HP AA HP Netserver 4000 Reference Guide

HP NetServer AA
Hewlett-Packard Company
1-10
Client Network Access
The HPAA System provides client network access to one logical
server. As a single logical server, the system can provide services
and applications to clients just like any other NT Server. However,
the implementation of the network hardware and software is different
than a single server environment.
The I/O Processors have all of the needed network interface cards
installed for the solution. Two of the network cards provide a private
link between the I/O Processors for disk synchronization and other
activities. Both I/O Processors have an additional network card for
each subnet it provides services and applications. Network cards
must be ordered in pairs so that each IOP can continue to provide
access to each subnet. The two I/O Processors will each go to the
same subnet for client access using a softset MAC address from one
of the cards. The network cards pass all network traffic to the
Compute Elements. The CE’s will then decide what action, if any,
needs to be taken as a result of the network packet. When network
traffic is outbound from the array, only one network card of the pair
will actually place data on the wire so as to avoid Ethernet collisions.