Flexaddress – Dell POWEREDGE M1000E User Manual

Page 43

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Initial System Configuration

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6 Select the type of switch connected to the appliance from the drop-down

list. If the type you are looking for is not available, you can add it by

clicking

Add.

7 Click Next. The completion dialog box is displayed.
8 Click Finish to exit.
9 Start up the analog switch and the system.

FlexAddress

The FlexAddress feature is an optional upgrade introduced in CMC 1.1 that

allows server modules to replace the factory assigned World Wide Name and

Media Access Control (WWN/MAC) network IDs with WWN/MAC IDs

provided by the chassis.
Every server module is assigned unique WWN and MAC IDs as part of the

manufacturing process. Before the FlexAddress feature was introduced, if you

had to replace one server module with another, the WWN/MAC IDs would

change and Ethernet network management tools and SAN resources would

need to be reconfigured to be aware of the new server module.
FlexAddress allows the CMC to assign WWN/MAC IDs to a particular slot

and override the factory IDs. If the server module is replaced, the slot-based

WWN/MAC ID remains the same. This feature eliminates the need to

reconfigure Ethernet network management tools and SAN resources for a new

server module.
Additionally, the override action only occurs when a server module is inserted

in a FlexAddress enabled chassis; no permanent changes are made to the

server module. If a server module is moved to a chassis that does not support

FlexAddress, the factory assigned WWN/MAC IDs are used.
Prior to installing FlexAddress, you can determine the range of MAC

addresses contained on a FlexAddress feature card by inserting the SD card

into an USB Memory Card Reader and viewing the file pwwn_mac.xml. This

clear text XML file on the SD card contains an XML tag mac_start, which is

the first starting hex MAC address that will be used for this unique MAC

address range. The mac_count tag is the total number of MAC addresses that

the SD card allocates. The total MAC range allocated can be determined by:
<mac_start> + 0xCF (208 - 1) = mac_end

book.book Page 43 Wednesday, March 9, 2011 3:11 PM

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