Home > Flex-10, HP > HP updates Virtual Connect to 4.10 and OA to 4.01, adds IPv6, SR-IOV, hiding FlexNics

HP updates Virtual Connect to 4.10 and OA to 4.01, adds IPv6, SR-IOV, hiding FlexNics

October 28th, 2013

Virtual Connect

HP has released a new version 4.10 of its Virtual Connect firmware for use in HP Blade Chassis. 4.10 is a minor update compared to the release of Virtual Connect 4.01 which added major functionality.

Virtual Connect 4.10 add IPv6 functionality which requires HP Service Pack for Proliant (SPP) 2013.09.0 (B), Onboard Administrator firmware 4.01 and minimum iLO firmware of 1.30.

The ability to hide unused FlexNics from the OS has been added which is very helpful. FlexNics that don’t have a mapping to any server profile connections are not presented to the OS. This means even if you have a full complement of 8 FlexNics defined in your profile but only map 4, your OS will only see 4 Nics rather than 8.

There is a new auto-deployment feature which allows you to configure a Virtual Connect domain from a centralised location using DHCP and TFTP.

SR-IOV support has also been added for direct VM access bypassing the vSwitch on certain FLBs and mezz cards for Gen 8 servers as well as BL620c G7 and BL680c G7.

There are a number of bug fixes as well including some Cisco DAC cables reporting as “Linked/Uncertified” when they should work.

Make sure to read the Release Notes in case there is anything else that may trip you up.

There is also an updated Virtual Connect Support Utility which can be used to update the firmware.

Onboard Administrator

HP has also released an update to the Onboard Administrator firmware to 4.01 which adds IPv6 support, a few new hardware models and a list of bug fixes.

There is a problem with Emulex firmware prior to version 4.1.450.7 that can result in SmartLink otherwise known as Device Control Channel (DCC) not working with a 10Gb physical link when you have full height blades. When you upgrade the OA, you may lose network connectivity. Update the NIC firmware and look at Customer Advisory c03600027 before upgrading the OA.

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  1. Bjorn
    November 14th, 2013 at 14:14 | #1
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    Any real-world experiences with VC firmware 4.10 yet?

    • Julian Wood
      November 18th, 2013 at 16:08 | #2
      Reply | Quote

      I’m testing it at the moment, my initial upgrade using HP OneView caused a network disconnect (great!) so downgrading again and trying to see what happened.
      As far as I can tell 4.10 seems OK, I can’t see anything dramatic that could cause issues. Only thing to be aware of is the change of using Min/Max values with QoS. Your previous bandwidth settings become min settings with the Max at 10GbE.
      I’ll let you know how I get on.

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