12 Nortel Networks L2/3 Ethernet Switch Module for IBM Eserver BladeCenter
PCI Express features include:
PCI software compatibility
Chip-to-chip, board-to-board implementations
Support for end-to-end data integrity
Advanced error reporting and handling for fault isolation and system recovery
Low-overhead, low-latency data transfers and maximized interconnect efficiency
High-bandwidth, low pin-count implementations for optimized performance
2.4 Stand-alone configuration toolsIBM Eserver BladeCenter hardware can be configured using standard software, such as a
Web browser and a Telnet client, which are available on all the mainstream operating system
platforms. This is possible by exploiting Web and American National Standards Institute
(ANSI) interfaces that are embedded in both the management and the Ethernet Switch
Modules.
A very comprehensive tool is accessible through the Web interface. This tool contains various
configuration submenus, and one of them (I/O Module Tasks) lets you set up the Ethernet
Switch Module. Basic settings (such as the Ethernet Switch Module IP address and the
enablement of the external ports) are configured by exploiting the I2C bus. An advanced
menu allows for the fine tuning of the module, by either opening another window of the Web
browser or running a Java™ applet that allows for connectivity to an ANSI interface. (This
requires that you have Java 2 V1.4 installed on the management system.) To achieve this,
the 10/100 Mb internal link that connects the Management Module and the Ethernet Switch
Modules through the BladeCenter backplane are exploited (notice that the internal network
interface of the Management Module has a default static IP address of 192.168.70.126).
These more complete tools can also be accessed by pointing your Web browser, Telnet, or
SSH client to the IP of the Ethernet Switch Module itself. (The default for a module that is
plugged into Rear Bay 1 is 192.168.70.127. However, you can configure Dynamic Host
Configuration Protocol (DHCP) based addressing.) Notice that this latter capability requires
the management system to connect through the external ports (on the production LAN) of the
Ethernet Switch Module and, therefore, might potentially raise concerns about security. That
is why you have the capability to disable configuration control through the external ports in the
I/O Module Tasks of the Management Module interface.
Figure 2-7 on page 13 illustrates the available stand-alone configuration tools.