HP XC System Software Hardware Preparation Guide Version 3.1

For physically small hardware models (such as a 1U HP ProLiant DL145 G1 server), a large number of
servers (more than 30) can be placed in a single cabinet, and are all attached to a single branch switch. The
branch switch is a ProCurve Switch 2848, and two-port trunking is used for the connection between the
Branch Administration Switch and the Root Administration Switch.
For physically larger hardware models (2U and larger) such the HP Integrity rx2600 and HP ProLiant
DL585 G1 servers, a smaller number of servers can be placed in a single cabinet. In this case, the branch
switch is a ProCurve Switch 2824, which is sufficient to support up to 19 nodes.
In this release, the HP XC System Software supports the use of one-wire connections or two-wire trunks
between the Root Administration Switches and the Branch Administration Switches. The HP XC System
Software supports the use of a one-wire connection or up to an four-wire trunk; in most installations,
four-wire trunks are used.
You must configure trunks on both switches before plugging the cables in between the switches. Otherwise,
a loop is created between the switches, and the network is rendered useless.
Trunking configurations on switches must follow these guidelines:
• Because of the architecture of the ProCurve switch, the HP XC System Software uses only 10 ports
of each 12-port segment to ensure maximum bandwidth through the switch; the last two ports are
not used.
• Trunk groups must be contiguous.
Thus, by adhering to the trunking guidelines, the following ports are used to configure a ProCurve 2848
Super Root Switch for three regions using four-wire trunks:
• Region 1 - Ports 1, 2, 3, 4
• Region 2 - Ports 5, 6, 7, 8
• Region 3 - Ports 13, 14, 15, 16
• Ports 9, 10, 11, and 12 are not used
2.3 Switches
The following topics are addressed in this section:
• “Specialized Switch Use” (page 20)
• “Administrator Passwords on ProCurve Switches” (page 21)
• “Switch Port Connections” (page 21)
• “Switch Connections and HP Workstations” (page 22)
• “Root Administration Switch” (page 23)
• “Root Console Switches” (page 25)
• “Branch Administration Switches” (page 26)
• “Branch Console Switches” (page 27)
2.3.1 Specialized Switch Use
The following describes the specialized uses of switches in an HP XC system.
IMPORTANT: Switch use is not strictly enforced on HP XC systems with HP server blades.
For more information about switch use with HP server blades, see the HP XC Systems With HP Server Blades
and Enclosures HowTo, which is available at the following Web site:
http://www.docs.hp.com/en/highperfcomp.html
Super Root Switch, This switch is the top level switch in a large-scale system, that is,
an HP XC system with more than 512 nodes requiring more than
one Root Administration switch. Root Administration switches are
connected directly to this switch.
Root Administration Switch, This switch connects directly to Gigabit Ethernet ports of the head
node, the Root Console Switch, Branch Administration Switches,
and other nodes in the utility cabinet.
20 Making Node and Switch Connections