HP GbE2c HP GbE2c Layer 2/3 Ethernet Blade Switch for c-Class BladeSystem User - Page 8

Switch redundancy In a dual switch configuration, the switches offer several redundancy and failover features. With these features, the network configuration is designed to allow for continued network access to each server blade in case of a component or link failure. The switch redundancy and failover features include: • Up to eight separate switches per one HP c-Class BladeSystem server blade enclosure • Five Gigabit Ethernet uplink ports, per switch, for designing fully meshed uplink paths to the network backbone • Server networking connections routed to each of the separate switches for redundant paths to tolerate a switch or port malfunction • Redundant data path Gigabit Ethernet cross connections between switches • STP support that eliminates potential problems caused by redundant networking paths and provides for failover with a secondary path in case of primary path failure; supports IEEE 802.1D Spanning Tree Protocol and is compatible with Cisco® PVST+ and Cisco PVST, when the other device is configured as untagged or configured to use 802.1q tagging. The switch also supports IEEE 802.1s MSTP and IEEE 802.1w RSTP. • Redundant power supplies and redundant cooling fans within the server blade enclosure • Redundant firmware images and configuration settings on switch flash memory • Redundant, configurable DNS clients, syslog servers, gateways, and community strings and SNMP trap manager hosts Configuration and management The switch provides these configuration and management interfaces and tools: • A scriptable CLI allows local, Telnet, or SSH access. • A BBI allows remote access using a Web browser such as Microsoft® Internet Explorer or Netscape Navigator. • SNMP manageability and monitoring are supported. • The switch functionality allows uploading and downloading of switch configurations through TFTP and SCP, thus allowing the rapid deployment of multiple server blade systems, and providing robust backup and restore capabilities. • NTP is supported, allowing the switch to display and record the accurate date and time as provided by an NTP server. • Two firmware images, either of which can be selected to be the current runtime image, can be held in memory. • RADIUS provides support for user authentication and authorization. • TACACS+ provides support for Cisco TACACS+ server compatible authentication, authorization, and accounting. • The user interfaces provide multi-level password protected user accounts. • IP settings are set manually or obtained automatically from a BOOTP server. • A text-based, human read/write configuration file provides viewing, printing, and editing capabilities. • A DNS client supports primary and secondary DNS servers. • Any port can be enabled or disabled as desired. • Any switch port can be used to perform switch management and PXE. Introduction 8