Scenario 3:2 - Flex-10 With Multi-Enclosure Stacking - Vlan Tagging (802.1Q) With Multiple Shared Uplink Sets (Sus) - Vmware Esx - (4 Enclosures); Overview - HP Integrity BL890c - i2 Server Manual

Scenario 3:2 - Flex- 1 0 with Multi-Enclosure
stacking - VLAN Tagging (802.1Q) with Multiple
Shared Uplink Sets (SUS) - VMware ESX - (4
Enclosures)

Overview

This scenario discusses the Flex-10 features provided in Virtual Connect. For an overview of Flex-10,
please refer to the following technology brief. HP Flex-10 technology brief;
http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bc/docs/support/SupportManual/c01608922/c01608922.pdf
Virtual Connect Flex-10 provides the ability to either present the 10Gb server NICs as single 10Gb NICs,
or divide each NIC into as many as 4 "physical function" NICs per NIC port. These physical function
NICs look to the server hardware and OS as physical NICs, have their own MAC address and can be
configured at speeds from 100Mb to 10Gb.
As shown in earlier scenarios, VLAN access can be handled in two different ways. Virtual Connect can
either pass VLAN/Non-VLAN traffic untouched to the host (Tunneling Mode) or Virtual Connect can
handle all VLAN tagging (Server Mapped VLANs). Each has their advantages as discussed in the
Introduction to Virtual Connect section, earlier in this document.
This scenario, using Map VLAN Tags, will focus more on Enclosure stacking, which is referred to a Multi-
enclosure stacking (ME), while leveraging Virtual Connect Flex-10 technology. In this scenario we have
two10Gb uplinks configured with multiple VLANs. We will configure a VMware ESX server with SIX
NICs, 3 per NIC port, configured at various speed. Some NICs will be connected to specific VLANs, so
frames will be presented without tags, others will be configured with multiple networks, were frames will
be presented with tags. We will also show how the speed of each NIC can be varied from speeds
ranging between 100Mb to 10Gb.
Flex-10 technology can be provided in two ways;
1. Through the use the10Gb (LOM) NICs integrated on the main PCB, or;
2. Through the installation of a DUAL PORT 10Gb-KR mezzanine card (NC532m) in an HP
BladeSystem server. The first server to provide 10Gb LOM NICs is the BL495c, which is what is
being used in the following example.
The key benefit of Flex-10 is that; we now have 10Gb of network bandwidth available per NIC port with
the ability to partition or divide that bandwidth into as many as four (4) independent configurable
physical NICs per port. These NICs can be configured at speeds of between 100Mb and 10Gb
providing the ability to tune bandwidth to the specific need, such as, management, VMotion or
production networks. With current technology, all networks would be provided with the same 1Gb speed
and would require independent discrete NICs. With Flex-10, we can now provide each network with the
desired speed as shown in the following table.
Scenario 3:2 - Flex-10 with Multi-Enclosure stacking - VLAN Tagging (802.1Q) with Multiple Shared Uplink Sets (SUS) - VMware
ESX - (4 Enclosures) 183