ISS Technology Update, Volume 6 Number 10 - Newsletter

ISS Technology Update Volume 6, Number 10
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Enclosure, network, and profile naming
VCEM manages BladeSystem c-Class enclosures and Virtual Connect domains as separate entities. To singularly identify these,
each enclosure should have an explicit and unique name. This allows for quick and easy identification through VCEM and
other management tools such as HP Systems Insight Manager.
VCEM uses the concept of Domain Groups for managing multiple Virtual Connect domains. A Virtual Connect Domain Group is
defined by like-connectivity. When placing domains within a Domain Group, all the domains within that group are required to
have the same hardware configuration and access to the same network connections. This allows an administrator to move
profiles between the domains because all the networks that need to be accessed by any server profile within that Domain
Group are guaranteed to be available. To facilitate adding domains to Domain Groups, ensure that all network names across
Virtual Connect Domains are the same. These names can be changed through the Virtual Connect Manager UI (Figure 2-1).
Figure 2-1. Virtual Connect Enterprise Manager Home page
Another important step to pre-enabling VCEM is to make sure that all VC server profiles have unique names. When using the
aforementioned Virtual Connect Domain Groups, the server profile names will need to be unique within the Domain Groups. A
best practice for server profile naming is to use names that have some context with the OS-Application stack that will be running
based on the profile.
Domain Group checklist
Enclosure, network and profile naming are important steps to prepare VCEM for use. However, there are other items to
consider also. Use the checklist in Table 2-1 to ensure that domains to be included in Virtual Connect Domain Groups are
configured alike.
Table 2-1. Domain Group checklist
√ Domain Group Configuration
Ensure that interconnects are in the same location among all the domain enclosures.
Do not allow C3000 and C7000 enclosures to coexist in a single Virtual Connect Domain Group.
Ensure that network and storage uplinks are equivalent.
For each Fibre Channel Fabric, verify that the same Fibre Channel Fabric name, slot (IO bay), uplink port speed, and uplink
port are used.