For some good information on using HP VirtualConnect with VMware ESX Server, go check out this article just published by SearchVMware.com:
While the idea of server profiles can be useful in VMware Infrastructure 3 (VI3) environments, Virtual Connect’s ability to integrate with VLAN tagging configurations is perhaps more applicable to ESX Server deployments on c-Class blades. In this article, we’ll take a look at how VirtualConnect integrates with ESX Server with regards to networking configurations.
Of course, I’m a bit partial to this particular author (wink, wink), but it is a good article nevertheless.
Feel free to hit me up with any corrections, comments, or thoughts. And be sure to go read my article, so TechTarget will keep asking me to write for them!
Tags: ESX, Hardware, Networking, Virtualization, VMware, Writing
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Thursday, January 24, 2008 at 4:26 am
duncan
Cool article. Sounds like a cool product, but not being able to use VST is definitely a downside. Especially in blades where you are limited in the amount of nics you can have per Host. It also limits the flexibility you have with the use of VST.
Thursday, January 24, 2008 at 6:41 am
slowe
Duncan,
You *CAN* use VST, just not with shared uplink sets. If you don’t use shared uplink sets, then the 802.1Q VLAN tags are passed all the way up to the ESX Server so that you can create port groups on the vSwitch(es) just like you normally would.
Wednesday, January 30, 2008 at 1:09 pm
Chris Lynch
Then why does your article not point out using Standard Ethernet Networks to pass VLAN traffic untouched to the host so the vmkernel can handle VLAN tagging? This is the most common type of installation our customers do with VC + ESX. I feel you are doing an injustice not pointing this out, even though you state it in your response to Duncan.
Wednesday, January 30, 2008 at 1:27 pm
slowe
Chris,
Thanks for your response. If you go back and read the article again, I specifically state that using Standard Ethernet networks–not Shared Uplink Sets–does not affect the ability to pass VLAN tags up to the host. To quote:
“Ethernet networks as defined in Virtual Connect define which uplinks that network is allowed to use, but they do not affect the 802.1Q status of the downstream connections (the connections to the servers inside the chassis).”
And again later:
“In either way, these Ethernet networks will “pass through” the 802.1Q status of the physical switchport to which it is uplinked. If the physical switch port to which they are connected is configured as an 802.1Q VLAN trunk, then the downstream ports will act as 802.1Q VLAN trunks. Likewise, if the uplink is connected to a switchport that is configured as a static access port, then the downstream ports will act as static access ports.”
Furthermore, the use of Shared Uplink Sets is defined as the “exception to the rule” about this behavior, trying to reinforce the notion that Standard Ethernet Networks behave one way and Shared Uplink Sets behave a different way.
I’m not really sure how much clearer I could have been, although apparently I wasn’t clear enough.
Wednesday, January 30, 2008 at 2:00 pm
Chris Lynch
Thank you, and I did read it slower. I didn’t see the paragraph where you described the Standard Ethernet Network and how it will pass the frames untouched to the down-link ports. There has been some confusion out here on this “interweb thing,” and wanted to make sure that our technology was not described nor written about wrong.
Wednesday, January 30, 2008 at 2:39 pm
slowe
Chris,
I can appreciate your position–you want to make sure that your technology is being correctly described and positioned. I don’t fault you in the least.