Comments on: HP Virtual Connect & VMware vSphere 4 https://blog.michaelfmcnamara.com/2009/08/hp-virtual-connect-vmware-vsphere-4/ technology, networking, virtualization and IP telephony Tue, 04 Aug 2009 03:06:07 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.7.3 By: Michael McNamara https://blog.michaelfmcnamara.com/2009/08/hp-virtual-connect-vmware-vsphere-4/comment-page-1/#comment-1098 Tue, 04 Aug 2009 03:06:07 +0000 http://blog.michaelfmcnamara.com/?p=882#comment-1098 In reply to John Naysmith.

Hi John,

We haven’t tested beacon probing yet although it is on the long list of things we need to research and test. We have yet to test the SmartLink functionality at all although we are interested in duplicating the functionality that we are accustomed to in Nortel’s VLACP. We are running Virtual Connect v2.10, the latest and greatest although we did upgrade it when it arrived from the factory.

We believe the problem stems from the Intel based chipset used on the mezzanine card (NC360m,BLc 2-PORT GIGABIT,MEZZ ADPTR). We had no problems with the built-in NIC that come with the blade although we believe those are based on a Broadcom chipset. We’ve opened a ticket with HP and the only solution is to RMA the mezzanine adapters for a model that has a Broadcom chipset. We should receive the RMA by tomorrow so I’ll keep you posted.

On another note, 40+ enclosure is a huge number of virtual servers. I would guess that we could easily fit 500 guests on 16 BL460c blades in a single enclosure. If you have 40 enclosures that’s easily over 20,000 guests! I certainly wouldn’t want to see the electric bill for 40+ enclosures although it really makes you think about scaling.

Thanks for the comment!

]]> By: John Naysmith https://blog.michaelfmcnamara.com/2009/08/hp-virtual-connect-vmware-vsphere-4/comment-page-1/#comment-1096 Mon, 03 Aug 2009 11:20:03 +0000 http://blog.michaelfmcnamara.com/?p=882#comment-1096 Have you considered using beacon probing in ESX for upstream link detection failure?
This would possibly resolve the fact that the midplane connections consider themselves connected, even with uplinks disconnected.

I’d also be interested in the firmware version of VC and seeing how you have configured smartlink in your Virtual connect E-net definitions, as this can also impact whether the blade detects an upstream failure.

We have 40 + enclosures with this config and will be testing upgrading to vsphere soon, so i expect to share your pain..

cheers.

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