Implicit Assignment of vNICs in a Mixed Adapter Environment
Theimplicit assignment of vNICs functions differently for a server that has mixed adapters, as follows:
• A dual slot server that has one VIC adapter and one non-VIC adapter,which have different capabilities.
Forexample, a server that contains a Cisco UCS M81KR Virtual Interface Card and a Cisco UCS CNA
M71KR-Eadapter.
• A configuration that includes both dynamic vNICs and static vNICs.
Whenyou assign vNICs implicitly for a dual slot server that has one VIC adapter and non-VIC adapter, Cisco
UCSManager typicallyassigns one vNICto each adapter.The remaining vNICs are assigned according to
therelative capabilities of the adapters. The following are examples of the relative capabilities of some of the
supportedadapters:
• Cisco UCS M81KR VirtualInterface Card (128 vNICs) and Cisco UCS CNA M71KR-E Adapter (2
vNICs)have a 64:1 capability ratio
• Cisco UCS M81KR VirtualInterface Card and Cisco UCS CNA M72KR-E have a 64:1 capability ratio
• Cisco UCS CNA M72KR-E and Cisco UCS CNA M72KR-E have a 1:1 capability ratio
• Cisco UCS M82-8P VirtualInterface Card and Cisco UCS CNA M71KR-E adapter have a 128:1
capabilityratio
• Cisco UCS M82-8P VirtualInterface Card and Cisco UCS M81KR Virtual Interface Card have a 2:1
capabilityratio.
Forexample, a CiscoUCS M81KR VirtualInterface Card can handle up to 128 vNICs, while a Cisco UCS
CNAM71KR-E can only handle 2 vNICs. This differencegives those adapters a 64:1 ratio. If a dual slot
bladeserver has one of each and you choose to allow implicit assignment of vNICs by Cisco UCS Manager,
theload balancing ratio assigns the majority of the vNICs to the Cisco UCS M81KR Virtual Interface Card,
asfollows:
vNICs Assigned to Cisco UCS CNA
M71KR-E Adapter
vNICs Assigned to Cisco UCS M81KR
Virtual Interface Card
Total Number of vNICs
11920
2128130
Exceptionsto this implicit assignment occur if you configure the vNICs for fabric failover and if you
configuredynamic vNICs for the server.
Note
Fora configurationthat includes vNIC fabric failover where one adapter does not support vNIC failover,
CiscoUCS Manager implicitly assigns all vNICs which have fabric failover enabled to the adapter that supports
them.If the configuration only includes vNICs that are configured for fabric failover, no vNICs are implicitly
assignedto the adapter which does not support them. If some vNICs are configured for fabric failover and
someare not, Cisco UCS Manager assigns all failover vNICs to the adapter which supports them and a
minimumof one non-failover vNIC to the adapter which does not support them, according to the ratio above.
Fora configurationthat includesdynamic vNICs, the same implicit assignment would occur.Cisco UCS
Managerassigns all dynamic vNICs to the adapterthat supports them. However, with a combination of
Cisco UCS Manager GUI Configuration Guide, Release 2.0
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Configuring vNIC/vHBA Placement Policies