HP ProLiant BL e-Class C-GbE Interconnect Switch Overview - White Paper

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Same technology, different form factor
In a typical server network configuration designed with redundancy, two or more network interface
controller (NIC) ports are used per server. These NIC ports are routed to two separate access
switches. One or more connections are commonly made between the switches for added availability.
The switches are used to collect NIC signals from the servers for aggregation to the network backbone
via one or more uplinks. The C-GbE Interconnect Switch and e-Class blade architecture accomplish
the same thing using the same technology, but in a different form factor (Figure 3).
Figure 3. Typical redundant network configuration
Uplink(s)
Network Backbone
Uplink(s)
Crosslink(s)
Server
NIC 1
NIC 2
C-GbE Interconnect Switch
Switch A
Switch B
Switch A
Switch B
With the C-GbE Interconnect Switch, the access switches and connections have been moved inside
the BL e-Class server blade enclosure. The same network technology is used and the network
configuration and administration remain unchanged. That is, the interconnect switch is configured and
administered in the same manner as other industry-standard Ethernet switches. The interconnect switch
is an industry-standard managed layer 2 switch compatible with other industry-standard switches.
Interconnect switch architecture
The interconnect switch features a fully redundant architecture that includes switch redundancy (dual
switches or switch ASICs
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) and redundant paths to the network ports on the server blades (Figure 4).
Two NICs per each of twenty servers (forty NICs total) are routed to the switches in highly available
design. This creates a fully meshed topology to the external Ethernet network. The interconnect switch
tray is cooled by hot-pluggable redundant fans and powered by hot-pluggable redundant power
supplies.
The redundant architecture of the C-GbE Interconnect Switch allows system administrators to configure
the network for continued access to each server blade in case any of the following components should
fail:
• Interconnect switch
• Switch within the network backbone
• Server blade network controller
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Each switch consists of a Broadcom BCM5605 layer 2 application specific integrated circuit (ASIC).