HP Integrity BL870c Server-Blade - Manual (Page 35)

7 Using Virtual Connect with nPartitions
An nPartition, consisting of N blades, is treated identically to a server of comparable size and
type. This extends to all features of Virtual Connect (VC). For example, in all respects a 2-blade
nPar in a BL890c i4 server is treated exactly like a BL870c i4 server.
Creating an nPartition
Configuring nPartitions can be thought of as dividing a multi-blade server into multiple servers with
fewer blades. These new servers can be comprised of either a single-blade or of multiple blades.
In this process VCM is primarily an observer. The Integrated Lights Out (iLO) controls the Blade
Link Domain (BL) to change the configuration of nPars in the Blade Link Domain and the information
about the new configuration is communicated via the Onboard Administrator (OA) to the Virtual
Connect Manager (VCM). During this process VCM reacts in the following ways:
•
Removes profile connections from affected nPars.
•
Updates its nPar configuration information.
•
Applies profiles to the new or modified nPars.
This chapter will discuss what happens to the profile assignments and the mapping of profile
connections when the nPar configuration of a Blade Link Domain changes. How information is
displayed and updated in the VCM Graphical User Interface (GUI) and the VCM Text-base User
Interface (TUI) is also demonstrated.
Assigning a VC profile to an nPar
While VCM gives the appearance of assigning profiles to servers, in reality whenever a profile is
assigned to a multi-blade server (or multi-blade nPar) the profile is assigned to the monarch bay
in the server (or nPar). This is important because when the configuration of a Blade Link Domain
is changed the profiles that get used are those that are assigned to the bays of the monarch blades
of the nPars in the new configuration of the Blade Link Domain.
The examples below use two profiles named Test1 and Test2. The server is a 4-blade server located
in bays 1-4, with the nPar configuration of AACC. The profile Test1 has been assigned to the AA
nPar, thus internally VCM considers the profile assigned to bay 1. The profile Test2 has been
assigned to the CC nPar, thus internally VCM considers the profile assigned to bay 3.
•
If you look at the “Server Profiles” screen you should notice that the Bay assignment for each
profile is identified as being an nPar.
Figure 14 Server Profiles Screen
•
If you look at the Device Bays screen you should notice that there is an entry for each nPar in
the BL890c i4, and the product name shown identifies each as being an nPar (i.e., Integrity
BL890c i4 nPar).
Creating an nPartition 35