HP BlladeSysttem Netw working g Referen nce Archiitecture HP Virtu ual Connect FlexFabric F Module M and V VMware vSp phere 4 Technica al white paperr Table of contents Executive Summary ................................................................................................................................. 2 onnect FlexFabrric Module Hard dware Overvieew ...........................................................................
Execu utive Sum mmary HP has re evolutionized the way IT thinks about neetworking and d server management. With h the release of the HP P ProLiant Blad deSystem Gen neration 6 serrvers, along w with Virtual Co onnect Flex-10 0 Ethernet modules, HP provided a great platfo orm for VMwa are vSphere. Virtual Conne ect Flex-10 is the world's first techn nology to divid de and fine-tu une 10Gb Ethhernet networkk bandwidth a at the server e edge.
Virtual V Conn nect Manag ged VLANs - In this design, we are maximizing the m management features f of Virrtual Connect,, while provid ding customerss with the flexxibility to provvide “any networking n to any host” witthin the Virtua al Connect do omain. Simplyy put, this dessign will not over-provision o n servers, while keeping thee number of u plinks used to o a minimum.
Important: Even though the Virtual Connect FlexFabric module supports Stacking, stacking only applies to Ethernet traffic. FC uplinks cannot be consolidated, as it is not possible to stack the FC ports, nor provide a multi-hop DCB bridging fabric today. Designing an HP FlexFabric Architecture for VMware vSphere In this section, we will discuss two different and viable strategies for customers to choose from. Both provide flexible connectivity for hypervisor environments.
By provid ding two stackked Enclosure es, this will allo ow for not on nly Virtual Con nnect FlexFabric module failure, but b also Enclossure failure. The uplink portts assigned to o each Shared d Uplink Set (S SUS) were vertically offset to allow w for horizonttal redundanccy purposes, a as shown in FFigure 1-2. IP-based storage (NFS and/or iSCS SI) can be ded dicated and seegregated byy a separate vvNet and assigned uplink port.
redundancy. The ToR switches can be placed End of Row to save on infrastructure cost. Ports X7 are used for vertical External Stacking Links, while X8 are used for Internal Stacking Links. As noted in the previous section, Virtual Connect FlexFabric Stacking Links will only carry Ethernet traffic, and do not provide any Fibre Channel stacking options. Thus, ports X1 and X2 from each module are populated with 8Gb SFP+ transceivers, providing 16Gb net FC bandwidth for storage access.
Figure 1-2 2: Physical desig gn 7
Figure 1-3 3: Logical design Design ning a Hig ghly Availa able Netw work Strategy with FlexFabricc modules and Pa ass-through VLANs In this de esign, two HP ProLiant c-Cla ass 7000 Enc losure with Viirtual Connect FlexFabric m modules are stacked to form a single Virtual Con nnect manageement domain n3.
switched,, directly conn nected or logiical within a S Shared Uplinkk Set) to provide access to IP-based storage arrays.
Important: I This design uses X1-X3 forr FC connectivvity, no additional FC portss can be used. If additio onal Ethernet bandwidth b is necessary, n po orts Enc0:Bay2 2:X3, Enc0:Ba ay2:X4, Enc1:Bay1:X3, and Enc1 1:Bay1:X4 can be used for additional Etthernet Netwo orks or Shared d Uplink Sets.
Figure 1-13 3: Logical design n gning a vSphere v Networrk Archittecture w with the Virtual Desig Connect FlexFabric module m The introd duction of VM Mware vSpherre 4, customerrs are now ab ble to centrallyy manage the e network configura ation within th he hypervisor. This new fea ature, called vvNetwork Disttributed Switcch4 (vDS), allows an n administrato or to create a centralized d distributed vSw witch.
Table 2--1 VMware vDS Configuration Vmkerne el Function vDS Name dvPorrtGroup Namee VMotion dvs2_vmkernel dvPorttGroup2_vmkerrnel VM Netw working1 dvs3_vmnet dvPorttGroup3_vmnett100 VM Netw workingN dvs3_vmnet dvPorttGroupN_vmne etNNN Figure 2-1: Hypervisor Netw working Design VMware Fault Tolerance (FT) could introduce mo ore complexityy in to the ove erall design.
Virtual Machine FT Logging iSCSI NFS Service Console Management vMotion NetIOC can be used to control identified traffic, when multiple types of traffic are sharing the same pNIC. In our design example, FT Logging could share the same vDS as the vmkernel, and NetIOC would be used to control the two types of traffic.
HP Virtual Connect and DCC Virtual Connect firmware v2.30 introduced Device Control Channel (DCC) support to enable Smart Link, Dynamic Bandwidth Allocation, and Network Assignement to FlexNICs without powering off the server. There are three components required for DCC: 14 NIC Firmware (Bootcode 5.0.11 or newer) NIC Driver (Windows Server v5.0.32.0 or newer; Linux 5.0.19-1 or newer; VMware ESX 4.0 v1.52.12.v40.3; VMware ESX 4.1 v1.60) Virtual Connect Firmware (v2.
Appendix A: Virtual Connect Bill of Materials Table A-1 Virtual Connect FlexFabric module Mapped VLAN BoM Partnumber Description Qty 571956-B21 HP Virtual Connect FlexFabric Module 4 AJ716A HP StorageWorks 8Gb B-series SW SFP+ 8 487649-B21 .
Appendix B: Terminology cross-reference Table C-1 Terminology cross-reference 16 Customer term Industry term Port Bonding or Virtual Port VLAN Tagging IEEE term Cisco term Nortel term HP Virtual Connect term Port Aggregation 802.3ad LACP or Port-trunking LACP Etherchannel or channeling (PaGP) MultiLink Trunking (MLT) 802.3ad LACP VLAN Trunking Trunking 802.1Q Shared Uplink Set 802.
Appendix C: Glossary of Terms Table C-1 Glossary Term Definition vNet/Virtual Connect Ethernet Network A standard Ethernet Network consists of a single broadcast domain. However, when “VLAN Tunnelling” is enabled within the Ethernet Network, VC will treat it as an 802.1Q Trunk port, and all frames will be forwarded to the destined host untouched. Shared Uplink Set (SUS) An uplink port or a group of uplink ports, where the upstream switch port(s) is configured as an 802.1Q trunk.
Network Teaming Software A software that runs on a host, allowing multiple network interface ports to be combined to act as a single virtual port. The software provides greater bandwidth, load balancing, and redundancy. pNIC Physical NIC port. A FlexNIC is seen by VMware as a pNIC Port Aggregation Combining ports to provide one or more of the following benefits: greater bandwidth, load balancing, and redundancy.
For more m info ormation n To read more m about th he Virtual Con nnect FlexFabrric module, go o to www.hp.ccom/go/virtuallconnect. © Co opyright 2010 Hew wlett-Packard Develo opment Company, L.P. The information n contained herein is subject to chan nge without notice. The T only warrantiess for HP products and services are set forth in the expresss warranty statements accompanyin ng such products an nd services.
