HP Virtual Connect 1Gb Ethernet Cookbook

Introduction to Virtual Connect 1Gb Ethernet
Networking
Virtual Connect is an industry standard-based implementation of server-edge virtualization. It puts an
abstraction layer between the servers and the external networks so the LAN and SAN see a pool of servers rather
than individual servers (Figure 1). Once the LAN and SAN connections are physically made to the pool of servers,
the server administrator uses Virtual Connect management tools (Virtual Connect Manager or Virtual Connect
Enterprise Manager) to create an Interconnect module connection profile for each server.
It is important to note that Virtual Connect firmware release 3.6x will be the final release set to be supported on
Virtual Connect 1Gb Ethernet modules. This document will discuss features relevant to the Virtual Connect 1/10
and Virtual Connect 1/10-F modules. It is also equally important to note that the original Virtual Connect 1/10
Ethernet module had gone end of sales life (EOL) in early 2012 and that the Virtual Connect 1/10-F module will go
EOL later in 2012.
New Features:
Virtual Connect Firmware 3.30 includes the following new features:
 Command Line Interface Telemetry—Provides improved reporting and metrics from the VC domain and
individual VC-Enet modules.
 New metrics include CPU load, memory utilization, discover information, port statistics, L2 MAC address
table, IGMP groups, link aggregation information, VC networks information, interfaces information,
throughput information, and module hostname control.
 Network Access Groups for profile—Allows a VC network administrator to define specific subsets of
domain networks. Network subsets are then associated with each profile, which limits the network
connections to those subsets.
 Simultaneous tunneled and mapped VLAN connections—In earlier versions, these modes were mutually
exclusive within a VC domain
 Increased mapped VLAN capacity—The number of VLANs supported in a shared uplink set is increased
from 128 to 1000. The number of connections on a server downlink has been increased from 28 to 162.
Additional CLI and GUI commands have been added to support management of multiple networks with a
single command. Note: this enhancement (Increased mapped VLAN capacity) only applies to 10Gb VC
Domains only.
 Enhanced port status—Provides additional status and information on link status
 Simplified iSCSI boot setup—Automatically retrieves parameters from HP 4000 SAN solutions and
attaches them to server profiles. This feature significantly reduces required manual entries.
 GUI Profile Wizard support (Ethernet, iSCSI, FC, FCoE)
 New CLI commands—New CLI commands to support save and restore configurations, copy profiles, and
the show config command that generates a CLI script that can be used to restore the current VC domain
configuration
 Native IE8 browser support—Running in IE7 emulation is no longer required
 Loop avoidance—Specific detection of Cisco PVST BPDUs emerging from servers are added, and when
found, result in disabling of the server-facing physical port generating them and an administrative alert
being sent.
 IGMPv3 snooping support (no support for Source-specific multicast)
 TACACS+/RADIUS role based security—User authentication, Command Authorization, and Command
logging
 Updated SNMP MIBs—Severity level added to all traps (alerts) to improve notification
 Support for user-defined login screen notice (typically a security message)
 Support—Log File Compression has been added, which provides the ability to capture more support
information
 Notification of unsupported cables—The HP VC FlexFabric 10Gb/24-Port module does not support DAC
cables longer than 5m for uplink ports X1–X4. Starting with this release, a port status of "unsupported"