Virtual Connect Lab

HP Virtual Connect
Lab guide
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HP Virtual Connect
Lab guide
September 2013
Contents
Lab 1 — Introducing the Virtual Connect Manager ............................................... L1-1

Objectives ............................................................................................. L1-1
Introduction ........................................................................................... L1-1
Requirements ......................................................................................... L1-3
Exercise 1 — Accessing the HP Virtual Lab Environment .............................. L1-6
Exercise 2 — Accessing the VC Simulator ................................................ L1-11
Exercise 3 — Configuring the Virtual Connect Domain .............................. L1-17
Exercise 4 — Configuring the VC Domain Options ................................... L1-25
Exercise 5 — Backing Up the VC Domain Configuration ........................... L1-28
Lab 2 — Completing the Domain Configuration ................................................... L2-1

Objectives ............................................................................................. L2-1
Exercise 1 —Configuring Networks using the VC Manager Network
Setup Wizard ....................................................................................... L2-6
Exercise 2 —Configuring Virtual Connect using the Fibre Channel
Wizard ............................................................................................... L2-15
Exercise 3 — Configuring Virtual Connect using the Server Profile
Wizard ............................................................................................... L2-21
Exercise 4 — Optional ......................................................................... L2-29
Lab 3 — Advanced Virtual Connect Manager Setup .............................................L3-1

Objectives .............................................................................................L3-1
Verifying Datacenter Connections — A Best Practice Checklist .................... L3-2
Exercise 1 — Configure Advanced Ethernet Settings .................................. L3-3
Exercise 2 — Reviewing Profile Structure ................................................. L3-11
Exercise 3 — Configuring Quality of Service (QoS) .................................. L3-12
Exercise 4 — Creating a Shared Uplink Set with VLAN Tags ..................... L3-14
Exercise 5 — Define a Tunneled vNet .....................................................L3-23
Exercise 6 — Working with Profiles ........................................................L3-26
Exercise 7 — Multi-Enclosure VC Domains ............................................. L3-34
Lab 4 — Using the Virtual Connect Manager CLI ................................................. L4-1

Objectives ............................................................................................ L4-1
Introduction .......................................................................................... L4-2
Exercise 1 — Access the VCM CLI through SSH ........................................ L4-6
Exercise 2 — Explore the VCM CLI .......................................................... L4-8
Exercise 3 — Using the Virtual Connect show all Command ...................... L4-10
Exercise 4 — Configuring the Domain (Examples) .................................... L4-13
Exercise 5 — Working with Profiles ....................................................... L4-29
HK758S E.01 © 2013 Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. i

HP Virtual Connect
ii © 2013 Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. HK758S E.01

Introducing the Virtual Connect Manager
Lab 1
Objectives
After completing this lab, you should be able to:
 Use the HP Virtual Connect wizards to complete the initial set up, which includes the
following tasks:
• Logging into the VC Domain
• Running the Domain Setup Wizard
• Backing up the VC Domain Configuration
Introduction
Virtual Connect is a set of interconnect modules and embedded software for HP
BladeSystem c-Class enclosures that simplifies the setup and administration of server
connections. HP Virtual Connect includes the following components:
• VC Flex-10 Ethernet Module
• VC FlexFabric Ethernet Module
• VC Flex-10/10D Ethernet Module
• Second generation VC 4Gb FC Module
• VC 8Gb 20 Port FC Module
• VC 8Gb 24 Port FC Module
• VC Manager (VCM)
Virtual Connect implements server edge virtualization so that server administrators can
upgrade, replace, or move server blades within their enclosures without changes being
visible to the external LAN and storage area network (SAN) environments.
VCM is embedded on the HP VC Ethernet Modules and is accessed through the out of
band management path provided by the Onboard Administrator to the embedded web
server. The Virtual Connect Manager runs on a VC Ethernet or FlexFabric module.
Therefore, you must have at least one VC Ethernet or FlexFabric module installed if you
want to establish a Virtual Connect domain.
Note
The primary VC module must be in the lowest numbered interconnect bay (ICB) e.g. in
an ICB-3 / ICB-4 pair the primary module will be interconnect bay 3.
HK758S E.01 © 2013 Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. L1 – 1

HP Virtual Connect
The HP VC modules are compatible with the BladeSystem c3000/c7000 enclosures and
all the server blades and networks contained within the enclosure. HP VC also supports
connection to all brands of data center switches.
Note
The BladeSystem c3000enclosure does not support FlexFabric.
A Virtual Connect domain currently includes up to four c7000 enclosures for a total of 64
server blades or a single c3000 enclosure with 8 server blades. (These totals double
when using the 2x220c server blades.) Within the domain, any server blade can access
any LAN connected to a Virtual Connect module, and a server blade can replace (spare)
another server blade within the same domain.
By stacking (cabling) the Ethernet modules within the domain, you can configure every
server blade in the domain to access any external network connection. Fibre Channel
ports do not stack and VC-FC modules within different enclosures must connect directly
to the same set of Fibre Channel SANs. With this configuration, the VC Manager can
migrate (copy) a server blade profile to any server in the VC domain without the need to
change external LAN or SAN configurations.
Note
VC 3.51 (SPP 2012.02) is the current minimum supported firmware version in VC
domains. VC 3.15 is a critical minimum as it forces a consistent firmware version on
all VC components in a multi-enclosure stack.
! Important
For a Virtual Connect domain to operate properly, all HP VC Ethernet Modules within
the Virtual Connect domain must be interconnected with stacking links. HP
recommends that redundancy be maintained in stacking links to ensure continued
connectivity of servers to the external networks.
L1 – 2 © 2013 Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. HK758S E.01

Basic VC Manager Setup
Requirements
Hardware
To complete these exercises in your datacenter, you will need:
 Access to the HP Virtual Connect Simulator
Or
 An HP c-Class enclosure
• c-Class servers with FlexNIC capability (LAN on Motherboard or Mezzanine)
• One or more HP VC-Ethernet Flex-10 or FlexFabric modules connected to your
datacenter Ethernet network
• One or more HP VC-Fibre Channel modules connected to your datacenter

storage network. A FlexFabric module can replace the Fibre Channel
requirement.
! Important
In the datacenter environment, the Virtual Connect Fibre Channel modules
must connect to N_Port Identifier Virtualization (NPIV) enabled switches.
 Current VC Manager firmware installed. Please review the current HP Service Pack
for ProLiant release notes for the tested firmware versions.
hp.com/go/spp

HP Virtual Connect
Browsers
The VC Manager Web interface requires an Extensible Style Language Transformation
(XSLT) enabled browser with support for JavaScript. The following browsers are
supported:
• Microsoft Internet Explorer 8.x and 9.x
• Mozilla Firefox
• Chrome does not provide the required functionality and is not supported
The following browser settings must be enabled:

• JavaScript — Client-side JavaScript is used extensively by this application.
Check the browser settings to make sure JavaScript is enabled before running
the application.
• ActiveX — When using Microsoft Internet Explorer with this application, ActiveX
must be enabled. Check the browser settings to make sure ActiveX is enabled
before running the application.
• Adobe Flash Player — VCM requires Adobe Flash Player before you can log in.
HP recommends updating to Adobe Flash Player 10.3.181.16 or higher.
• Pop-up windows — Pop-up windows must be enabled for certain features to
function correctly. Check the browser settings to make sure pop-up blockers
are not enabled before running the application.
• Cookies — Cookies must be enabled for certain features to function correctly.
Check your browser settings to make sure cookies are enabled before running
the application.
Command Line Access

The VC Manager CLI requires an application that can access the VC Manager through a CLI
connection to the c-Class enclosure Onboard Administrator. That connection can be a
telnet or SSH connection. You can open an SSH session directly to the VC manager’s IP
address.
• You can also connect through the OA serial port.

Differences between the VC Simulator and VC Manager

 The VC Simulator does not support restoring a backup that was created on an actual
c-Class enclosure.
 Backups created with the VC simulator must not be restored to an actual c-Class
enclosure.
 OA IP addresses are simulated. Any well-formed IP address can be used to import an
enclosure. The following IP addresses are coded in to the simulated enclosures:
• Local Enclosure
• Remote Enclosure 1—192.168.6.1
 The VC Simulator does not implement certificate operations.
 The VC Simulator uses local accounts and does not communicate with LDAP, RADIUS
or TACACS+ servers.
 Although the VC Simulator allows you to configure LDAP, RADIUS, and TACACS+
authentication and authorization parameters, it does not attempt to authenticate
with the corresponding servers.
 When associating a network to a profile assigned to an uplink port, the associated
downlink port speed always changes to 10GB. Because there is no physical
connection, the speed is not polled in real time.
 The VC Simulator does not support importing or exporting of the SSL certificates or
SSH keys.
 The VC Simulator does not support VCM CLI scripting. For example, the following is
not supported: ->plink Admin@192.168.0.120 -m myscript.txt
 Although the VC Simulator allows you to enable SNMP and configure traps, it does
not respond to SNMP queries or send SNMP traps.
 Although the VC Simulator allows you to enable remote logging, it does not log
events to the remote syslog server.
 The VC Simulator does not interoperate with any other simulators, such as the
P4000 Simulator, EVA Simulator, Comware Simulator, and so on.
 A VC simulated domain cannot be imported into VCEM.
 Although you can enable the display of the historical throughput data, it is statically
preconfigured.
 The VC Simulator cannot be customized and comes preconfigured with certain
server and adapter models.

HP Virtual Connect
Exercise 1 — Accessing the HP Virtual Lab Environment

1. Open an internet browser and enter labs.usa.hp.com into the address field. The HPVL
Access screen displays.
2. Enter the username and password supplied by your instructor and click the Logon
button. The HP Virtual Lab (HPVL) Home Page displays.

3. From the left-side panel click the Terminal Servers link.
4. The home page rebuilds. Click on the Options link displayed on the upper right

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5. The screen resolutions option page displays. By default the HPVL application will use
100% of your screen. The page enables you to set the screen resolution either
directly or by selecting a specific percentage of the desktop that the application will
use.
6. Your selection will vary depending on your desktop’s native resolution and other
applications running. The screen shot displays 1024 x 768 and a 24 bit color depth.
This is the remote system default resolution. Click Update to continue.
7. Click the Favorites link in the upper right.

8. The home page rebuilds. Click on the HPVL Access link.
9. Your instructor will assign a lab group for your team. Click the assigned ICDCE Lab
group link.
10. Normally (if you have not previously accessed the HPVL), the Citrix environment will
prompt you to install two plug-ins. Depending on your browser, these plug-ins may
require that you close and restart your browser. Eventually the HPVL Lab Group
Access page displays a list of lab groups.

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11. The HPVL lab group information page displays. (This is an example and may vary
depending on the equipment assigned.)
Important
! At the end of each day or when your lab work is complete please use the VCM
functionality to save your configuration. Alternatively, close the Terminal Servers
session and leave the VC Manager interface running.
12. Check your equipment assignment and click your Remote Desktop link. This will
access a Windows Server desktop. Log on using Administrator as the user name and
password as the password.
Note
The instructor will have assigned a server for your use.

Exercise 2 — Accessing the VC Simulator

1. Launch the VMware Player by clicking the VMware Player icon on the desktop.
2. Accept the license agreement.
The VMware Player home screen displays.

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3. Click on the Open a Virtual Machine icon.
4. Browse to the C:\Classfiles\VC simulator 4.0.1 folder and select the VC-simulator-
4.01.vmx file. Click Open.
Note
The file location will vary depending on the equipment assignment.

5. The VMware Player screen displays. Click Play virtual machine.

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6. The dialog box below displays; choose I copied it and click OK.
In some instances (VMware Player versions), you may have to acknowledge the keyboard
timeout value to continue.
The simulator starts to boot Virtual Connect.

When the simulator completes booting, the following screen will display.
7. Note and record the IP address in the VMware Player window.
Do Not Attempt to Login in this window.
Not get an IP in the Simulator?

Page Not Found error in your browser?
This can occur if you had a previous version of the simulator installed.
8. Navigate to the Player → Network Adapter → Settings.

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9. Changing from Bridged to NAT or Host-only and restarting the simulator usually
resolves connectivity issues.
10. Use an Internet browser to open the IP address (192.168.x.y) displayed in the
VMware Player.
Note
If a security alert displays, click Continue to this website.
The Virtual Connect Manager logon screen displays.

Exercise 3 — Configuring the Virtual Connect Domain

The Virtual Connect Domain Setup Wizard
The Virtual Connect Domain Setup Wizard enables you to:
• Import the enclosure configuration and communication settings
• Name the Virtual Connect domain
• Set a static IP address for VC Manager
• Set up local user accounts and privileges
• Confirm that the stacking links provide the needed connectivity and
redundancy
1. Log in to the VC Manager.
Use the username Administrator and password Administrator.

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2. After you log in, the Virtual Connect Manager Domain Setup Wizard screen displays.
Click Next to continue.
Note
If you cancel the wizard before the enclosure is imported, you are returned to the
login screen.
3. The Local Enclosure page displays. Enter the Onboard Administrator administrative
credentials from the toe-tag sticker (in the lab, this is Administrator and
Administrator). Click Next to continue.
Note
After you enter the credentials, the VC Manager automatically detects the local
enclosures and establishes a trust relationship.

4. Using the inventory stored in the Onboard Administrator, the Virtual Connect
Domain Setup Wizard imports all the servers and VC interconnect modules
associated with the target enclosure.
At the Enclosure Import/Recovery page, accept the defaults and click Next to
continue. (This process can take several minutes.)
5. Confirm that you understand that importing the enclosure will disable network
access to all blade servers by clicking Yes.

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6. The Import Status screen displays the imported enclosures and the server and
interconnect count. Click Next to continue.
Tapping the arrow box in the

lower right opens the Show
Activity log.
7. The General Settings screen displays. The Domain Setup Wizard automatically
assigns a domain name (based on the enclosure name) that you can change.
The Virtual Connect domain name should be unique within you data center and can
be up to 31 characters without spaces or special characters. You can change this
name when running the setup wizard or at any time from the Domain Settings
(Controls) screen. Name the domain (your name choice doesn’t matter) and click
Next to continue.

The Local User Accounts page displays. The first time this page appears, the only local
user account is the Administrator account, which has Domain, Network, Storage, and
Server privileges-as opposed to only Domain privileges. The Administrator account
cannot be deleted nor have domain privileges removed. You can change the
Administrator password.
• The default Administrator password is identified on the Default Network
Settings label on the lowest odd-numbered interconnect bay populated with a
Virtual Connect Ethernet or HP VC FlexFabric 10Gb/24-port module.
You can set up each account to have a combination of up to four access privileges:
• Domain
• Network
• Server
• Storage
Plus Guest (any user with no privileges assigned)

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8. Select Advanced and browse the Local User Accounts page.
9. Select Add User and make a User Account named Student. Make the password
password and set the full name to Student.

10. Give the user Domain level permissions.

11. Scroll down and click Add & Close to implement the change and continue.
12. The Local User Accounts page displays the new user.

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13. You have successfully completed the general administrative tasks necessary for the
initial Virtual Connect domain setup.
 Deselect the Start the Network Setup Wizard
Click Finish.
The HP Virtual Connect Home page displays.

Exercise 4 — Configuring the VC Domain Options

1. From Domain Settings panel, select Configuration.
 Enable the Login Banner and enter some text (The contents can be whatever
you would like), and click Apply → OK to continue.
2. From the Domain Settings panel, select Ethernet → Advanced Settings.

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3. What are the default settings for:

 Fast MAC Cache Fail-over?
 Port Protection?
 Throughput Statistics?
 LACP Configuration?
4. From Domain Settings panel, select Ethernet → Quality of Service (QoS). What are
the default Quality of Service configurations types available in the drop down?
5. Navigate to the Hardware section and list the interconnects installed in the base
enclosure (enc0):
..........................................................................................................................................
..........................................................................................................................................
..........................................................................................................................................
..........................................................................................................................................
..........................................................................................................................................
..........................................................................................................................................

6. From the Hardware section list the servers installed in the base enclosure (enc0):
..........................................................................................................................................
..........................................................................................................................................
..........................................................................................................................................
..........................................................................................................................................
..........................................................................................................................................
..........................................................................................................................................
..........................................................................................................................................
..........................................................................................................................................
..........................................................................................................................................
..........................................................................................................................................
..........................................................................................................................................
..........................................................................................................................................
7. Which device bays hold full-height servers?

..........................................................................................................................................
..........................................................................................................................................
..........................................................................................................................................
..........................................................................................................................................

HP Virtual Connect
Exercise 5 — Backing Up the VC Domain Configuration

! Important
 You cannot backup from a physical domain, and then restore to the VC
Simulator.
 There is limited support for saving the configuration state.
1. From the VCM home page select Tools → Backup Domain Configuration.
2. The Backup/Restore screen displays.
3. Select Backup Configuration.

4. Depending on your browser, some form of popup displays. Select Save as and save
the file to the desktop.
Note the file naming structure: vcConfig-(Domain Name)-(Date).
Note
Sometimes, the initial attempt to save the config from the simulator does not
present the opportunity to Save as. A second attempt is successful.
5. To save your work, backup your configuration at the end of each exercise.

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Completing the Domain Configuration
Lab 2
Objectives
 Use the HP Virtual Connect wizards to complete the VC Domain set up, which
includes the following tasks:
• Completing the Network Setup Wizard
• Completing the Fibre Channel Setup Wizard
• Completing the Server Profile Wizard
• Connect the profiles to SAN Fabrics
• Reorganize the profile to support NIC Teaming

HP Virtual Connect
Customer Scenario with production VLANS and ESX

Use the following tables as a reference to support your domain setup.
The customer will use four Flex-NICs per port; one each for Service Console, Production,
Backup, and VMotion. The VMotion network will be internal to the domain.
Note
The customer has selected to map VLAN tags connecting to the VC Uplinks.
Network VLAN ID Enclosure Bay Port

Console_01 Enclosure1: Bay1: Port X1
Console_02 Enclosure1: Bay2: Port X1
Backup_01 Enclosure1: Bay1: Port X2
Backup_02 Enclosure1: Bay2: Port X2
Production_01 Enclosure1: Bay1: Port X3
Production_02 Enclosure1: Bay2: Port X3
VMotion Internal
Tunnel_01 Enclosure1: Bay3: X3/X4
Tunnel_02 Enclosure1: Bay4: X3/X4
VLAN_Alpha Enclosure1: Bay3: X1/X2
VLAN_Beta Enclosure1: Bay4: X1/X2
Blue_01 120 Enclosure1: VLAN_Alpha
Blue_02 120 Enclosure1: VLAN_Beta
Green_01 130 Enclosure1: VLAN_Alpha
Green_02 130 Enclosure1: VLAN_Beta
Red_01 110 Enclosure1: VLAN_Alpha
Red_02 110 Enclosure1: VLAN_Beta
Fabric Enclosure Bay Port

SAN_A Enclosure1: Bay5: X1/X2
SAN_B Enclosure1: Bay6: X1/X2
Note
VLAN_Alpha and VLAN_Beta are Shared Uplink Sets carrying multiple VLANs.

Lab 5 Uplink Port assignments

Network VLAN ID Enclosure Bay Port
VLAN-Trunk-1 Enc0: Bay3: Port X1/X2
VLAN-Trunk-2 Enc0: Bay4: Port X1/X2
Tunnel-1 Enc0: Bay1: Port X3/X4

Tunnel-2 Enc0: Bay2: Port X3/X4
Enc0: Bay2: Port X3
Fabric Enclosure Bay Port

SAN_A Enclosure1: Bay1: X1/X2
SAN_B Enclosure1: Bay2: X1/X2
NIC and Port Naming

The graphic displays an example of the port numbering when using a mix of LOM and
mezzanine ports.
Note
LOMs (LAN on Motherboard) are named by port then Flex-NIC. Thus LOM1:a is the
first Flex-NIC on Port 1. LOM1:c is the second Flex-NIC on Port 1 but retains an odd
port numbering (5) so that you know that it maps to interconnect bay 1.

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Stacking Link Ports used in ENC_0
Available interconnects within ENC_0.

Available servers within ENC_0

HP Virtual Connect
Exercise 1 —Configuring Networks using the VC

Manager Network Setup Wizard
The VC Manager Network Setup Wizard establishes external Ethernet network
connectivity for the BladeSystem c-Class enclosure. In this exercise you will:
 Set up connections from the BladeSystem c-Class blade enclosure to the external
Ethernet networks. These connections can be uplinks dedicated to a specific
Ethernet network or Shared Uplink Sets that carry multiple tagged Ethernet
networks.
 Assign the MAC address ranges used on the servers deployed within this Virtual
Connect domain.
 Configure Server VLAN tagging (mapped VLAN tags)
1. To Launch the VC Manager Network Setup Wizard from the toolbar, click the Tools
menu and select Network Setup Wizard.
2. The Welcome to the Network Setup Wizard page displays. Click Next to continue.
Important
You must have a user account with network privileges to perform these operations.

MAC Address Settings

By default, server blades use server factory-default MACs/WWNs and serial numbers.
You can configure the VC Manager to use Virtual Connect administered MACs/WWNs and
serial numbers. Virtual Connect administered values override the default MAC addresses
and WWNs when a server profile is assigned to a server, and appear to preboot
environments and host operating system software as the hardware addresses.
1. The MAC Address Settings screen displays. This course uses Virtual Connect
assigned MAC addressing. To assign the MAC Address perform the following:
a. Under the Server Blade MAC Addresses Select Use Virtual Connect assigned
MAC Addresses.
b. Under the Select Type and Range of MAC Addresses select HP Pre-defined,
and select range HP Pre-defined: 5 for the domain. Click Next to continue.
Important
! Ensure that each Virtual Connect domain uses a unique range of MAC addresses. This
setting cannot be changed after server profiles are defined.
The default HP defined range selected is 1. Therefore, you should always avoid
using HP defined range 1.
Note
HP provides 64 MAC address ranges and recommends using a predefined range.
These predefined ranges are reserved and will never be used by a manufacturer
(including HP) on any hardware.
Attempting to go back to correct mistakes in the Wizards is futile. Continue

forward and you will be able to make changes when you return to the home
screen.

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2. At the Confirmation popup window type confirm and click OK.
Server VLAN Tag Settings

1. The Server VLAN Tag Settings screen displays. Hover over the Force VLAN mappings
question icon to display the details.
2. For the exercises, accept the default, and leave the option unchecked.

VLAN Capacity
1. VC 4.01 does not support the older1/10 Gb Ethernet modules, and the Expanded
VLAN Capacity (Up to 1000 VLANs per domain and 162 VLANs per physical server
port) is enabled by default.
Note
• Expanded VLAN capacity is the default condition in VC 3.70 and newer.
• If a 1 Gb VC Ethernet module is present in the Domain, Expanded VLAN capacity

will be greyed out.
• Once Expanded VLAN capacity is selected, moving back to Legacy VLAN

capacity mode will require a domain deletion and rebuild.
2. Do Not configure the Multiple Networks Link Speed Settings.
3. Click Next to continue.

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Virtual Connect Port Terminology

The Select Network Connection Type screen displays.
1. Select Connection with uplink(s) dedicated to a single network and click Next to
continue.
Defining networks connects the VC Domain to the datacenter core switches. The
following terms are used in a Virtual Connect environment:
 External port — The Ethernet connectors SFP+ modules (1GbE or 10GbE, 10GBASE-
CX4 and RJ-45) on the faceplate of the HP VC Ethernet modules.
 Stacking port — An HP VC Ethernet module external port and/or cross-link used to
connect to other VC Ethernet modules within an active Virtual Connect domain. The
VC Ethernet modules automatically identify stacking ports. The port number (port
ID) lights amber.
 Uplink port — An external port that is configured within Virtual Connect for use as a
connection to external networking equipment. Uplink ports are defined within
Virtual Connect by the enclosure name, interconnect bay containing the module, and
the port number. The port number (port ID) for uplink ports lights green.
 Uplink port set — A set of uplinks that are trunked together to provide improved
throughput and availability for a single Virtual Connect network connection to
external networking equipment.
 Shared uplink port — An Ethernet uplink port that carries the traffic for multiple
Virtual Connect networks. Each associated Virtual Connect network is mapped to a
specific VLAN on the external connection and appropriate VLAN tags are removed or
added as Ethernet frames enter or leave the Virtual Connect domain.
 Shared uplink port set — A set of Ethernet uplinks that are trunked to provide
improved throughput and availability to one or more VLANs.

The Define Single Network Connection page displays.

2. To define a network, name the network Console_01.
When defining a Network, use a name that will be easily understood and recognized
by the server admins defining and deploying profiles.
3. Select Advanced Network Settings to continue.
The Advanced Network Settings screen displays. The Flex-10 and FlexFabric modules
enable the Network Administrator to establish a Custom value for Preferred Link
Connection Speed and to set a Custom value for Maximum Link Connection Speed for the
network.
Our first network example was Console_01. In an ESX environment the Console network
requires no more than 100Mb.
4. Set preferred connection speed to 100 Mb and set maximum connection speed to
1Gb. Click Apply to continue.
Note
At customer sites, you would set your custom network link speeds to reflect values
used in your datacenter.

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5. The Define Single Network page re-displays.

• Select an uplink port (reference the tables on pages L2-2).
Notes
• The LACP Timer is set to Short to facilitate connecting to an external switch,
which may not support other timer settings.
• In your Datacenter retain the default Auto connection mode if using multiple
ports that will be trunked.
Note
It’s easy to make a mistake in the exercises. This it is not critical, but you cannot
go back to a previous screen while using the wizard. So, if you forget to add a port
or use one not specified, you can correct that at the end of the lab.
6. The Define Networks page displays. Do not configure Network Access Groups at this
time. Click the Create Network button to continue.

7. The All Network Connections screen displays. Click Create more networks button to
add more network connection.
The Select Network Connection Type screen displays.
8. You have now established one network.

Repeat the steps you used to build the Console_01 network, and build three
additional networks to support an ESX host:
• Backup_01 — Preferred Link Connection Speed of 2GB (no Max Speed
assigned) with a single uplink.
• Production_01 — Preferred Link Connection Speed of 3GB (no Max Speed
assigned) with a single uplink.
• vMotion — No Preferred Link Connection Speed and no Max Speed assigned. No
uplink is required as this network is internal to this VC Domain.
With an Active/Active configuration (Side A and Side B), remember that ESX_01 could
send a frame on Side A to a MAC on ESX_XX on side B. When that happens (and again only
when you are in an Active/Active config in VC), the frame must leave the chassis and go
through a higher level network switch and then come back down through side B for
delivery.

HP Virtual Connect
If you are relying on East—West (intra-domain) traffic or you don’t have a reliable
upstream switch, you cannot use Side A/B config. This is why, the HP VMware best
practice design has vMotion as a single network and not vMotion_A and vMotion_B.
Otherwise vMotion traffic may have to leave the chassis, which defeats the advantage of
having East—West communication inside the domain.
9. Once complete, return to Page L2-9 and make three more networks with the same
speed assignments as the previous set. Assign them to FlexFabric ports in
Interconnect bay 2:
• Console_02
• Backup_02
• Production_02
When complete you will have seven networks total.
10. Click Done.

11. The Finish screen displays. Accept the default Start Fibre Channel Wizard and click
Finish.

Exercise 2 —Configuring Virtual Connect using the

Fibre Channel Wizard
This wizard configures external Fibre Channel connectivity for the BladeSystem
enclosure. A user account with storage privileges is required to perform these
operations.
1. The Welcome to Fibre Channel Setup Wizard page displays. Review the notes and
click Next to continue.
You can use this wizard to perform the following tasks:

 Identify the World Wide Names (WWNs) to be used on the server blades deployed
within this Virtual Connect domain
 Define available storage area network (SAN) fabrics

HP Virtual Connect
2. The World Wide Name (WWN) Settings page displays; select Yes, I would like to use
Virtual Connect assigned WWNs. Click Next to continue.
The WWN range used by the Virtual Connect domain must be unique within the
environment. HP provides a set of pre-defined ranges that are reserved for use by
Virtual Connect and will not conflict with VCEM assigned addresses or the factory
default WWNs.
Important
To avoid storage networking issues and potential data loss associated with
duplicate WWNs on a Fibre Channel SAN fabric be sure that each VC assigned range is
used only once within the environment.
When you configure Virtual Connect to assign WWNs, VC securely manages the WWN
and can assign a port WWN and a node WWN to a Fibre Channel HBA port. The port
WWN is used for configuring fabric zoning; it is this WWN that displays throughout
the Virtual Connect and Onboard Administrator user interface.
Note
The assigned node WWN is the same as the port WWN incremented by 1.
Configuring Virtual Connect to assign WWNs in server blades maintains a consistent

storage identity (WWN) even when the underlying server hardware is changed. This
enables server blade replacement without affecting the external Fibre Channel SAN
Fabric.

3. The Assigned WWNs screen displays. HP provides a set of predefined ranges that are
reserved for use by Virtual Connect and will not conflict with server factory-default
WWNs.
• Select HP Pre-defined.
• Select the same range number that you did for MAC addresses.
Note
The HP defined range for MAC and WWN does not have to be identical, though from
an administrative perspective it is easier to have them the same.
• Click Next to continue.
4. When prompted to confirm enter confirm and click OK.

HP Virtual Connect
5. The Define Fabrics page displays. Accept the Define Fabric default and click Next to
continue.
6. The Define SAN Fabrics page displays.
a. Name the Fibre Channel SAN fabric SAN_A.
Note
You can connect each HP Virtual Connect Fibre Channel module to one or more
external Fibre Channel SAN fabrics.

b. Set uplink ports 1 and 2 from the HP VC FlexFabric module in interconnect bay
five.
Note
The number of enabled uplinks and the number of servers in the enclosure
determines the effective oversubscription for that Fibre Channel connection. The
links can be changed or added later after you complete the wizard.
c. Accept the default uplink port speed for each Virtual Connect Fibre Channel
module to use (the default is Auto).
d. Click Apply to continue.
7. The Define SAN Fabrics page displays. Accept the default setting Yes, I would like to
define additional fabrics and click Next.
8. The Define Fabric page displays, click Next to proceed. The Define SAN Fabric page
displays.
9. Configure a second Fabric (SAN_B) and connect to uplink ports 1 and 2 on the VC
FlexFabric module in bay six.

HP Virtual Connect
10. Click Apply button.

11. Select No, I have defined all available fabrics and click Next to continue.
12. The Finish Fibre Channel Setup Wizard page displays. Accept the default Start the
Server Profile Setup Wizard. Click Finish to continue.

Exercise 3 — Configuring Virtual Connect using the

Server Profile Wizard
Server Profiles
1. The Welcome to the Server Profile Wizard page displays. Review the information
carefully and click Next.
When a server profile is assigned to a device bay, VCM securely connects to the server
blade in the bay and configures the NIC ports with the appropriate MAC addresses and
PXE settings and Fibre Channel HBA ports with the appropriate WWNs and SAN boot
settings. In addition, the VC Manager automatically connects the server blade Ethernet
and Fibre Channel ports to the specified networks and SAN fabrics. This server profile can
then be copied or re-assigned to another server blade as needed without interrupting
server connectivity to the network and SAN.
Server blades that have been assigned a profile and remain in the same device bay do
not require further VC Manager configuration during server or enclosure power cycle.
They boot and access the network and fabric as soon as the server and interconnect
modules are ready. If a server blade is inserted into a device bay that has already been
assigned a server profile, VC Manager automatically updates the configuration of that
server blade before it is allowed to power on and connect to the network.

HP Virtual Connect
If a server blade is moved from a Virtual Connect managed enclosure to a non-Virtual

Connect enclosure, all the ports automatically return to the original factory default MAC
addresses and WWNs. This feature prevents duplicate MAC addresses and WWNs from
appearing in the data center because of a server blade redeployment.
Before creating and deploying server profiles, consider the following important points:
• The server blade firmware (including HBA and Ethernet mezzanines),iLO
firmware, OA firmware and VCM firmware must be aligned at a release set that
supports Virtual Connect profile assignment.
• Before creating the first server profile, select whether to use VC administered
MAC addresses and WWNs or the local server blade factory-default MAC
addresses and WWNs.
• After an enclosure is imported into a Virtual Connect domain, server blades
remain isolated from the networks and SAN fabrics until a server profile is
created and assigned.
• Server blades must be powered off to receive or relinquish a server profile
assignment when using Virtual Connect-administered MAC addresses or WWNs,
or when changing Fibre Channel boot parameters.
Note
You can assign a profile to a powered on blade when using factory default addresses.
• Fibre Channel SAN connections display in server profile screens only when
there is a Virtual Connect Fibre Channel module in the enclosure managed by
Virtual Connect. Fibre Channel SAN connections are added in pairs and cannot
be deleted. If a Virtual Connect Fibre Channel module is added to a Virtual
Connect domain that has existing profiles, an option to add Fibre Channel
connections displays in the existing profiles when you edit them.
• Some server profile SAN boot settings (such as the controller boot order) are
applied by Virtual Connect only after the server blade has been booted with the
final mezzanine card configuration.
• If PXE, controller boot order, or SAN boot settings are made outside of Virtual
Connect (using the ROM-Based Setup Utility [RBSU] or other configuration
tool), Virtual Connect will restore the settings defined by the server profile
after the server blade completes the next boot cycle.

2. Leave default Use the static, factory default Serial Numbers. Click Next.
In the next steps, you will build a hypervisor profile using the networks that you
previously made.
3. Right click on a Network Name→Add Connection and add six additional server ports
or use the + Add function to add connections.

HP Virtual Connect
4. Connect the networks to the server ports.
5. When you are done, your network assignments should look like this. Click Next to
continue.

6. Assign this profile to device bays2 and 10and click Next to continue.
7. The Name Server Profiles screen displays, enter ESX_ as the Base name.
• VC automatically names the profiles to correspond with the device bay.
• Click Create Profiles to continue.

HP Virtual Connect
8. The Server Profile Creation screen displays, click Finish to save the configuration.
The VCM Homepage displays.
This would be the ideal time to correct any configuration errors that happened while
navigating the wizards.

Assign Storage Connections

1. From the Server section, select All Server Profiles.
2. Select a profile and click Edit.
3. The Edit Server Profile screen displays.

• Scroll down to the FC HBA Connections section and assign your FC SANs to the
HBA ports.
• Scroll to the bottom of the screen and select Apply & Close.

HP Virtual Connect
4. Edit the second profile to connect to the FC SANs.
A completed profile will look like this:
5. Question: Why was there a “not mapped” error on the server in bay ten?
..........................................................................................................................................
..........................................................................................................................................
6. Backup the domain configuration.

Exercise 4 — Optional
Reorganizing the profile to support NIC teaming across chipsets for
redundancy or on a c3000 enclosure because of its port mapping
configuration.
From the HP ProLiant Network Adapter Teaming White Paper:
ftp://ftp.compaq.com/pub/products/servers/networking/proliant-teaming-
whitepaper-march%2008.pdf
When adapter ports are members of a team, some advanced features are no longer
configurable on the port’s Advanced Settings tab. These advanced features are either
promoted to the team’s Advanced Settings tab because the features are compatible and
supported by all team members, or not promoted because one or more ports do not
support the features. There are also special cases where a feature is supported by all
team members but the implementation is not compatible between the team members
because they use different miniport drivers. In this case, it is not promoted to the team’s
Advanced Settings tab.
The configuration of the individual NICs in a team is important because the team needs
to have each NIC identically configured to ensure that it is accepted into the team. This
can be an issue if the LOM chipset and the mezzanine chipset are not identical (e.g.
Broadcom LOM and an Emulex Mezzanine.
1. From the VCM left panel expand the Hardware → Enclosure1 → Device Bays.

HP Virtual Connect
Note
To achieve network redundancy in a c3000 enclosure, you must install a mezzanine
card supporting interconnect bay two. NIC teaming will be from a LOM NIC connecting
to interconnect bay one to a Mezzanine NIC connecting to interconnect bay two.
2. Select the server with the ESX_02 profile in device bay two and scroll down to the
Server Ethernet Adapter Information section.
• Note that by default VCM orders the NICs to make building redundant (left
side/right side) network connections simple.

Re-ordering the network connections

Note
This LOM-to-Mezzanine configuration would be helpful where network redundancy
requires balancing connections between the LOM and mezzanine
1. Navigate to the Connections → Server Profiles and edit the ESX_02 profile.
2. The ESX_02 profile opens. Note the mapping column.

• Unassign all the networks from the NICs.
• Delete the FCoE HBA Connections
3. Scroll to the bottom of the page and select Apply.

HP Virtual Connect
4. Note that you are now able to view all the available Flex-NICs. VCM has assigned each
of the NICs to a unique device.
5. Reassign the original networks and mix the LOM NICs with the Mezzanine NICs.
• Note that it takes your attention to achieve the correct Port One (left) – Port
Two (right) balance
Note
This is an example of what you only build in a c3000 enclosure, or if you are teaming
across chipsets to achieve a higher level of redundancy. Often if a chip or Mezzanine
card fails it takes out both ports.

Advanced Virtual Connect Manager Setup
Lab 3
Objectives
 Verify network status
 Configure Advanced Ethernet Settings
 Access the Profile Structure
 Configure Quality of Service (QoS)
 Build a Shared Uplink Set with VLAN Tags
 Define a Tunneled vNet
 Build Profile
 Setup a Multi-Enclosure VC Domain

HP Virtual Connect
Verifying Datacenter Connections — A Best Practice

Checklist
Note
These steps are provided for your reference only, and not to be performed at this
time.
1. Verify that all external ports connected to the data center are linked and are
operating at the appropriate speed.
2. Verify that all VC Modules are properly powered on and functioning. The module
status LED for all modules connected and configured in Virtual Connect for data
center use should be green. If the LED is not green, use the Onboard Administrator
user interface to diagnose the problem and verify that the module is properly
powered-on.
3. Verify that the data center switches are powered on.
4. Verify that each external port is linked and operating at the appropriate speed using
link/speed activity LEDs for that port. If ports are not linked, verify that the cables
being used are not defective, and verify that both ends of the link are configured for
the same speed/duplex settings.
• Both sides of the configuration must match for the link to be established.
• For auto-negotiation, both ports must be configured to run auto-negotiation.
To use a forced speed, (for example 1000Mb full duplex), both ports must be
configured to be the same forced speed.
• A mismatched configuration can result in ports not linking up or not functioning
properly.
Note
VC Ethernet Modules do not support half-duplex operations.
5. Verify that the port status indicator (port number) of each configured external port
is illuminated green (assuming no port IDs are illuminated). This status indicates
that the port is actively configured as part of an external connection.

Exercise 1 — Configure Advanced Ethernet Settings

When an uplink on a VC Ethernet Module that was previously in standby mode becomes
active, it can take several minutes for external Ethernet switches to recognize that the c-
Class server blades can now be reached on this newly active connection.
Fast MAC Cache Failover forces Virtual Connect to transmit Ethernet packets on newly
active links, which enables the external Ethernet switches to identify the new connection
(and update their MAC caches appropriately). This transmission sequence repeats a few
times at the MAC refresh interval (five seconds is the recommended interval) and
completes in about one minute.
! Important
Be sure to set switches to enable MAC addresses to move from one port to another
without waiting for an expiration period or causing a lock out.
1. From Domain Settings, select the Ethernet → Advanced Settings link.

HP Virtual Connect
2. The Advanced Settings tab displays:

As of VC 3.30, tunneling is configured at the network level, not at the domain level.
Notes
When the Force server connections to use same VLAN mappings as shared uplink
sets checkbox is not selected, server network connections can be selected from any
VC Ethernet network and the external VLAN ID mappings can be manually edited.
The 'Force server connections to use the same VLAN mappings as shared uplink sets'
checkbox can be selected if no server profile connections are assigned to multiple
networks that are not linked to a shared uplink set.
• Beginning with VC 3.70 Expanded VLAN capacity is enabled by default. What HP

decision made this possible?
..........................................................................................................................................
• Note that you can set Custom, Preferred and Maximum link speeds that VCM
will implement when you use mapped VLAN tags (multiple networks over a
single link).
• If you were mapping twenty VLANs to a single FlexNIC, would you enable this?
..........................................................................................................................................

3. Scroll down in the Advanced Settings to the Other section:

• MAC Cache Failover is enabled by default; you can modify the refresh interval.
• Network Loop Protection is enabled by default. When would you reset this
feature?
..........................................................................................................................................
• Throughput Statistics is enabled by default. Are Received Unicast packets
collected?
..........................................................................................................................................

HP Virtual Connect
4. From Domain Settings, select the Ethernet → Port Monitoring tab to setup port
monitoring.
5. To enable Port Monitoring, first select an external uplink. The example uses uplink
port x10 on Bay 4, but any available uplink will work.
6. Select Enable from the drop down in the Port Monitoring State area, and click Apply
to begin Port Monitoring.
7. Note there is a Port Monitoring icon at the top of VCM interface alerting you that Port
Monitoring is enabled.

8. Click the Select Port, then select the server port (or server ports) that you want to
monitor.
• For example, select Filter by Profile → ESX_02
• Click OK to continue.
9. Select Disable from the drop down in the Port Monitoring State area, and click Apply
to stop Port Monitoring.
10. Select the MAC Address tab to review the assigned MAC address range

HP Virtual Connect
11. From the Homepage header, select Tools → Throughput Statistics.
12. The Throughput Statistics screen displays.

13. Select Add and select two uplink ports from a VC Ethernet module.
14. Click Statistics and a dropdown displays. Select one of the options, and click Chart.
Note
Although you can enable the display of the historical throughput data, in the VC
Simulator it is statically preconfigured.

HP Virtual Connect
The Throughput Statistics graph displays.
Note
The Simulator data is static (prepopulated).
15. Investigate other statistic choices.

Exercise 2 — Reviewing Profile Structure

The VC Manager provides many status and summary screens that you can use to verify
that the networks were defined properly and mapped to the appropriate network. The
VCM also enables you to view all your profile structures on a single page.
1. From the Server Profiles screen, click on the print icon in the upper right.
The overview screen displays.
Note that you can copy and paste from this screen.

HP Virtual Connect
Exercise 3 — Configuring Quality of Service (QoS)

The Quality of Service feature enables users to prioritize network traffic to enhance
performance. The QoS screen is accessible to all users with network or domain role
permissions. All other users have read-only access.
1. Access QoS from Domain Settings → Ethernet.
2. The configuration type options (from the drop-down list) are:
• Passthrough—Incoming non-FCoE packets are not classified or altered. There
are no traffic classes, maps, or rules.
• Custom (with FCoE Lossless)—Enable QoS and enable a customized
configuration that includes FCoE class. The configuration defines two system
classes: Best Effort and FCoE Lossless. You can configure six additional classes
for non-FCoE Ethernet traffic. You must configure traffic class parameters and
traffic classification.
• Custom (without FCoE Lossless)—Enable QoS and enable a customized
configuration. The configuration defines one system class (Best Effort), and
you can configure seven additional classes for non-FCoE Ethernet traffic. You
must configure traffic class parameters and traffic classification. You cannot
switch to this type when the domain has a fabric associated with an FCoE
capable interconnect module, a shared uplink set has an FCoE network, or a
server profile has an FCoE connection.
3. From the dropdown, select Custom (with FCoE Lossless).

The Traffic Class configuration page displays. A traffic class enables you to categorize
packets requiring similar traffic management.
By default, the configuration defines two system classes: Best Effort and FCoE Lossless.
You must configure the remaining six classes manually. Real Time is enabled
automatically
• Traffic from the Real Time class has the highest priority and is scheduled in
strict priority order. The Share and Max Share for the Real Time class must be
equal, and should be less than or equal to 50.
4. Review the available tabs, settings, and help icons for additional information.

HP Virtual Connect
Exercise 4 — Creating a Shared Uplink Set with VLAN

Tags
The following figure shows mapped VLAN tags, a feature that enables users to define
how each server VLAN tag is mapped to a specific network. Each server port can connect
to multiple networks. Server NIC1 is connected to both the Green and Red networks.
Server NIC2 is connected to the Red network, and Server NIC3 is connected to the Red,
Blue, and Orange networks. All server NICs can send and received tagged or untagged
traffic.
By default Virtual Connect 3.30 and newer map VLAN tags. The VC Ethernet modules
accept incoming frames with valid server VLAN tags and translate the server-assigned
VLANs into corresponding internal network VLANs, thus placing the server packet on the
correct network. When these frames reach the uplinks, network VLANs are once again
translated into external data center VLANs. Similarly, VLANs are translated back to
server-assigned VLANs (or stripped and untagged) before sending frames out to servers.
This function enables the possibility of configurations where server VLANs might not
match external VLANs used on uplinks. To avoid this scenario, you can select the Force
server connections to use the same VLAN mappings as shared uplink sets option.
Note
Server port connections to networks are defined on the Define Server Profile screen.

Restrictions and limitations

Enhanced capabilities with Flex-10, Flex-10/10D, and FlexFabric
• 1000 VLANs per domain
• 162 VLANs to a server port
VLAN Tunneling Support
Beginning with VC 3.30, you can have both mapped and tunneled networks within the
same domain. VLAN tunneling support is controlled on a per network basis. You can
enable or disable VLAN tunneling when adding or modifying a network with a dedicated
uplink. Networks that are associated with a shared uplink set cannot be tunneled (since
they are already being mapped).
When the Enable VLAN Tunneling checkbox is selected, packets on that network with
VLAN tags are passed through the VC domain without modification. When the 'Enable
VLAN Tunneling' checkbox is not selected, the uplink ports in the network do not pass
any packets that have VLAN tags.

HP Virtual Connect
Define a Shared Uplink Set with Mapped VLAN Tagging, create two
tunnels, and set up a profile using both tunnels in an Active/Active
design.
By IEEE convention, an LACP trunk is point-to-point; it can only connect from one VC
module to one external logical switch. If the data network and the management network
are on two different core switches, you have to make two separate LACP trunks. If they
are on the same core switch with VLANs, you can either do physical separation by making
two different networks in VCM with their own uplinks, or put the two networks into a
single Shared Uplink Set with all the uplinks and configure VLAN tagging.
In a simplistic way of thinking of it, if all your traffic is going through the same upstream
switch:
• Put the VLANs in the same SUS if you want to get the maximum total I/O for the
minimum uplinks
• If it is critical that traffic on one VLAN does not cause delays on the second
VLAN and there is a reasonable risk of this occurring, put the VLANs into a
separate SUS.
1. From the Network section of the VCM homepage select Define a Shared Uplink Set.

Shared Uplink Sets

The Define Shared Uplink Set Connection page displays.
• A shared uplink set is a way of identifying VC Ethernet Module uplinks that will
carry multiple networks over the same cable. In this case, each Ethernet frame
carries a VLAN tag (IEEE 802.1Q) to identify the specific network to which it
belongs. On shared uplinks, the VLAN tags are added when frames leave the
Virtual Connect enabled enclosure and are removed when frames enter the
enclosure. The external Ethernet switch and the VC Manager must be
configured to use the same VLAN tag identifier (a number between 1 and 4094)
for each network on the shared uplinks.
• Virtual Connect places no special restrictions on which VLAN identifiers you can
use, so the VLAN IDs already used for the networks in the data center can be
used on these shared uplinks. To configure a shared uplink set for VLAN
tagging, obtain a list of the network names and their VLAN IDs.
• A shared uplink set enables multiple ports to be included to support port
aggregation and link failover with a consistent set of VLAN tags.
• Because VLAN tags are added or removed when Ethernet frames leave or enter
the VC Ethernet Module shared uplink, the VLAN tags have no relevance after
the Ethernet frame enters the enclosure.
• Identifying an associated network as the native VLAN causes all untagged
incoming Ethernet frames to be placed onto this network. Only one associated
network can be designated as the native VLAN. All outgoing Ethernet frames
are VLAN tagged.

HP Virtual Connect
1. Define the Uplink Set Name as VLAN_Alpha and assign two uplinks. (For port
assignments, review the table at beginning of Lab Two.)
2. From the Associated Networks (VLAN Tagged) and click Add.
Note
In the next steps you will define the Network name and VLAN identifier of each
network that will use the shared uplinks.
3. Select a single Associated Network.

4. The following screen displays

• Under the Network Name type Red_01 and enter the VLAN ID 110.
• Enable SmartLink
• Review the information and click Apply to continue.
5. Repeat the previous steps 4 and 5 to add the following networks.

• Blue_01 VLAN ID 120
• Green_01 VLAN ID 130
6. To save your configuration, click Apply.

HP Virtual Connect
7. The Share Uplink Sets page displays.
8. Click on the Associated Networks tab and expand the VLAN.
9. Select and configure Red_01 as Native. Were you able to do this?
Note
In a production environment, this would be the destination network for untagged
frames.
10. Click on the External Connections tab, and select Edit.
11. Configure one of the displayed networks as Native. Click Apply to continue.

12. Because this SUS will be part of an Active/Active networking design; check to confirm
that you enabled Smart Link on all the networks in the SUS.
13. Click Add and build a new Shared Uplink Set VLAN_Beta
14. Add uplink ports X1 and X2 on VC module in bay four.

15. Accept Auto as the Connection Mode.
16. From the Associate Networks (VLAN tagged) section, select Add.
17. Build three VLANs:

• Blue_02 (VLAN 120)
• Green_02 (VLAN 130)
• Red_02 (VLAN 110)
• Enable SmartLink on all the networks
• Make the Red_02 network Native and Private.

HP Virtual Connect
18. Click Apply. Your completed configuration will look like this.

Exercise 5 — Define a Tunneled vNet

In the following figure, the dedicated green network carries tunneled VLAN tags. On both
uplink and server VLAN tags are tunneled through the VC domain unchanged. Each server
NIC (or FlexNIC) connects to a single network.
1. From the Network section of the VCM homepage select Define a Network.

HP Virtual Connect
2. From the Define Networks screen, name the network Tunnel_01 and select Enable
VLAN Tunneling.
3. Add two available uplinks (X3 and X4 from Bay 3) to connect the vNet to the
datacenter.
Depending on the ports you

previously used, X3 and X4 may
not be available. If so, select
another pair of ports.
4. Click Apply to save the network.

5. To support an Active-Active network configuration, make a second tunneled network

(Tunnel_02) connected to uplinks X3 and X4 on Bay 4, which is on the right side of
the enclosure.

HP Virtual Connect
Exercise 6 — Working with Profiles

Defining a Tunneled Server Profile
1. From Connections → Server Profiles, and select Add.
2. Build a new profile named ESX_Tunnel

3. Change Unassigned in Ethernet Adapter Connection Port 1 to Multiple Networks.
4. Why is neither of the tunneled networks is available?

..........................................................................................................................................

5. Click Cancel to return to the Define Server Profile page

6. Change Unassigned in Ethernet Adapter Connection Port 1 to Select a Network and
select Tunnel_01.
Note
In this scenario, both Tunneled networks are available.
7. Assign Tunnel_02 to Ethernet Adapter Connection Port 1 and click Apply &Close to
save the profile.

HP Virtual Connect
8. From the left panel, select Hardware → Enclosure → Interconnect Bays and click
on Bay 3 (one of the modules hosting the Tunneled networks). Select the Uplink
Ports tab.
• Note the common LAG ID, which confirms that VCM has aggregated the uplinks
into a 20 Gb virtual port.
9. What significance does the LAG ID number have?

..........................................................................................................................................
10. Assign the profile to a server.
Click Apply & Close.

Defining a Mapped Server Profile

1. From the Home page → Server section, click on the Define a Server Profile link.
The Define Server Profile screen displays.
Note
You are defining a server profile that uses Mapped connections. Each network from
the server will be mapped to an individual VC vNet.
2. Name the new profile ESX_03 and choose Multiple Networks for Ethernet Port 1.

HP Virtual Connect
3. The Server VLAN Tag to vNet Mappings screen displays.

• Select Force the same VLAN mappings and in the Shared Uplink Set.
• Select the VLAN_Alpha Shared Uplink Set that you made earlier.
• Select the three associated VLANs and drag them from Networks not in
mapping to Networks in mapping section.
4. Click OK to continue.
5. Repeat the process to assign the networks from VLAN_Beta to the second port.

6. Assign the Profile to a server (Bay 1 is used in the example) and click Apply & Close.
You have now configured a profile and assigned it to a server to support the Operating
System insertion of VLAN tags into the outgoing packets. Virtual Connect module will not
interfere with these tag assignments. If a network was assigned as Native, any untagged
inbound packets would be directed to that VLAN.
The Private Network selection for the Red_02 VLAN forces all packets on this VLAN to
exit the VC Domain and they must pass through an upstream switch before the Domain
will permit them to reenter.

HP Virtual Connect
Configuring and adjusting bandwidth on a network

1. From the Connections panel, select Ethernet Networks and open (edit) the
Tunnel_01 network.
2. Select Advanced Network Settings.
3. From the Edit Ethernet Network: Tunnel_01 page, select the preferred and
maximum network speeds. Set the speeds (preferred at 4Gb and maximum at 6Gb).

4. Click Apply → Apply to save your changes.

5. Select Server Profiles, right click the ESX_Tunnel profile and open (edit) the
ESX_Tunnel profile.
6. From the Port Speed Type column next to Tunnel_01 network, click on the
Preferred setting and select Custom.
7. The Custom Port Speed pop-up displays. Note that you can only modify the
minimum speed setting. The maximum speed has been set by the Network Admin.

HP Virtual Connect
Exercise 7 — Multi-Enclosure VC Domains

Adding additional enclosures to the VC Domain
1. From the left panel select Domain Settings → Enclosures and then click the Find
link on the left:
Note
The following IP addresses are coded into the simulated enclosures:
Local Enclosure
 Remote Enclosure 1 — 192.168.6.1
2. Enter the IP Address of the target Remote Enclosure 1 and Onboard Administrator
credentials (Administrator/ Administrator). Click OK:

VCM discovers the new enclosure.

3. Import the new enclosure by selecting the enclosure, and clicking the Import link on
the far right of enc1 row.
4. The enclosure status will change to IMPORTED and the Enclosure Import Status
displays the hardware in the newly imported enclosure.

HP Virtual Connect
In a datacenter environment, it is critical to confirm that the stacking links are correctly
positioned.
5. Click the Stacking Links link from Domain Settings panel.
6. Back up your configuration.

Using the Virtual Connect Manager CLI
Lab 4
Objectives
 Access the VCM CLI through an SSH client
• This lab uses PuTTY
 Explore the VCM CLI
 Capture the Show All
 Configuring the Domain (Examples)
 Working with Profiles
 Configure a Profile
 Configure a Domain
! Important
These lab exercises are designed to help you understand how to complete a basic
configuration of the VCM using its command line functionality. It will help to take
notes as you move through the exercises.

HP Virtual Connect
Introduction
You can use the VCM Command Line Interface as an alternative method for administering
the VCM. Using the CLI can be useful in the following scenarios:
• Developing tools that utilize VCM functions for data collection and for
executing provisioning and configuration tasks.
• When no browser is available or you prefer to use a command line interface,
you can access management data and perform configuration tasks.
• Running batch commands using script files. These script files can be run
manually or scheduled to run automatically.
Comments and blank lines in CLI scripts

Scripts are useful for batching many CLI commands. You can create a single CLI script to
configure an entire VC domain from scratch and use it on multiple enclosures.
• When using a Linux SSH client, redirect the script into SSH.
• When using a Windows-based SSH client, pass the file to the client using the -m
option.
To enable script automation and better security, SSH public/private key-pairs can be
generated and uploaded to the public key to the VC firmware. For example:
>ssh Admin@192.168.0.120 < myscript.txt
>plink Admin@192.168.0.120 -m myscript.txt
The CLI enables you to enter multiple CLI commands in a single command-line
invocation. This capability is useful when batching several commands together and
executing them in a particular sequence, within the context of the same SSH session.
This method improves the overall performance of lengthy script processing.
Example 1: Sample commands with no command batching
add profile Profile1
add network Network1
add uplinkset UplinkSet1
Example 2: Sample commands using command batching

add profile Profile1;add network Network1;add uplinkset
UplinkSet1
Notes
 All comment lines must begin with "#".
 If the SSH keys are not configured on the client and in the firmware, a password
prompt appears.
 The VC Simulator does not support pLink.

Virtual Connect CLI User Guide

Each version of the command line interface user guide contains changes from the
previous version. These changes are documented in the What's new section of the CLI
User Guide.
 Modified the network command to include the LacpTimer property.
 Modified the uplinkset command to include the LacpTimer property.
 Modified the enet-connection command to include the McastFilter and
McastFilterSet properties.
 The VCMCLI now displays the LLDP system name instead of the MAC address when
displaying uplink port information in the show uplinkport command.
 The VCMCLI now displays additional role configuration information for the following
commands:
• set role
• show role
• show user
 The VCMCLI now displays QoS statistics information in the description, sample
output, and notes in the show statistics command.
 Modified the following commands to include the FCoE Network type:
• set uplinkset
• show uplinkset
• add network
• set network
• show network
• add uplinkport
• set uplinkport
• remove uplinkport
• add fcoe-connection
• set fcoe-connection
• show fcoe-connection
 Modified the following commands to include the preferred and maximum speed
settings:
• add fabric
• set fabric

HP Virtual Connect
 Modified the following commands to include the "Preferred" speed type:

• add fcoe-connection
• set fcoe-connection
 Modified the following commands to replace the "Privileges" property with "Roles":
• set role
• show role
• add user
• set user
• show user
• add radius-group
• set radius-group
• show radius-group
• add ldap-group
• show ldap-group
• set ldap-group

 Added the following managed elements:

• lacp-timer
• mcast-filter
• mcast-filter-rule
• mcast-filter-set
• port-protect
• qos
• qos-class
• qos-classifier
• qos-map
• session
• mfs-filter
VCMCLI now supports auto-completion using the Tab key.
The CLI User Guide contains an extensive table comparing the VC 3.7 commands with the
changes incorporated in VC 4.00.

HP Virtual Connect
Exercise 1 — Access the VCM CLI through SSH

1. Open a SSH client (this example uses PuTTY). Everyone’s VC Simulator IP address is
unique. Enter the VCM Simulator IP address displayed in the VMware Player and
click Open.
2. Click Yes to accept the security alert.

Note
Normally you would configure certificates and trust. The VC Simulator does not
support this functionality.
3. The PuTTY working window displays.
• At the log on prompt enter vcmcli and press Enter.
Login as “vcmcli”
4. After a few seconds, the VCM log on screen displays. At the prompt enter the
credentials (Administrator / Administrator).
Login with Administrator / Administrator
Note
Commands are not case sensitive, but the objects you create are — MyNetwork is
not same as Mynetwork.

HP Virtual Connect
Exercise 2 — Explore the VCM CLI

1. Enter help and press Enter.
The command list displays tap Enter to view the complete list.

2. Enter show enclosure ?and press Enter. Detailed syntax information for the
command displays.
3. Enter show enclosure * and press Enter. Detailed enclosure information for the
command displays.

HP Virtual Connect
Exercise 3 — Using the Virtual Connect show all

Command
The display all Virtual Connect domain configuration commands are typically useful for
displaying a snapshot of the entire domain configuration with a single command.
show all — Displays all configuration objects (summary view)
show all * — Displays all configuration objects (detailed view)
Note
The asterisk is critical to get all VC configuration and status detail. You will not get
WWNs without it.
1. Open PuTTY and select Session, enter the name or IP address of the primary Virtual
Connect Ethernet module.
2. Configure Printable output
• In the PuTTY Configuration dialog select Session → Logging.
• Then select Printable output and enter a filename for the log file.

3. You may have to reconfigure the default PuTTY settings by increasing the scroll back
lines to get a complete show all listing.
Depending on your configuration, between 2,000 and 5,000 lines are adequate,
though your experience may vary.
4. Click Apply → Open.

HP Virtual Connect
5. At the command prompt, type show all *.
• Verify that the log file exists. (Unless you customized the log location, the
utility automatically saves a putty.log file in the same directory where PuTTY is
installed.)
Optional Exercise
1. To generate a delimited txt file with the configuration information that you can
import into a spreadsheet, follow the procedures below.
->show all * -output=script2
• Text data with semi-colon delimited fields will output to the SSH session.
• Copy the entire output and save it into a .txt file, and import it into an excel
spreadsheet.

Exercise 4 — Configuring the Domain (Examples)

! Important
This exercise is a series of examples. Explore the CLI by attempting these various
example commands. Exercises at the completion of the lab ask you to actually
configure a domain and profiles using what you have learned in this exercise.
1. Save your existing domain configuration.

2. Delete the existing VC Domain that you configured previously by running the delete
domain command:
delete domain
3. Type yes and press Enter to confirm deletion
The command deletes the Virtual Connect domain configuration and prompts for
user confirmation.
4. Log into the VC Simulator CLI by typing vcmcli and then logging in using the VCM
Administrator/Administrator credentials.

HP Virtual Connect
After logging in, use the following exercises to help setup the domain:
! Important
After you issue a CLI command, it can take up to 90 seconds before configuration
changes are stored in persistent memory. Disruptive actions such as powering
cycling an I/O module within this time window can result in lost configuration
changes.
Import an enclosure
Enter Onboard Administrator credentials used during import:
import enclosure username=Administrator password=Administrator
Set the domain name

Set the domain name, using the set domain command (you can chose a name of
your choice):
set domain name=DomainName
! Important
The Virtual Connect domain name must be unique within the data center, and can be
up to 31 characters without spaces or special characters.

Configuring local users

Note
VCM supports up to 32 local user accounts. The maximum length of a username
string is 31 characters.
Access Roles
Each account can be set up to have a combination of up to four access privileges:
Domain
• Define local user accounts, set passwords, define roles
• Configure role-based user authentication
• Import enclosures
• Name the VC domain
• Set the domain IP address
• Administer SSL certificates
• Delete the VC domain
• Configure SNMP settings
Networking
• Configure network default settings
• Select the MAC address range to be used by the VC domain
• Create, delete, and edit networks
• Create, delete, and edit shared uplink sets
• Create, delete, and edit network access groups
• Create, delete, and edit IGMP filters and filter sets
• Configure Ethernet SNMP settings

HP Virtual Connect
Server
• Create, delete, and edit server Virtual Connect profiles
• Assign and unassign profiles to device bays
• Select and use available networks
• Select serial numbers and UUIDs to be used by server profiles
• Power on and off server blades within the enclosure
Storage
• Select the WWNs to be used by the domain
• Set up the connections to the external FC Fabrics
• Configure FC SNMP settings
To disable the timeout function and enable you to work without being logged-off every
15 minutes, set the session timeout
set session timeout=0
User configuration commands

Add a new user example:
add user student Password=password FullName="student"
Enabled=true ContactInfo="student@hp.com"
Privileges="domain,network,storage,server"
Note
It is possible to create a user with no privileges. This user can only view status and
settings.
Modify an existing user

set user student fullname=student enabled=true

Display local users:

 Summary display
show user
 Detailed display
show user *
 Displaying info on a single user
show user student
Remove an existing user

remove user student
Remove all local users except for the Administrator account

remove user *
! Important
The vcmuser account is an internal (and hidden) Onboard Administrator account
created and used by Virtual Connect Manager to communicate with the Onboard
Administrator. This account can show up in the Onboard Administrator system log.
This account cannot be changed or deleted.
Configuring LDAP authentication support for users

Note
Many of these commands do not work in the VC Simulator because they require an
Active Directory account. There isn’t an LDAP server configured in the simulator and
no Active Directory logins are available.
Note
In the simulator you can use any IP address starting with 192.168.6 but that will still
not allow you to disable the local user rights.
Set LDAP properties

set ldap serveraddress=xxx.xxx.x.xx enabled=true
Add/Remove LDAP directory groups

add ldap-group NewGroup Description="test group"
Roles=domain,server,network,storage

HP Virtual Connect
Enable/Disable local users

set ldap localusers=disabled
Display LDAP settings and directory groups

show ldap
show ldap-group
Network setup (in your datacenter)

To establish external Ethernet network connectivity for the HP BladeSystem c-Class
enclosure, do the following:
• Identify the MAC addresses to be used on the server blades deployed within this
Virtual Connect domain.
• Setup connections from the HP BladeSystem c-Class enclosure to the external
Ethernet networks.
These connections can be uplinks dedicated to a specific Ethernet network or shared
uplinks thatcarry multiple Ethernet networks with the use of VLAN tags.
MAC addresses
The MAC address range used by the Virtual connect domain must be unique within the
environment. HP provides a set of pre-defined ranges that are for use by Virtual Connect
Manager and will not conflict with server factory default MAC addresses.
! Important
When using the HP-defined MAC address ranges, ensure that each range is used only
once within the environment.
Each server blade Ethernet NIC ships with a factory default MAC address. The MAC
address is a 48-bitnumber that uniquely identifies the Ethernet interface to other devices
on the network. While the hardware ships with default MAC addresses, Virtual Connect
has the ability to assign MAC addresses that will override the factory default MAC
addresses while the server remains in that Virtual Connect enclosure.
When configured to assign MAC addresses, Virtual Connect securely manages the MAC
addresses by accessing the physical NICs through the enclosure Onboard Administrator
and the iLO interfaces on the individual server blades.
Always establish control processes to ensure that a unique MAC address range is used in
each Virtual Connect domain in the environment. Reusing address ranges could result in
server network outages caused by multiple servers having the same MAC addresses.

If using Virtual Connect assigned MAC addresses, the following notes apply:
• Virtual Connect automatically reserves both a primary address and an iSCSI
MAC address for use by multifunction gigabit server adapters, such as the HP
NC373m PCI Express Dual Port Multifunction Gigabit server adapter. Only the
primary MAC address is used by standard (not multifunction) Ethernet devices.
• If a server blade is moved from a Virtual Connect managed enclosure to a non-
Virtual Connect enclosure, the local MAC addresses on that server blade are
automatically returned to the original factory defaults.
• If a server blade is removed from a bay within a Virtual Connect domain and
installed in another bay in the same Virtual Connect domain or in a bay in a
different domain, it is assigned the new set of addresses appropriate for that
server location.
Selecting VC-assigned MAC address ranges

When using VC-assigned MAC addresses, you can choose between using an HP pre-
defined MAC address range or using a user-defined MAC address range.
HP pre-defined MAC address range (recommended).
 These pre-defined ranges are reserved and will never show up as factory default on
any hardware. There are 64 ranges of 1024 unique addresses to choose from. Be
sure to use each range only once within a data center.
User-defined MAC address range.
 To avoid potential conflict with other hardware MAC addresses in the environment,
consider using a sub-range of MAC addresses reserved by the IEEE for locally
administered MAC addresses. Ensure that the range does not conflict with any
Ethernet device already deployed within the enterprise.
Note
After any server profiles are deployed using a selected MAC address range, that range
cannot be changed until all server profiles are deleted.

HP Virtual Connect
Configuring MAC Address ranges (Examples)

 Use VC-Defined MAC addresses
set domain MacType=VC-Defined MacPool=5
 Use factory-default MAC addresses
set domain MacType=Factory-Default
 Set user-defined MAC addresses

set domain MacType=User-Defined MacStart=00-17-A4-77-00-00
MacEnd=00-17-A4-77-00-FF
! Important
Configuring Virtual Connect to assign server blade MAC addresses requires careful
planning to ensure that the configured range of MAC addresses is used once within
the environment. Duplicate MAC addresses on an Ethernet network can result in a
server network outage.
Configuring an Ethernet-network
The complete add network command syntax is as follows:
add network <NetworkName> [-quiet]
[UplinkSet=<UplinkSetName>vlanID=<vlanID>]
[State=<Enabled|Disabled>] [NativeVLAN=<Enabled|Disabled>]
[Private=<Enabled|Disabled>] [ConnectionMode=<Auto|Failover>]
[vlanTunnel=<Enabled|Disabled>] [PrefSpeedType=<Auto|Custom>]
[PrefSpeed=<100Mb–10Gb in 100Mb increments]
[MaxSpeedType=<UnRestricted|Custom>] [MaxSpeed=<100Mb–10Gb in
100Mb increments>]
Create a new Ethernet network:

add network MyNetwork
Note
 The SmartLink property is not supported during the creation of the network. If
specified, it will be ignored.
 To configure the SmartLink attribute, use the set network command.

After the network has been created, you can add uplink ports if the network is not
using a shared uplink port set.
Note
When using the add uplink command, you will need to specify the enclosure :
interconnect bay : uplink port. For example enc0:2:x2
Note
You can confirm your enclosure name (it may not display as enc0) by running the
show enclosure command.
Add uplink ports to an existing Ethernet network:

add uplinkport enc0:1:x1 network=MyNetwork
To modify an existing Ethernet network use the set network command; the
complete syntax is as follows:
set network <NetworkName> [-quiet] [Name=<NewName>]
[State=<Enabled|Disabled>]
[SmartLink=<Enabled|Disabled>][NativeVLAN=<Enabled|Disabled> ]
[Private=<Enabled|Disabled>] [VlanId=<New vlanId>]
[ConnectionMode=<Auto|Failover>]
[vlanTunnel=<Enabled|Disabled>] [PrefSpeedType=<Auto|Custom>]
[PrefSpeed=<100Mb–10Gb in 100Mb increments>]
[MaxSpeedType=<UnRestricted|Custom>] [MaxSpeed=<100Mb–10Gb in
100Mb increments>]
Modifying Ethernet network properties

 Modify the Ethernet network properties:
set network MyNetwork state=enabled smartlink=enabled

HP Virtual Connect
Modifying uplink port properties

To modify an uplink port that exists as a member of a network or shared uplink set, use
the set uplinkport command:
set uplinkport enc0:1:x1 Network=MyNetwork Speed=Auto
Or to set a preferred and custom speed:
set Network MyNetwork PrefSpeedType=Custom PrefSpeed=1000
MaxSpeedType=Custom MaxSpeed=2500
Displaying Ethernet networks

To display Ethernet network properties, use the show network command:
 Summary display
show network
show network *
 Single network display
show network MyNetwork

Creating a shared uplink port set

A shared uplink set is a way of identifying Ethernet module uplinks that will carry
multiple networks over the same cable. In this case, each Ethernet frame carries a VLAN
tag (IEEE 802.1Q) to identify the specific network to which it belongs. On shared uplinks,
the VLAN tags are added when frames leave the VC-enabled enclosure and are removed
when frames enter the enclosure. The external Ethernet switch and the Virtual Connect
Manager must be configured to use the same VLAN tag identifier (a number between 1
and 4094) for each network on the shared uplink(s).
Virtual Connect places no special restrictions on which VLAN identifiers can be used, so
the VLAN IDs already used for the networks in the data center can be used on these
shared uplinks. To configure a shared uplink set for VLAN tagging, contact the network
group to obtain a list of the network names and their VLAN IDs.
A shared uplink set enables multiple ports to be included to support port aggregation
and link failover with a consistent set of VLAN tags. Because VLAN tags are added or
removed when Ethernet frames leave or enter the VC Ethernet shared uplink, the VLAN
tags have no relevance after the Ethernet frame enters the enclosure.
To create a shared uplink port set, use the add uplinkset command:
add uplinkset MyUplinkSet
Adding uplink ports to a shared uplink port set

To add uplink ports to a shared uplink port set, use the add uplinkport command:
add uplinkport enc0:1:x2 uplinkset=MyUplinkSet

HP Virtual Connect
Displaying shared uplink port sets

 Summary display
show uplinkset
show uplinkset *
 Single uplinkset display
show uplinkset MyUplinkSet
Creating a network that uses a shared uplink port set

To create a network that uses a shared uplink port set, use the add network command:
add network MyNewNetwork uplinkset=MyUplinkSet vlanid=156

Server VLAN Tagging Support

When Virtual Connect maps VLAN tags, the translation of server VLAN tags to internal
network VLAN and again to external data center VLAN tags, and the reverse, on incoming
and outgoing frames can result in a configuration where the server VLANs might not
match the external VLANs used on uplinks.
To modify the default condition, you can force the server connections to use the same
VLAN mappings as the shared uplink sets.
set enet-vlan SharedServerVlanId=true
When using mapped VLAN tags, the overall link speed can be controlled as follows:
set enet-vlan PrefSpeedType=Custom PrefSpeed=500
MaxSpeedType=Custom MaxSpeed=2500

HP Virtual Connect
Fibre Channel setup

Each server blade FC HBA mezzanine card ships with factory default port and node WWNs
for each FCHBA port. Each WWN is a 64-bit number that uniquely identifies the FC HBA
port/node to other devices on the network. While the hardware ships with default WWNs,
Virtual Connect has the ability to assign WWNs that will override the factory default
WWNs while the server remains in that Virtual Connect domain. When configured to
assign WWNs, Virtual Connect securely manages the WWNs by accessing the physical FC
HBA through the enclosure Onboard Administrator and the iLO interfaces on the
individual server blades.
When assigning WWNs to a FC HBA port, Virtual Connect will assign both a port WWN and
a node WWN. Because the port WWN is typically used for configuring fabric zoning, it is
the WWN displayed throughout the Virtual Connect user interface. The assigned node
WWN is always the same as the port WWN incremented by one.
Configuring Virtual Connect to assign WWNs in server blades maintains a consistent

storage identity(WWN) even when the underlying server hardware is changed. This
method enables server blades to be replaced without affecting the external Fibre
Channel SAN administration.
CAUTION: To avoid storage networking issues and potential loss of data associated with
duplicate WWNs on a FC SAN fabric, plan carefully when enabling Virtual Connect to
assign server blade WWNs so that the configured range of WWNs is used only once within
the environment.
The WWN range used by the Virtual Connect domain must be unique within the
environment. HP provides a set of pre-defined ranges that are reserved for use by Virtual
Connect and will not conflict with server factory default WWNs.
! Important
When using the HP-defined WWN ranges, be sure that each range is used only once
within the environment.
To configure external Fibre Channel connectivity for the HP BladeSystem c-Class

enclosure, do the following:
1. Identify WWNs to be used on the server blades deployed within this Virtual Connect
Domain.
2. Define SAN fabrics.
3. Add SAN Fabrics.

Configuring WWN address ranges

 VC-Defined
set domain WwnType=VC-Defined WwnPool=5
 Factory-Default
set domain WwnType=Factory-Default
Note
A WWN (or MAC) pool cannot be changed if profiles are already configured.
Add SAN Fabrics

 add fabric <Name> Bay=<BayNum> Ports=<PortList>
Speed=<Auto|2Gb|4Gb|8Gb>LinkDist=<Auto|Manual>
add fabric SAN_A Bay=5 Ports=1,2
Note
The LinkDist command specifies the login re-distribution scheme to use for load
balancing. Valid values include "Auto" and "Manual". The default login re-distribution
is "Manual".
The HP 4Gb VC-FC module, HP Virtual Connect 4Gb FC module, HP VC 8Gb 20- Port FC
module and HP VC 8Gb 24-Port module support only manual login redistribution. The
HP VC FlexFabric 10Gb/24-Port module supports both auto and manual login
redistribution.
Displaying FC fabrics
 To display a list of all FC SAN fabrics, use the show fabric command:
show fabric
Note
If none are configured, the report returns the following message: “No FC SAN fabrics
exist”.

HP Virtual Connect
Serial number (logical) settings

Virtual Connect Manager can be configured to use logical serial numbers with a server
profile regardless of the type of physical server. With these configuration values,
software licensed with one or both of these values can be migrated to new hardware
without re-licensing.
Configuring serial number ranges
 VC-defined
set serverid Type=VC-Defined PoolId=5
 Factory-Default
set serverid Type=Factory-Default
Note
For each VC defined serial number, VCM generates a random 128 bit logical UUID.

Exercise 5 — Working with Profiles

Guidelines for creating and deploying server profiles:
• The server blade firmware and option card firmware must be at a revision that
supports Virtual Connect profile assignment.
www.hp.com/go/bladesystemupdates
• Before creating the first server profile, select whether to use moveable,
administered MAC addresses and WWNs or whether to use the local server
blade factory default MAC addresses and WWNs.
 When using Virtual Connect-administered MAC addresses, WWNs, or
changing Fibre Channel boot parameters, server blades must be powered
off to receive (or relinquish) a server profile assignment.
• After an enclosure is imported into a Virtual Connect domain, server blades
remain isolated from the networks and SAN fabrics until a server profile is
created and assigned.
• FC SAN connections are only shown in server profile screens when there is an
HP VC-FC module in the enclosure managed by Virtual Connect. If a VC-FC
module is added to a Virtual Connect domain that has existing profiles, an
option to add FC connections appears in the existing profiles when editing.
• Some server profile SAN boot settings (controller boot order) are only applied
by Virtual Connect after the server blade has been booted at least once with the
final mezzanine card configuration.
• If PXE, controller boot order, or SAN boot settings are made outside of Virtual
Connect (using RBSU or other configuration tools), Virtual Connect will restore
the settings defined by the server profile after the server blade completes the
next boot cycle.
Implementing the Profile

Building server profiles
After an enclosure is imported into a Virtual Connect domain, server blades that have not
been assigned a server profile are isolated from all networks to ensure that only
properly configured server blades are attached to data center networks.
A server profile can be assigned and defined for each device bay so that the server blade
can be powered on and connected to a deployment network. These profiles can then
later be modified or replaced by another server profile.
A server profile can also be assigned to an empty bay to enable deployment at a later
date.

HP Virtual Connect
The complete syntax is as follows:

add profile <ProfileName> [-NoDefaultEnetConn] [-
NoDefaultFcConn] [-NoDefaultFcoeConn] [SNType=<Factory-
Default|User-Defined>] [SerialNumber=<serialnumber>]
[UUID=<uuid>]
To create a new server profile, use the add profile command:

add profile MyProfile
To add an Ethernet network connection to an existing server profile, use the add
Ethernet-connection command:
add enet-connection MyProfile network=MyNetwork
To add a new FC SAN connection to an existing server profile, use the add fc-
connection command:
add fc-connection MyProfile fabric=SAN_A Speed=Auto
To assign a server profile to a specific device bay, use the assign profile
command:
Show profile

To remove a server profile by name:
Note
Removing the profile will require you to rebuild it.
remove profile MyProfile
Configure a Profile
1. Using a Linux compatible text editor and the information presented in the lab build
and assign a profile and use the power control command to power-on the server.
assign profile <ProfileName><DeviceBay> [-PowerOn]
2. Can you delete the profile while the server is powered-on?
remove profile <ProfileName>
Power command example:

poweron server enc0:1

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HP Virtual Connect

Lab 1 — Introducing the Virtual Connect Manager ............................................... L1-1

Lab 2 — Completing the Domain Configuration ................................................... L2-1

Lab 3 — Advanced Virtual Connect Manager Setup .............................................L3-1

Lab 4 — Using the Virtual Connect Manager CLI ................................................. L4-1

HK758S E.01 © 2013 Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. i

ii © 2013 Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. HK758S E.01

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L1 – 2 © 2013 Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. HK758S E.01

• One or more HP VC-Fibre Channel modules connected to your datacenter

HK758S E.01 © 2013 Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. L1 – 3

The following browser settings must be enabled:

Command Line Access

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Differences between the VC Simulator and VC Manager

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Exercise 1 — Accessing the HP Virtual Lab Environment

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3. From the left-side panel click the Terminal Servers link.

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7. Click the Favorites link in the upper right.

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8. The home page rebuilds. Click on the HPVL Access link.

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L1 – 10 © 2013 Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. HK758S E.01

Exercise 2 — Accessing the VC Simulator

The VMware Player home screen displays.

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3. Click on the Open a Virtual Machine icon.

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5. The VMware Player screen displays. Click Play virtual machine.

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The simulator starts to boot Virtual Connect.

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Do Not Attempt to Login in this window.

Not get an IP in the Simulator?

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The Virtual Connect Manager logon screen displays.

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Exercise 3 — Configuring the Virtual Connect Domain

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Tapping the arrow box in the

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8. Select Advanced and browse the Local User Accounts page.

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10. Give the user Domain level permissions.

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The HP Virtual Connect Home page displays.

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Exercise 4 — Configuring the VC Domain Options

2. From the Domain Settings panel, select Ethernet → Advanced Settings.

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3. What are the default settings for:

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7. Which device bays hold full-height servers?

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Exercise 5 — Backing Up the VC Domain Configuration

2. The Backup/Restore screen displays.

3. Select Backup Configuration.

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