HP Brocade 8/24c HP Virtual Connect: Common Myths, Misperceptions, and Objecti - Page 20

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Table 5.

Supported SNMP objects

Dot1dBasePortDelayExceededDiscards

Dot1dBasePortMtuExceededDiscards

Dot1dTpPortInFrames

Dot1dTpPortOutFrames

Dot1dTpPortInDiscards

EtherStatsStatsDropEvents

EtherStatsStatsMulticastPkts

EtherStatsStatsBroadcastPkts

EtherStatsStatsUndersizePkts

EtherStatsStatsFragments

IfInOctets

IfInUcastPkts

IfInNUcastPkts

IfInDiscards

IfInErrors

IfInUnknownProtos

IfOutOctets

IfOutUcastPkts

IfOutNUcastPkts

IfOutDiscards

IfOutErrors

IfOutQLen

IpInReceives

IpInHdrErrors

IpForwDatagrams

IpInDiscards

Dot1dBasePortDelayExceededDiscards

Dot1dBasePortMtuExceededDiscards

Dot1dTpPortInFrames

EtherStatsStatsPkts

EtherStatsStatsCollisions

EtherStatsStatsCRCAlignErrors

TXNoErrors

RXNoErrors

Dot3StatsAlignmentErrors

Dot3StatsFCSErrors

Dot3StatsSingleCollisionFrames

Dot3StatsMultipleCollisionFrames

Dot3StatsSQETTestErrors

Dot3StatsDeferredTransmissions

Dot3StatsLateCollisions

Dot3StatsExcessiveCollisions

Dot3StatsInternalMacTransmitErrors

Dot3StatsCarrierSenseErrors

Dot3StatsFrameTooLongs

Dot3StatsInternalMacReceiveErrors

Dot3StatsSymbolErrors

Dot3ControlInUnknownOpcodes

Dot3InPauseFrames

Dot3OutPauseFrames

IfHCInOctets

IfHCInUcastPkts

IfHCInMulticastPkts

IfHCInBroadcastPkts

IfHCOutOctets

IfHCOutUcastPkts

IfHCOutMulticastPkts

IfHCOutBroadcastPckts:

#40: QoS can provide the same functionality of VC Flex-10

Incorrect:

VC Flex-10 provides server administrators greater flexibility by dedicating specific

FlexNICs for specific networks, and providing segregation of traffic that cannot coexist on the same

physical NIC.

While a hypervisor could provide rate limiting features to control bandwidth, this

doesn’t exist for physical hosts.

VC Flex-10 allows either the Server or Network Administrators set

and enforce bandwidth settings at the FlexNIC partition, and can provide a consistent method of

management and segregation regardless of the physical host OS.

Unique Features Provided By HP Virtual Connect

Virtual Connect provides many unique features not provided by traditional LAN and SAN switches.

These HP designed and engineered features are provided to enhance HP server blade deployment

and management for HP customers.

These features are not provided by traditional LAN and SAN

switches because they don’t have server system visibility and configurability like Virtual Connect. The

following sections provide a technical discussion of several of these unique Virtual Connect features.

Section	Page
Abstract	3
Target Audience	3
Prerequisites and Versioning	3
Introduction	3
Myths, Misconceptions and Objections	5
#1: VC Ethernet is just another switch	5
Comparing VC and Server Virtualization Hypervisor Networking Technology	5
A Description of the Hypervisor Components	5
A Comparative Description of the VC Components	6
#2: VC Ethernet is really a ProCurve switch and may not be interoperable with 3rd party network switches	7
#3: VC Ethernet doesn’t support Spanning Tree (STP)	7
#4: VC can cause duplicate MACs and WWNs on the network.	7
#5: VC users cannot leverage existing network management tools (for example, CiscoWorks)	8
#6: VC doesn’t provide secure external management	8
#7: VC Ethernet doesn’t support Private VLANs	8
#8: VC doesn’t provide deterministic load balancing for multiple LACP channels	9
#9: VC Ethernet doesn’t support VLAN Trunking to Server Blade NICs	9
#10: VC Ethernet and Fibre Channel modules require a clunky hardware failure recovery (RMA) process	9
#11: VC doesn’t provide network visibility into the VC Domain for network administrators	10
#12: Many customers experience problems with VC deployment consistency	10
#13: VC doesn’t support non-disruptive firmware upgrades (“hot code load”)	10
#14: HP server blade NICs stay active even after VC Ethernet uplink failure	11
#15: VC is proprietary to HP; VC locks a user to a single blade vendor	11
#16: VC modules form a master/slave relationship with separate IP addresses that aren’t transferred during a failover. When multiple VC modules are present, only one module is elected to forward traffic	11
#17: VC only supports a limited number of VLANs	12
#18: VC Ethernet doesn’t provide Layer 3 routing capabilities	12
#19: VC’s CX4 cables are not ideal for 10Gbe uplinks because of distance limitation	12
#20: VC doesn’t support stacking multiple VC modules	13
#21: VC doesn’t offer Access Control Lists or VLAN Access Control Lists (ACLs or VACLs)	13
#22: VC Ethernet doesn’t support user configurable Quality of Service (QoS) features	13
#23: VC Ethernet doesn’t provide diagnostic tools (SPAN)	13
#24: VC Ethernet doesn’t support the Cisco Discovery Protocol (CDP)	13
#25: VC requires a separate web management window to manage each VC module	14
#26: VC doesn’t support IGMP Snooping	14
#27: VC Fibre Channel doesn’t support nested NPIV	14
#28: Virtualized MAC and WWN (NAT) features on some switches (for example, Cisco’s FlexAttach8F feature) provide the same benefits as VC’s Managed MAC addresses and WWNs	14
#29: DHCP Option 82 provides the same server redundancy features as Virtual Connect	16
#30: VC-FC doesn’t provide login distribution and failover on FC uplinks to the SAN	17
#31: All VC-FC uplinks have to be connected to the same SAN fabric	17
#32: VC-FC does not support Cisco’s VSAN or Brocades Virtual Fabric features	17
#33: VC implements an immature loop avoidance mechanism	18
#34: VC Uplink failures require re-convergence on the external network and may cause dropped server sessions	18
#35: Cisco’s N-Port Virtualization (NPV10F ) or Brocade Access Gateway11F provide all the same advantages as VC-FC	18
#36: Cisco VFrame Data Center provides the same capabilities as VC	18
#37: VC Ethernet can’t be connected to Cisco 6500 switches using Virtual Switching System (VSS)	19
#38: VC Ethernet does not support Unidirectional Link Detection (UDLD)	19
#39: VC Ethernet only provides port counters on uplinks	19
#40: QoS can provide the same functionality of VC Flex-10	20
Unique Features Provided By HP Virtual Connect	20
Managed Server Identities	21
Internal Server Identity	21
External Server Identity	21
Preprovisioning Using Managed Server Identities	21
“LAN Safe” Network Connectivity	22
Consolidate Network Infrastructure with VC Flex-10	22
Server Adds, Moves, and Replacements are Transparent to LAN & SAN	22
Summary of the Virtual Connect Capabilities	23
Additional Resources and References	26
Appendixes	27
Appendix A: Frequently Asked Questions	27

HP Brocade 8/24c HP Virtual Connect: Common Myths, Misperceptions, and Objecti - Page 20

Unique Features Provided By HP Virtual Connect

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