3 Making Node and Switch Connections

This chapter provides information about the connections between nodes and switches that are required for an HP XC system.

The following topics are addressed:

•“Cabinets” (page 45)

•“Trunking and Switch Choices” (page 45)

•“Switches” (page 46)

•“Interconnect Connections” (page 56)

IMPORTANT: The specific node and switch port connections documented in this chapter do not apply to hardware configurations containing HP server blades and enclosures. For information on cabling server blades, see Chapter 2 (page 33).

3.1 Cabinets

Cabinets are used as a packaging medium. The HP XC system hardware is contained in two types of cabinets:

•Application cabinets

The application cabinets contain the compute nodes and are optimized to meet power, heat, and density requirements. All nodes in an application cabinet are connected to the local branch switch.

•Utility cabinets

The utility cabinet is intended to fill a more flexible need. In all configurations, at a minimum, the utility cabinet contains the head node. Nodes with external storage and nodes that are providing services to the cluster (called service nodes or utility nodes) are also contained in the utility cabinet. All nodes in the utility cabinet are connected to the root switches (administration and console).

Figure 3-1illustrates the relationship between application cabinets, utility cabinets, and the Root Administration Switch. For more information, see“Root Administration Switch” (page 50) .

Figure 3-1 Application and Utility Cabinets

Root Administration Switch

Application Application Application Application

Cabinet Cabinet Cabinet Cabinet

3.2 Trunking and Switch Choices

Utility Cabinet

The HP XC System Software supports the use of port trunking (that is, the use of multiple network ports in parallel to increase link speed faster than any one single port) on the ProCurve switches

3.1 Cabinets

45