HP BL680c HP local I/O technology for ProLiant and BladeSystem servers - Page 11

HP Virtual Connect, Ongoing ProLiant server transition strategy

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Figure 10. IOV enabled PCIe I/O device PCIe Port Configuration Resources Internal Routing PCI Express Endpoint Function 1 ATC1 Physical Resources1 Function 2 ATC2 Physical Resources2 Function 3 ATC3 Physical Resources3 As of mid-2007, detailed specifications for IOV functionality are being finalized by the PCI-SIG. Standards-based production implementations of IOV-enabled I/O devices will not be generally available in the market until 2009. HP Virtual Connect HP Virtual Connect technology, introduced for the HP BladeSystem c-Class, is designed to virtualize and manage LAN and SAN connections for a pool of BladeSystem c-Class servers. Virtual Connect is not a direct part of local server I/O, but it does deal with how server networking I/O resources are presented to the LAN or SAN. In this sense Virtual Connect is an industry standard-based implementation of what is often referred to as server-edge I/O virtualization. HP Virtual Connect is delivered using Virtual Connect Ethernet and Fibre Channel modules that are designed to work in conjunction with the HP BladeSystem architecture to create an abstraction layer between a pool of blade servers and the external LAN and SAN networks to which they are connected. This allows the Virtual Connect infrastructure to present the network with a constant set of media access control (MAC) addresses and World Wide Names (WWNs) for each server bay in an enclosure. These address sets, known as server I/O profiles, can then be maintained even if the underlying server hardware is changed, allowing server replacement or failover events to occur without requiring reconfiguration of the network infrastructure elements that rely on them. Virtual Connect technology is covered in detail in additional HP technical briefs which are referenced at the end of this paper. It is included her to help provide a complete overview of HP server I/O technologies. Ongoing ProLiant server transition strategy HP is committed to ensuring a smooth transition between I/O standards for customers. HP has introduced PCI Express technology throughout the ProLiant product line while maintaining backward compatibility with PCI-X 133. This allows ProLiant server customers to install new higher bandwidth cards (for example, dual 4-Gb Fibre Channel, x4 InfiniBand, and 10-Gb Ethernet) using PCI Express technology. At the same time, continued HP support of PCI-X allows ProLiant server customers to connect to their existing I/O cards. 11

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Figure 10
. IOV enabled PCIe I/O device
PCI Express Endpoint
Internal Routing
Configuration
Resources
Function 1
ATC
1
Physical
Resources
1
Function 2
ATC
2
Physical
Resources
2
Function 3
ATC
3
Physical
Resources
3
PCIe Port
As of mid-2007, detailed specifications for IOV functionality are being finalized by the PCI-SIG.
Standards-based production implementations of IOV-enabled I/O devices will not be generally
available in the market until 2009.
HP Virtual Connect
HP Virtual Connect technology, introduced for the HP BladeSystem c-Class, is designed to virtualize
and manage LAN and SAN connections for a pool of BladeSystem c-Class servers. Virtual Connect is
not a direct part of local server I/O, but it does deal with how server networking I/O resources are
presented to the LAN or SAN. In this sense Virtual Connect is an industry standard-based
implementation of what is often referred to as server-edge I/O virtualization.
HP Virtual Connect is delivered using Virtual Connect Ethernet and Fibre Channel modules that are
designed to work in conjunction with the HP BladeSystem architecture to create an abstraction layer
between a pool of blade servers and the external LAN and SAN networks to which they are
connected. This allows the Virtual Connect infrastructure to present the network with a constant set of
media access control (MAC) addresses and World Wide Names (WWNs) for each server bay in an
enclosure. These address sets, known as server I/O profiles, can then be maintained even if the
underlying server hardware is changed, allowing server replacement or failover events to occur
without requiring reconfiguration of the network infrastructure elements that rely on them.
Virtual Connect technology is covered in detail in additional HP technical briefs which are referenced
at the end of this paper. It is included her to help provide a complete overview of HP server I/O
technologies.
Ongoing ProLiant server transition strategy
HP is committed to ensuring a smooth transition between I/O standards for customers. HP has
introduced PCI Express technology throughout the ProLiant product line while maintaining backward
compatibility with PCI-X 133. This allows ProLiant server customers to install new higher bandwidth
cards (for example, dual 4-Gb Fibre Channel, x4 InfiniBand, and 10-Gb Ethernet) using PCI Express
technology. At the same time, continued HP support of PCI-X allows ProLiant server customers to
connect to their existing I/O cards.
11