HP 1.10GB Virtual Connect Ethernet Module for c-Class BladeSystem - Manual (Page 83)

Storage management 83
Storage management
Storage overview
The Virtual Connect Fibre Channel modules enable the c-Class administrator to reduce FC cabling by making
use of N_Port_ID virtualization (NPIV). The HP VC-FC acts as an HBA aggregator where each NPIV-enabled
N-port uplink can carry the FC traffic for multiple HBAs.
Because it uses an N-port uplink, it can be connected to data center Brocade, McData, Cisco, and Qlogic FC
switches that support the NPIV protocol. When the server blade HBAs log in to the fabric through the VC-FC
module, the HBA WWN is visible to the FC switch name server and can be managed as if it was connected
directly.
IMPORTANT: The HP Virtual Connect Fibre Channel modules must be connected to a data center
Fibre Channel switch that supports N_Port_ID virtualization (NPIV). See the switch firmware
documentation for information to determine whether a specific switch supports NPIV and for
instructions on enabling this support.
The VC-FC module has either four or eight uplinks. Each uplink is completely independent of the other uplinks
and has a capability of aggregating up to 16 physical server HBA N-port links into an N-port uplink through
the use of NPIV.
In previous versions of Virtual Connect, a one-to-one relationship existed between VC-FC uplinks and external
FC SAN fabrics. Beginning with version 1.31 of Virtual Connect Manager, users can group multiple VC-FC
module uplinks logically into a Virtual Connect fabric when attached to the same Fibre Channel SAN fabric.
Using this feature, users can access more than one FC SAN fabric in their data center, plus have a flexible
and fully redundant way to connect server blades to Fibre Channel SANs. User can connect to up to four
SAN fabrics from one VC-FC module, and up to eight SAN fabrics from one HP VC 8Gb 24-Port module.
If NPIV capability of a SAN fabric switch port is lost, the disabled uplink port of the VC 8Gb 24-Port FC
Module remains disabled until the module is reset. HP requires connectivity to NPIV-enabled switches for all
HP VC-FC modules.
Virtual Connect Fabric
By default, all of the VC-FC module uplinks are grouped into a single fabric, distributing connectivity from all
16 server blades in the enclosure. If a port in the group becomes unavailable, hosts logged in through that
port are reconnected to the fabric through the remaining ports in the group, resulting in auto-failover.
However, users can redistribute the connections manually.
To form a Virtual Connect fabric correctly, participating uplinks must be connected to the same SAN fabric.
The WWN of the principal fabric switch indicates connectivity to the same SAN fabric in Virtual Connect.
The module uses dynamic login distribution to provide an uplink port path failover that enables server
connections to fail over within the Virtual Connect fabric. Server connections are redistributed across all
available (currently logged into the external SAN) uplink ports.