HP has announced a new product to manage HP BladeSystem and ProLiant G7/Gen 8 infrastructure called HP OneView which is due to be released in October.
HP thinks the existing way of deploying and managing servers is built on models from 20 years ago and is in need of an update. This is certainly true particularly with HP servers despite HP having a number of tools such as HP Systems Insight Manager (HP SIM), HP Virtual Connect Enterprise Manager (VCEM), HP Insight Control and HP Intelligent Provisioning.
HP OneView has been built from the ground up to simplify and speed up the server deployment and management process for servers, networking and storage. OneView runs as a self contained virtual appliance and you connect via a web browser.
HP says the user interface is a “consumer-inspired user experience” built on a “software-defined architecture” with an “open extensible platform”. HP says it has been four years in the making and has been built with the input of more than 150 of HPs biggest customers.
OneView will be a licensed product per physical server it manages starting at about £571 for a single license including three years support and updates. There will be an upgrade available from iLO Advanced, Insight Control and VCEM.
Read more…
VMworld starts next week and up to 22,000 people are descending on San Francisco.
VMware as expected has a massive schedule of talks, discussion groups and labs for you to attend all carefully orchestrated to ensure VMware and their partners get their message out.
But VMware does have a wild side that isn’t just the parties.
The fabulous #vBrownbag crew have put together a schedule of lightning 10 minute talks which are not part of the official program. This means VMware or even the #vBrownbag crew don’t get to decide what is said, the only rule is there isn’t any blatant company marketing.
So, you can get independent community content from your peers who feel they have something to contribute to VMworld that could be unsupported, unconventional, uncensored and unbelievable!
There are some serious industry titans presenting so make time in your official schedule to see them.
The list of talks is in this post which is being refreshed as presenters confirm their times.
I’ve been very lucky to be accepted for 2 talks:
- Help, my VDI project is hell! on Monday at 17:15
- HP Virtual Connect Quick Deep Dive on Tuesday at 15:00
A few generous sponsors are contributing to make this possible so have a look at their products which help to keep independent community content alive.
BTW the reference to the fringe is from the city of Edinburgh which hosts is a huge official Edinburgh International Festival in August. The Edinburgh Fringe Festival is not part of the official program and is now the largest arts festival in the world. The Society that runs the fringe festival is not allowed to vet the festival’s program so anyone with a story to tell and a venue willing to host them can take part resulting in the weird and the wonderful having their say.
HP has released a serious advisory that upgrading certain Virtual Connect firmware may cause server profiles to be unassigned which will cause a a network outage for your blades.
http://h20565.www2.hp.com/portal/site/hpsc/template.PAGE/public/kb/docDisplay/?javax.portlet.begCacheTok=com.vignette.cachetoken&javax.portlet.endCacheTok=com.vignette.cachetoken&javax.portlet.prp_ba847bafb2a2d782fcbb0710b053ce01=wsrp-navigationalState%3DdocId%253Demr_na-c03708135-2%257CdocLocale%253D%257CcalledBy%253D&javax.portlet.tpst=ba847bafb2a2d782fcbb0710b053ce01&ac.admitted=1373876123412.876444892.492883150
The issue occurs when you have both single dense and double dense servers in your chassis and you are upgrading from Virtual Connect firmwares 3.10-3.60 up to Virtual Connect firmwares 3.70-3.75.
The upgrade process will complete successfully however the single dense server profiles will become unassigned which will cause a network outage for those specific server blades.
In order to fix this you will need to power down the affected blades, reassign the server profiles and power on the blades again! Ouch!
This doesn’t affect you if you are upgrading from Virtual Connect firmware 3.70 to later firmware or going from Virtual Connect firmware 3.10 to anything below 3.70 such as 3.60 and won’t affect you if you only have single dense servers or double dense servers but not a mixture.
Virtual Connect firmware 4.01 which has been recently released fixes this but has a whole raft of new features that you may not be ready to implement so its worth being aware of this issue.
HP has released a new firmware version 4.2.401.2215 of its Emulex OneConnect 10Gb Ethernet Controller which is used in HP G7 and Gen8 Blades.
The built in LOM adapter names on a G7 Blade server are NC553i or NC551i and the Mezz card is NC554m. The CNA LOM added to a Gen8 Blade server is HP554FLB.
This firmware is required if you are going to be using the new dual hop FCoE features in Virtual Connect 4.01.
The firmware update process is offline and requires you to boot from an Emulex OneConnect bootable .ISO which can be downloaded from:
http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/SoftwareDescription.jsp?lang=en&cc=us&prodTypeId=329290&prodSeriesId=5033632&prodNameId=5033634&swEnvOID=54&swLang=8&mode=2&taskId=135&swItem=co-117280-1
The following issues have been resolved from the previous firmware version 4.2.401.605
- Fixed VMware PSOD ESX 4.1/5.0/5.1 seen on BL465cG7, BL685cg7 servers with BE2 based card. For more details see the following Customer Advisory
- Fixed FW memory leak with multiple logins to a redirected target
- Fixed FW to allow setting Speed/Duplex to Auto/Auto
- Fixed Fw to allow Bonding with Citrix platforms
- Fixed FW to allow upgrades of version 4.x to 4.x+ without requiring cold boot
- Fixed UEFI to not require 2nd reset
- Fixed UEFI driver version reported
- Fixed FW to prevent LOMS at 10G from negotiating 1G with Blade switches
- Fixed FW for BE3 to report correct values of ethernet stat “In Range” error
- Fixed FW to boot from secondary iSCSI when selected
- Fixed FW iSCSI boot failure from secondary target when primary target given is incorrect
- Fixed UEFI NIC default settings retention
- Fixed FW hang during boot with SLES 10 SP4
- Fixed FW error while performing Shared Uplink Set port remove/add test
I’ve updated my post: HP Virtual Connect Flex-10 & VMware ESX(i) pre-requisites
HP has released a significant firmware update to its Virtual Connect line of HP Blade chassis switches.
This is part 6 of a 6 part post on HP Virtual Connect 4.01:
- HP Virtual Connect 4.01: What’s New
- HP Virtual Connect 4.01: Dual-hop FcOE support
- HP Virtual Connect 4.01: Min/Max Bandwidth Optimisation
- HP Virtual Connect 4.01: Priority Queue QoS
- HP Virtual Connect 4.01: SNMP and sFlow enhancements
- HP Virtual Connect 4.01: RBAC and Multicast + some more
Custom role-based configuration
VC 4.01 now also adds more options for role customisation.
You can split your administration into Storage Admin, Server Admin, Network Admin and Domain User.
You can now configure more operational permissions for these users and the GUI will show you what will change when you are about to apply the new permission.
Read more…
HP has released a significant firmware update to its Virtual Connect line of HP Blade chassis switches.
This is part 5 of a 6 part post on HP Virtual Connect 4.01:
- HP Virtual Connect 4.01: What’s New
- HP Virtual Connect 4.01: Dual-hop FcOE support
- HP Virtual Connect 4.01: Min/Max Bandwidth Optimisation
- HP Virtual Connect 4.01: Priority Queue QoS
- HP Virtual Connect 4.01: SNMP and sFlow enhancements
- HP Virtual Connect 4.01: RBAC and Multicast + some more
SNMP MIB enhancements
HP has added a number of enhancement to SNMP for VC 4.01. A number of old traps have been depreciated and new traps added to provide more granular error reporting.
A trap is sent for each VC managed element state change (domain, enclosure, module, port, network, fabric, server or profile). Each trap describes what changed and what caused the change. There is also improved correlation between Traps, SIM events and the VC system log.
For example, pre-4.01 you would only get a Domain status notification with a very generic message saying the status of the domain has changed for a number of different reasons, say when a network port is disconnected.
In 4.01, three traps will be received when a port is disconnected which will result in Network, Profile and Domain managed status traps being sent to management stations.
Read more…
HP has released a significant firmware update to its Virtual Connect line of HP Blade chassis switches.
This is part 4 of a 6 part post on HP Virtual Connect 4.01:
- HP Virtual Connect 4.01: What’s New
- HP Virtual Connect 4.01: Dual-hop FcOE support
- HP Virtual Connect 4.01: Min/Max Bandwidth Optimisation
- HP Virtual Connect 4.01: Priority Queue QoS
- HP Virtual Connect 4.01: SNMP and sFlow enhancements
- HP Virtual Connect 4.01: RBAC and Multicast + some more
Priority Queue QoS
QoS is the next major enhancement in VC 4.01.
Pre VC 4.01 there is very little QoS for any traffic. Traffic flows on a first in first out basis, if there’s any congestion, the traffic at the tail of the queue is dropped.
Basically you can control the Max that a FlexNic can transmit and receive but that’s it. VC performs no classification, marking, policing or traffic shaping. If there are any QoS traffic markings they are passed through VC in VLAN Tunnelled Mode but stripped out if using Mapped Mode with SUS.
Read more…
HP has released a significant firmware update to its Virtual Connect line of HP Blade chassis switches.
This is part 3 of a 6 part post on HP Virtual Connect 4.01:
- HP Virtual Connect 4.01: What’s New
- HP Virtual Connect 4.01: Dual-hop FcOE support
- HP Virtual Connect 4.01: Min/Max Bandwidth Optimisation
- HP Virtual Connect 4.01: Priority Queue QoS
- HP Virtual Connect 4.01: SNMP and sFlow enhancements
- HP Virtual Connect 4.01: RBAC and Multicast + some more
Min/Max Bandwidth Optimization
The next major enhancement in Virtual Connect 4.01 is a far more flexible bandwidth rate limit control. HP is finally catching up with Cisco UCS to offer this.
Virtual Connect has always had the option to set the available bandwidth for a FlexNic but this was a single value that didn’t have any rate adjustment based on traffic flow. This meant that although you may have 10Gb of bandwidth available to your LOM with multiple FlexNics, if one FlexNic was reaching the maximum of its allocated bandwidth yet another FlexNic on the same LOM was hardly utilised, VC couldn’t dynamically give more bandwidth to the starved FlexNic. You would have to go into VC and manually reconfigure the FlexNic bandwidth.
VC 4.01 is now able to share unused bandwidth proportionally among FlexNics and FlexHBAs. FlexNics/HBAs can now be configured with a minimum guaranteed and a maximum capped ingress bandwidth from the blade to VC.
Read more…
HP has released a significant firmware update to its Virtual Connect line of HP Blade chassis switches.
This is part 2 of a 6 part post on HP Virtual Connect 4.01:
- HP Virtual Connect 4.01: What’s New
- HP Virtual Connect 4.01: Dual-hop FcOE support
- HP Virtual Connect 4.01: Min/Max Bandwidth Optimisation
- HP Virtual Connect 4.01: Priority Queue QoS
- HP Virtual Connect 4.01: SNMP and sFlow enhancements
- HP Virtual Connect 4.01: RBAC and Multicast + some more
Dual-hop FcOE support
Dual hop FCoE support is a major enhancement particularly for people looking to further converge their infrastructure from the chassis to ToR switches such as the Cisco Nexus 5000 series or HPs 5800/5900 series switches. This means you can keep your existing FC SAN fabric in place and connect it to your Cisco Nexus switches along with your LAN traffic. You then only need to connect your HP blade chassis to the Cisco Nexus switches and from there the LAN and SAN traffic is split off to their relevant upstream switches.
Dual-FcOE has arrived in VC 4.01 but HP are planning Multi-Hop FcOE support sometime in the future.
(all graphics from HP, 4.01 was a minor update from 4.00)
Read more…
HP has released a significant firmware update to its Virtual Connect line of HP Blade chassis switches. The main highlights are Dual-hop FCoE support and enhancements to QoS and bandwidth optimisation.
This is part 1 of a 6 part post on HP Virtual Connect 4.01:
- HP Virtual Connect 4.01: What’s New
- HP Virtual Connect 4.01: Dual-hop FcOE support
- HP Virtual Connect 4.01: Min/Max Bandwidth Optimisation
- HP Virtual Connect 4.01: Priority Queue QoS
- HP Virtual Connect 4.01: SNMP and sFlow enhancements
- HP Virtual Connect 4.01: RBAC and Multicast + some more
The full list of new features is:
| Dual-hop FCoE Support |
Extending convergence for Flex-10 and FlexFabric |
| Bandwidth Optimization |
Min/Max for NIC Bandwidth |
| Priority Queue QoS |
Prioritizing critical application traffic |
| SNMP MIB enhancements |
Improved monitoring and troubleshooting |
| sFlow monitoring |
Monitoring and planning at flow level |
| Multicast Filtering |
Single source multicast |
| Custom role-based configuration |
Delegate management permissions |
| GUI and CLI enhancements |
Session timeout and CLI tab completion |
There are a number of dependencies for VC 4.01
- Onboard Administrator – v3.70 recommended, 3.11 minimum
- Virtual Connect Support Utility (VCSU) – v1.8.1 or later
- Virtual Connect Enterprise Manager (VCEM) – v7.2 (Will work in older VCEMs in compatibility mode, i.e. no new VCM features will be supported)
HP says Service Pack for ProLiant (SPP) 2013.02.00 is recommended as a Baseline Release Set but VC 4.01 has also been tested with SPP 2012.08.0, and SPP 2012.06.0 (B). Not quite sure what this means as if it has been tested with the previous versions they should be the minimum. Knowing the historical issues with firmware incompatibility, I would suggest ensuring you have SPP 2013.02.00 on your blades first.
It’s worth noting that VC 4.01 is not part of any particular SPP package. HPSUM or the VCSU can be used to upgrade to VC 4.01 after you have upgraded your blade firmware.
The Emulex firmware version for the built in LOMs on a G7 Blade server (HP NC553i or NC551i) or Mezz card (HP NC554m) or the CNA LOM added to a Gen8 Blade server (HP 554FLB) need to have their firmware upgraded to support dual hop FCoE. The latest Emulex firmware version for the NC55x controllers is currently 4.2.401.2215. This firmware is NOT included in the SPP 2013.02.0, but it can be downloaded as a separate standalone update tool (bootable ISO file) or as a HP SUM component.
HP Virtual Connect 4.01 can be downloaded from here
You can read the Release Notes which detail the list of other fixes and also highlight some of the issues so a must read before deploying in case they affect you.
You can also read the User Guide and the Setup and Installation Guide
I have not updated my HP Virtual Connect Flex-10 & VMware ESX(i) pre-requisites post yet to reflect this new version as with such a major change it’s worth checking everything works as advertised so get testing!
Next up: HP Virtual Connect 4.01: Dual-hop FcOE support
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