HP Integrity Virtual Server Manager 6.0 User Guide

1. (Required) Enter a virtual switch name.
• The name must be 8 characters or fewer.
• The allowable characters are A-Z, a-z, 0-9, underscore (_), hyphen (-), and period (.).
• The name cannot begin with a dash and cannot remain blank.
2. Specify the virtual switch type (whether it is to be dedicated or shareable). The default is
shareable.
NOTE: The terms "shareable" and "dedicated" refer to how the switch is assigned to the
virtual partitions.
• A dedicated vswitch can be used by only one started virtual partition at a time and is
dedicated to providing network throughput to that virtual partition. More than one virtual
partition can have the same dedicated switch as a resource, but only one is allowed to
start.
• A shareable vswitch can be used at any given time by all the associated virtual partitions
that contain the virtual network device (NIC) backed by a shareable vswitch.
NOTE: All virtual partitions with virtual NICs backed by a shareable vswitch are not
required to be running. If you have a stopped virtual partition that uses the shareable
vswitch, you can always start the virtual partition (unless other problems prevent it from
starting).
3. (Required) Select the host's physical network device that will be the physical backing of the
vswitch.
Choices include the following:
• Any physical network cards (adapters) configured on the VSP
• Any APA (Automatic Port Aggregation) configured on the VSP
The display shows the APA name in one column and the individual devices or cards in
the next column; however, the letters "APA" do not appear in either column. In HP-UX,
any LAN port with port number 900 or greater is an APA (for example, lan900 or lan901).
• None
This creates a local vswitch. When no physical network device on the VSP is chosen, the
vswitch is a local vswitch. A local vswitch has no connection with any physical network
device on the VSP. Virtual partition virtual network interface cards (vNICs) can
communicate only with other virtual partitions on the same VSP that are connected to the
same local vswitch.
4. Specify whether or not to start the vswitch after it is created. The default is to start the vswitch.
Clicking OK does the following:
• Creates the new vswitch, using the hpvmnet command.
• If you chose to make the vswitch dedicated, configures the vswitch as a dedicated vswitch,
using the hpvmdevmgmt command.
• If you chose to have the switch started, boots the vswitch, using the hpvmnet command.
A preview of these commands is shown in the Command Preview area. After you click OK, any
errors that occur with the execution of these commands is displayed on a separate error page that
lists each command and whether the command succeeded, failed, or was not attempted. Clicking
OK on the error page returns you to the Create Vswitch page.
108 Working with virtual partitions