HP ProLiant BL p-Class GbE2 Interconnect Switch Compatibility with Cisco-based Networks - White Paper

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Terminology
Terminology used in this document that differs between Cisco Catalyst switches and the GbE2
Interconnect Switch is identified in Table 1.
Table 1. Network terminology cross reference
HP ProLiant GbE2 Interconnect Switch Cisco Catalyst switches
VLAN tagging, 802.1Q tagging trunking, VLAN or 802.1q encapsulation
port VLAN identification (PVID) VLAN identification (VLANID)
link aggregation, multi-link trunking (MLT) EtherChannel, channeling
spanning tree protocol group (STG) spanning tree instance
IEEE 802.1s, multiple spanning tree per VLAN spanning tree (PVST), PVST+
port mirroring SPAN, RSPAN
Same technology, different form factor
In a typical tiered server network configuration designed with redundancy, two or more network
interface controllers (NIC) are used per server. The Ethernet signals from these NICs are routed to two
separate access switches that are in turn connected to the core network. One or more “crosslink”
connections are commonly made between the access switches for added availability. The access
switch “downlink” ports are used to collect NIC signals from the servers for aggregation to the
network backbone via one or more “uplink” ports. The GbE2 Interconnect Switch and p-Class blade
architecture uses the same technology to provide this function, but in a different form factor (Figure 1).
Figure 1. Typical redundant network configuration
Uplink Ports
Uplink Ports
Crosslink Ports
Server
NIC 1
NIC 2
Network
Core
Layer 2 Switch
Layer 2 Switch
ProLiant BL server blade enclosure with interconnect switch
Core Layer
Access Layer
Downlink Ports