Marathon Computer IBM BladeCenter Network Environment, CoServer and Switchbay Network Connections

Planning and Preparation

Network Environment

The optimal FTvirtual Server configuration uses 4 network adapters per blade to support CoServer communications and client access links critical to applications. These links provide the mechanisms and transport for redi- rected network I/O, FTvirtual Server communications and fault manage- ment activities.

When using the optimal network configuration, two of the adapters in each blade will support CoServer Links (CSLink) 1 and 2, which are primarily used for disk mirroring and memory synchonization operations. A third adapter in each blade is used for CoServer out-of-band remote administra- tion and SNMP management activities. The fourth serves as a redirected network link permitting the FTvirtual Server to satisfy client and application I/O requests.

CoServer and Switchbay Network Connections

A sample BladeCenter network map depicting the connections for two FTvirtual Server configurations (FTv1 and FTv3) is shown in Figure 1. This configuration demonstrates the optimal BladeCenter FTvirtual Server con- figuration, maximizing server fault-tolerance and network availability.

It should be mentioned that although each switchbay is internally intercon- nected with each slot of the BladeCenter chassis, these additional connec- tions have been left out of the diagram for the sake of simplicity.

Note that in this 4 NIC configuration switchbays 1 and 2 provide dedicated CSLink 1 and CSLink 2 switching capability for each of the FTv CoServers. These connections are made internally to the BladeServer chassis and none of the external ports available on these two switches are used for external connections.

Switchbays 3 and 4 are configured for FTvirtual Server Redirected and Management use. The four external ports available on these switches are used to connect the FTvirtual Server/s to the public network.

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