override the factory default MAC addresses while the server remains in that Virtual Connect enclosure. When configured to assign MAC addresses, Virtual Connect securely manages the MAC addresses by accessing the physical NICs through the enclosure Onboard Administrator and the iLO interfaces on the individual server blades.

Always establish control processes to ensure that a unique MAC address range is used in each Virtual Connect domain in the environment. Reusing address ranges could result in server network outages caused by multiple servers having the same MAC addresses.

If using Virtual Connect assigned MAC addresses, the following notes apply:

•Virtual Connect automatically reserves both a primary address and an iSCSI MAC address for use by multifunction gigabit server adapters, such as the HP NC373m PCI Express Dual Port Multifunction Gigabit server adapter. Only the primary MAC address is used by standard (not multifunction) Ethernet devices.

•If a server blade is moved from a Virtual Connect managed enclosure to a non-Virtual Connect enclosure, the local MAC addresses on that server blade are automatically returned to the original factory defaults.

•If a server blade is removed from a bay within a Virtual Connect domain and installed in another bay in the same Virtual Connect domain or in a bay in a different domain, it is assigned the new set of addresses appropriate for that server location.

Assigned MAC addresses

The MAC address range used by the Virtual connect domain must be unique within the environment. HP provides a set of pre-defined ranges that are for use by Virtual Connect Manager and will not conflict with server factory default MAC addresses.

When using the HP-defined MAC address ranges, ensure that each range is used only once within the environment.

Selecting VC-assigned MAC address ranges

When using VC-assigned MAC addresses, you can choose between using an HP pre-defined MAC address range or using a user-defined MAC address range.

•HP pre-defined MAC address range (recommended). These pre-defined ranges are reserved and will never show up as factory default on any hardware. There are 64 ranges of 1024 unique addresses to choose from. Be sure to use each range only once within a data center.

•User-defined MAC address range. To avoid potential conflict with other hardware MAC addresses in the environment, consider using a subrange of MAC addresses reserved by the IEEE for locally- administered MAC addresses. Ensure that the range does not conflict with any Ethernet device already deployed within the enterprise.

IMPORTANT: If you plan to use RDP for RedHat Linux installation and also plan to use User- or HP-defined MAC addresses, you must import the enclosure before running RDP.

Select the type and range of MAC address, and then click Next.

NOTE: After any server profiles are deployed using a selected MAC address range, that range cannot be changed until all server profiles are deleted.

Configuring the Virtual Connect domain using the CLI 44