HP Virtual Connect 8Gb 24-port Fibre Channel Module for c-Class BladeSystem - Manual (Page 130)

Configuring the Virtual Connect domain using the CLI 130
To 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.
Each server blade Ethernet NIC ships with a factory default MAC address. The MAC address is a 48-bit
number that uniquely identifies the Ethernet interface to other devices on the network. While the hardware
ships with default MAC addresses, Virtual Connect can assign MAC addresses that 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 assigns two MAC addresses to each VC-Enet connection in the server
profile, a primary address for the Ethernet NIC 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.
• When FlexFabric adapters are in use, Virtual Connect assigns a MAC address to each FCoE connection
in the server profile.
• When iSCSI connections are used, Virtual Connect assigns a MAC address to each iSCSI connection
in the profile.
Assigned 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 VCM and do not conflict with server factory default
MAC addresses.
When using the HP-defined MAC address ranges, be sure that each range is used only once within the
environment.
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.