Best Practices When Deploying VMware vSphere on the HP ProLiant DL980 (updated October 2012)

Using two adapters provides protection from certain bus and card failures. With two virtual switches, traffic could be

distributed as follows (see Figure 4):

 First virtual switch

– Management traffic (Service Console)

– VM network

 Second virtual switch

– VMkernel network with VMotion, and optionally FT-enabled

Figure 4: Traffic Redistribution Using 2 Virtual Switches

Optional: Enabling memory mirroring

Although not required, you can also enable memory mirroring to enhance the availability and reliability of the DL980

server. Furthermore, memory mirroring can be used in conjunction with the high-performance hemisphere mode

introduced on Intel Xeon 7500/6500 or E7 Series processors to provide interleaving between the processor’s internal

memory controllers. To implement memory mirroring in hemisphere mode on a DL980 server, sockets are paired, with

the even-numbered socket of each pair acting as the primary and the odd-numbered socket as the mirror.

Note

HP does not support the non-hemisphere mode offered by Intel Xeon 7500/6500

or E7 Series processors on the DL980 server.

Enable memory mirroring in the server’s BIOS. During the power-on self-test (POST) process, the current Advanced

Memory Protection mode setting displays on the screen. To change this setting to support memory mirroring, follow

these steps:

1. Reboot the server and press F9 when prompted during POST.

2. Navigate through the BIOS menu to System Options > Advanced Memory Protection.

3. Select Mirrored Memory with Advanced ECC Support (see Figure 5).