HP Insight Management-Software - Manual (Page 11)

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Enables system administrators to be self-sufficient—Add, replace, or modify servers in minutes
to meet changing workload and business requirements without impacting production networks.
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Relieves LAN and SAN administrators from server-centric maintenance.
Figure 1 (page 11) shows a comparison between tradition networks and VC networks.
Figure 1 Traditional network and Virtual Connect comparison
The VC architecture is integrated into every BladeSystem c-Class enclosure and built on industry
standards, allowing operations with a broad range of switch brands that includes Cisco, Brocade,
Juniper, BNT, and HP ProCurve. VC functionality is delivered using high performance VC Ethernet
and Fibre Channel modules that plug into the standard BladeSystem c-Class enclosure interconnect
bays. Each VC module provides dense port aggregation that turns multiple physical network
connections to each server into a few simple high-speed uplinks that greatly reduce infrastructure
complexity and costs. To the external networks, VC modules appear as regular pass-through
devices, but provide the benefits of integrated switching. HP BladeSystem enclosures configured
with VC Ethernet and Fiber Channel modules are referred to as VC Domains. A VC Domain is a
logical group that can be a single enclosure with up to 16 servers, or up to four physically linked
enclosures running up to 64 servers.
To establish server connections to LANs and SANs, VC uses server connection profiles in
combination with dynamic pools of unique media access control (MAC) addresses and world wide
names (WWN). A VC server profile is a logical grouping of server connection attributes that can
be assigned to any bay in a BladeSystem enclosure. When assigned to an enclosure bay, the
server in that bay assumes the attributes of the server profile which can include:
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MAC addresses for all NICs
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WWNs for all HBAs
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Fibre Channel boot from SAN parameters
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Logical serial numbers
Architectural overview 11