ISS Technology Update
HP Virtual Connect technology
In the c-Class architecture, Virtual Connect technology provides virtualized server connections to any industry-standard Ethernet
(LAN) or N_Port ID Virtualization (NPIV)-enabled Fibre Channel (SAN) switch. Virtual Connect technology virtualizes the server-
edge so that networks can communicate with pools of HP BladeSystem servers rather than with individual server blades. Virtual
Connect consists of hardware (the Virtual Connect module) and a management agent that runs on the Virtual Connect module.
Virtual Connect Ethernet modules can be used in interconnect bays 1, 2, 3, and 4 when Ethernet mezzanine cards are used in
the appropriate mezzanine slots on the server blades. Virtual Connect Fibre Channel modules can only be used in interconnect
bays 3 and 4 and require a Fibre Channel mezzanine card in Mezzanine slots 2 or 3 in the server blade.
HP Virtual Connect technology offers administrators list of features that are unmatched in the industry:
• Reduce the number of cables without adding switches to manage.
• Cleanly separate server management from LAN and SAN management.
• Add, move, and replace servers anywhere in the data center.
• Replace a failed server in same server bay.
• Move a server to another bay as long as same LAN and SAN connections already exist there.
• Move a server to another bay in the domain without pre-configuring specific LAN and SAN connections.
• Assign and move MAC addresses and World Wide Names.
• Assign and move complete server FC SAN boot parameters.
• Assign and move LAN and SAN network connections.
• Replace a failed server with any server in the data center without going into the data center to move a cable.
• Enable VMotion across two physical servers without changing network connections.
Keyboard, video, and mouse functionality
The HP BladeSystem c3000 supports two options for keyboard, video and mouse (KVM) functionality:
• The built-in iLO processor on each ProLiant server blade delivers KVM functionality over IP.
• For customers who want to attach the enclosure to a traditional in-rack KVM, HP offers a local KVM module for the c3000.
Additional resources
For additional information on the topics discussed in this article, visit the following links:
Resource
"HP BladeSystem c3000 Enclosure
technologies" technology brief
"Managing the HP BladeSystem c-
Class" technology brief
HP BladeSystem c3000 Enclosure-
overview Web page
URL
http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bc/docs/support/SupportMa
nual/c01204885/c01204885.pdf
http://h18004.www1.hp.com/products/servers/technology
/whitepapers/proliant-servers.html
http://www.hp.com/cgi-
bin/sbso/exit.cgi?goto=product/serverstorage/computing_se
rver/hp_blade_system_c3000
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