HP Virtual Connect for c-Class BladeSystem Setup and Installation Guide

Installation 21
the servers continue to have network and storage access. Both the Primary and Standby modules in the
base enclosure must be recovered to regain management access to the VC domain.
Virtual Connect and EBIPA
Enclosure Bay IP Addressing is used to specify IP addresses for the interconnect modules, which are then
provided to the modules by the Onboard Administrator.
Because Virtual Connect communicates with other components through the Onboard Administrator, special
considerations are required when using EBIPA with Virtual Connect Ethernet modules:
• The Onboard Administrator must be on the same IP subnet as all Virtual Connect modules.
• The Onboard Administrator IP address must be set properly before changing the IP addresses of the
Virtual Connect modules.
Recommended stacking connections
Stacking links are used to add VC-Enet modules into a Virtual Connect domain. This feature enables all
Ethernet network controllers on all servers in the Virtual Connect domain to have access to any VC-Enet
module uplink port. By using these module-to-module links, a single pair of uplinks can function as the data
center network connections for the entire Virtual Connect domain. Stacking enables any server NIC
connected physically to a VC module to be connected to any Ethernet network.
Each interconnect module has several numbered Ethernet connectors. All of these connectors can be used to
connect to data center switches, or they can be used to stack VC modules and enclosures.
The HP VC FlexFabric 10Gb/24-port Module only supports external stacking for Ethernet traffic. When the
HP VC FlexFabric 10Gb/24-port Module has ports configured to carry Fibre Channel traffic, those ports do
not support stacking.
Virtual Connect automatically detects when one VC-Enet module port is connected to another VC-Enet
module port within the domain and changes the port ID indicator to amber.
All VC-Enet modules within the Virtual Connect domain must be interconnected. Any combination of 1-Gb
and 10-Gb cables can be used to interconnect the modules. However, the following table provides
recommended configurations for two, four, six, or eight VC-Enet modules. A 10-Gb stacking link is already
provided on the enclosure midplane for horizontally adjacent VC-Enet modules (bays 1 and 2, 3 and 4, 5
and 6, or 7 and 8 of the c7000 enclosure, or bays 1 and 2, or 3 and 4 of the c3000 enclosure).
NOTE: Port X0 is the 10Gb port connected through the midplane of horizontally-adjacent
VC-Enet modules. Port X7 and x8 connect to the internal link between horizontally-adjacent
Flex-10 or FlexFabric enabled Virtual Connect Ethernet modules. These ports appear in the list of
stacking link connections within the user interface.
Single enclosure stacking diagram
Modules (top to
bottom)
Stacking two modules