Posts tagged "blades"

39 posts

Flex-10 ESX design with simplicity and scalability: Part 2

Feb 17, 2011

This post continues from ( where the Flex-10 configuration was done. So now we have all the Flex-10 networking configured, its time to see how this works in ESX. All VLANs are now being passed down all the uplinks, through the Flex-10 switches and onto the _vm\_trunk\_1a_ and _vm\_trunk\_2a_ Ethernet Networks. What we need to do now is install ESX or ESXi and get them connected to the networks....

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Getting Nic firmware versions with PowerCLI

Jan 27, 2011

Sometimes you need to delve into the innards of ESX to get information out that just isn't available through the VMware SDK and so not directly available to PowerCLI. If you've been doing any work recently with HP Flex-10 and its firmware requirements, you may need to find out the network card firmware version which is only available from within the ESX console by typing ethtool -i vmnic0 So, P...

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I've been served on vSoup!

Jan 25, 2011

I was honoured to be invited as the first guest on ( joining ( (( Ed Czerwin (( and ( (( talking about virtualisation We spoke about managing virtual desktops, VDI, HP Flex-10 switches and firmware issues, storage and plently of other things! You can download the podcast from ( or even better subscribe through (

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ESX 4.1 Broadcom 1.60 driver DOES support DCC/SmartLink

Jan 20, 2011

I've had confirmation from HP that the ESX 4.1 updated Broadcom 1.60 driver DOES support DCC/SmartLink. I had queried this in my previous post ( So, looks like the 1.60 driver is the one to go for on ESX 4.1 as long as you have the Flex-10 firmware prerequisites and update the Heap Memory allocated by the Broadcom bnx2x driver as listed here: ( Unfortunately this driver isn't available through...

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HP Flex-10, ESX and Broadcom fun continues...

Jan 17, 2011

I've been updating my HP Flex-10 firmware information to reflect what's been happening with ESX 4.1 and it looks like the fun is still ongoing. My ( post has also been updated with the latest information. ESX 4.1 was released with an inbox Broadcom bnx2x driver 1.54.1.v41.1-1vmw This driver was found to cause Network connectivity issues and PSODs which I ( and at that stage recommended not depl...

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New Broadcom bnx2x Nic Driver released but its 1.54v2, not 1.60

Dec 1, 2010

VMware has released a new Broadcom bnx2x driver today and made it available through Update Manager. ( The update looks like it fixes the critical issues referenced in my ( What is very strange though is the 4.1 bundled version number was: 1.54.1.v41.1-1vmw The new version number is: 1.54.1.v41.1-2vmw See the difference, a small little _2_. So this looks like a very minor release. What is the (...

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Planning for and testing against failure, big and small

Nov 30, 2010

After my ( about vCenter availability I thought I should expand on some other factors related to availability and what you should be thinking about to protect your business against failure. Too often IT solutions are put in place without properly considering what could go wrong and then people get suprised when they do. Sometimes the smallest things can make the biggest difference and you can l...

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HP Virtual Connect for the Cisco Network Administrator

Oct 19, 2010

I've managed to find a good ( on HP's site which may help Cisco people understand more about Virtual Connect and Flex-10. There's good information to explain what often freaks out Cisco people about Virtual Connect, no requirement for spanning tree. Also included is the explanation of Flex-Nics, switch stacking and how best to configure the Cisco side of the connection. The blub according to H...

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HP Virtual Connect Flex-10 & VMware ESX(i) pre-requisites

Aug 9, 2010

Updated: 28 October 2013 to include new HP September bundles and release of ESXi 5.5. Many companies are currently going through major infrastructure changes as the reach of virtualisation into IT increases and they start moving towards a cloud model. Blade server use is growing as people start to think more seriously about large server farms and building the infrastructure for a "cloud", be it...

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