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Flexfabric overview – HP Virtual Connect 4Gb Fibre Channel Module for c-Class BladeSystem User Manual

Page 163

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Virtual Connect server profiles 163

For more information, see "Bandwidth assignment (on page

169

)."

Although the Port Speed Setting is available for all network connections in a profile, Virtual Connect can only
control link speed for Flex-10 NICs when they are connected to an HP Virtual Connect Flex-10 Module.

Virtual Connect cannot control the link speed of traditional NICs. Enabling specification of port speed

regardless of the underlying NIC allows the profile to configure the connection automatically when moved to

or from Flex-10 enabled servers and NICs.
Even though the system might not prompt for a server reboot, a server reboot is required after the server is

upgraded successfully with the latest firmware and drivers for HP Dual Port Flex-10 10GbE Multifunctional

BL-c Adapters, NC532i adapters, or NC532m adapters. The reboot enables the newly upgraded drivers

and boot code to run, which then enables Virtual Connect to configure the "Dynamic Changes to FlexNICs"
feature.

The Allocated Port Speed (Min-Max) column displays "not allocated" until the profile is assigned to a device

bay that contains a server. At that time, bandwidth is allocated to each connection and the result is reported

in this column. See "Bandwidth assignment (on page

169

)."

The Mapping column describes how each connection of a profile is assigned to physical devices in a server

and to which interconnect bay that device is connected. The four FlexNICs on port 1 of a server LOM that

supports Flex-10 are numbered LOM:1-a, LOM:1-b, LOM:1-c, and LOM:1-d, or LOM1:1-a, LOM1:1-b,

LOM1:1-c, and LOM1:1-d for Gen8 server blades. If a LOM does not support Flex-10, then it is simply

referenced by its port number (for example, LOM:1 or LOM:2).

FlexFabric overview

VC 3.15 and higher supports the HP VC FlexFabric 10Gb/24-port Module. This module provides eight

uplinks, four of which can be designated as either Fibre Channel or Ethernet. The remaining 4 uplinks are
Ethernet-only. It is possible to include one FC connection and three Ethernet connections on a single 10Gb

port. However, both the server and switch hardware must support FlexFabric. In addition to the existing NICs

and LOMs, this module functions with FlexFabric mezzanine cards and embedded FlexFabric LOMs.
FlexFabric module uplink ports X1-X4 can be configured as FC fabric ports or Ethernet network ports. If a port
is configured as an FC fabric port, the protocol used is FCoE, and the server profile connection to that fabric

is an FCoE connection.