User's Manual

Using FlexAddress Plus 237
Scheme 1 and Scheme 2 MAC Address Allocation
For backward compatibility with FA, the addresses in FA+ are divided into
two groups: the first group has 208 addresses and the second group has 2928
addresses. In the first group, 13 MACs are allocated to each of the 16 slots in
the same way FA does. In the second group, 183 MACs are allocated for each
slot.
The allocation of the 13 MAC addresses of the first group for each server is
divided as: one for iDRAC and four for each fabric, A, B, and C. Within each
fabric, A, B, and C, two addresses are allocated for port 1 and 2 addresses are
allocated for port 2. The result is:
• 1 MAC for iDRAC management
• 4 MACs for fabric A (two MACs for port 1, two MACs for port 2)
• 4 MACs for fabric B (two MACs for port 1, two MACs for port 2)
• 4 MACs for fabric C (two MACs for port 1, two MACs for port 2)
For references, this MAC address allocation is called scheme 1.
The allocation of the 183 MAC address for the second group of each server is
also divided as: three for iDRAC, 60 for each fabric, A, B and C. Within each
fabric, 30 addresses are allocated for port 1 and 30 addresses are allocated for
port 2. The result is:
• 3 MACs for iDRAC management
• 60 MACs for fabric A (30 MACs for port 1, 30 MACs for port 2)
• 60 MACs for fabric B (30 MACs for port 1, 30 MACs for port 2)
• 60 MACs for fabric C (30 MACs for port 1, 30 MACs for port 2)
For references, this MAC address allocation is called scheme 2.
The common way of MAC addresses allocation is to allocate MAC addresses
per fabric from scheme 1 initially. If a fabric requires more addresses than
scheme 1 can provide, additional two MACs per fabric is allocated from
scheme 2.
When a chassis is activated only with FA and it has a server with a network
configuration that requires more addresses than scheme 1 can provide, the
additional addresses are not available. The status is displayed as Not
Installed.