hypervisors. VMware vSphere and Citrix Xen
hypervisors are supported.
Both VMware and Citrix Xen provide software development kits (SDKs) and application programming
interfaces (APIs) for accessing their configuration objects. VSN requires Layer 3 connectivity to access a
hypervisor.
The following shows an example of the network architecture in which a Dell Networking OS switch connects
to multiple servers, each of which may run a different type of hypervisor. The vCenter hypervisor from
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