IBM 87302RU Hardware Maintenance Manual - Page 41
BladeCenter, networking, guidelines
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must be installed in the BladeCenter T unit in I/O-module bay 1 or 2, or both, before the integrated Ethernet controllers on each blade server system board can be used. The Ethernet controllers are integrated on each blade server system board. The Ethernet controllers provide 1-Gbps full-duplex capability only, which enables simultaneous transmission and reception of data to the external ports on the Ethernet switches. You do not need to set any jumpers or configure the controller for the blade server operating system. However, you must install a device driver on the blade server to enable the blade server operating system to address the Ethernet controller. For blade server device drivers and information about configuring the Ethernet controllers, see the Ethernet software CD that comes with your blade server. BladeCenter T networking guidelines Your networking administrator should assist in the configuration of the network infrastructure before you connect the BladeCenter T unit to a LAN switch or similar network device. This section provides additional guidelines that might be useful in setting up your system. A BladeCenter T unit with two Ethernet switch modules and one management module has the internal configuration that is shown in the following illustration: MAC 1a 1b 1 2a 2b 2 3a 3b 3 4a 4b 4 5a 5b 5 6a 6b 6 7a 7b 7 8a 8b 8 1 Gbps links Switch A 1 Gbps or 100 Mbps links Mgmt Mod 10/100 Mbps 100 Mbps links Switch B 1 Gbps links Note: 2nd switch module is optional Each blade server has two independent Ethernet controllers, each with its own MAC address and a dedicated 1 Gbps link to one of the switch modules in I/O module bays 1 and 2 (controller 1 to switch A and controller 2 to switch B in the illustration). In this configuration (the default), the blade servers share access to four external ports on each switch. There is no internal data path between the two switches within the BladeCenter T unit; an external network device is required for data packets to flow from one internal switch to the other. The management module has a separate internal 100 Mbps link to each switch. These links are for internal management and control only. No data packets are allowed to flow from application programs on the blade servers to the management module over this path. A separate, nonswitched path (not shown) is used for communication between the management module and a service processor on each blade server. Chapter 2. Configuring the BladeCenter T unit 31
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