HP Essential Guide to Virtual Connect Firmware and SPock Resources

Additional information

Versions 3.15 and higher of HP Virtual Connect Manager check the server ROM image version and display an incompatible state only for server blades that have a VC Server Profile assigned and are using incompatible server ROM versions.

Virtual Connect does not have the capability to perform version checking of the mezzanine card firmware. Validate this information through server POST for mezzanine support utilities.

Server blades and mezzanine cards that do not meet the required firmware versions do not accept Virtual Connect-assigned parameters such as MACs and WWNs properly and therefore maintain factory defaults. However, these server blades do have the Ethernet network and Fibre Channel fabric connectivity specified in their Virtual Connect server profiles. This connectivity enables you to use network-based firmware update tools for server blade and mezzanine firmware updates.

For Virtual Connect Fibre Channel and FlexFabric modules, the supported firmware and OS drivers are listed in the HP Single Point of Connectivity Knowledge (SPOCK) website (http://www.hp.com/storage/spock). The link to Virtual Connect is under the category "Other Hardware" in the list of selections on the left.

Firmware version for HP BladeSystem for Integrity

To obtain HP BladeSystem Release Sets for Integrity, see the HP website

(http://h18004.www1.hp.com/products/blades/integrity-release-sets.html).

Important notes

IMPORTANT: Virtual Connect versions 4.30 and later no longer support first-generation HP Integrity BL860c Server Blades and HP Integrity BL870c Server Blades. HP Integrity i2 and i4 model server blades are still supported.

Observe the following information:

•When changing the PXE IP boot order, the server may require a reboot after applying the VC profile.

•When an OS is installed on the HDD, it automatically updates the boot order, placing the HDD first. If the PXE/IP boot order is configured in the VC profile, the server may not boot from PXE, since the boot order was updated by the OS. To boot from PXE, be sure to check the boot order in RBSU or OA.

•Exceeding 32 FCoE networks per interconnect module is not supported.

•The number of in-use Ethernet networks plus FCoE networks cannot exceed 1000 per VC domain.

•VC 4.31 supports Emulex CNA Component 2014.04.01, which contains CNA Firmware 4.9.416.0, included in HP SPP 2014.06.0.

•The following port status conditions have been updated to support new VC features:

o Linked-Active—The VC port is physically connected to a switch. Networks associated with the port are assigned to a profile and the port is selected to actively transmit traffic.

o Linked-Standby—The VC port is physically connected to a switch. Networks associated with the port are not assigned to a profile or the port is not selected to actively transmit traffic.

•A network outage may result when upgrading directly from VC 2.xx release version to VC 4.31 release in a Multi-Enclosure environment. Upgrade from VC 2.xx to VC 3.70 or VC 4.10 first, and then upgrade from VC 3.70 or VC 4.10 to VC 4.31 in a Multi-Enclosure setup.

Important notes 14