Chapter 2 Installing the Server

NIC Modes and NIC Redundancy Settings

NIC Modes and NIC Redundancy Settings

This server has the following NIC mode settings that you can choose from:

Shared LOM EXT (default)—This is shared LOM extended mode. This is the factory default setting, along with Active-active NIC redundancy and DHCP-enabled. With this mode, the shared LOM and Cisco Card interfaces are both enabled.

In this mode, DHCP replies are returned to both the shared LOM ports and the Cisco card ports. If the system determines that the Cisco card connection is not getting its IP address from a Cisco UCS Manager system because the server is in standalone mode, further DHCP requests from the Cisco card are disabled. If the system determines that the Cisco card connection is getting its IP address from a Cisco UCS Manager system, the reply has parameters that automatically move the server to UCSM mode.

Dedicated—The dedicated management port is used to access the Cisco IMC. You must select a NIC redundancy and IP setting.

Shared LOM—The 1-Gb Ethernet ports are used to access the Cisco IMC. You must select a NIC redundancy and IP setting.

Cisco Card—The ports on an installed Cisco UCS virtual interface card (VIC) are used to access the Cisco IMC. You must select a NIC redundancy and IP setting.

Note The Cisco Card NIC mode is currently supported only with a Cisco UCS VIC that is installed in PCIe slot 1. See also Special Considerations for Cisco UCS Virtual Interface Cards, page 3-36.

This server has the following NIC redundancy settings that you can choose from:

None—The Ethernet ports operate independently and do not fail over if there is a problem.

Active-standby—If an active Ethernet port fails, traffic fails over to a standby port.

Active-active—All Ethernet ports are utilized simultaneously.

The active/active setting uses Mode 5 or Balance-TLB (adaptive transmit load balancing). This is channel bonding that does not require any special switch support. The outgoing traffic is distributed according to the current load (computed relative to the speed) on each slave. Incoming traffic is received by the current slave. If the receiving slave fails, another slave takes over the MAC address of the failed receiving slave.

 

Cisco UCS C22 Server Installation and Service Guide

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OL-26646-01

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Cisco Systems OL-26646-01 manual NIC Modes and NIC Redundancy Settings