VCEM Profile Failover and Profile Moves

Getting started with VCEM Profile Failover

This document provides detailed information on how to use the new Virtual Connect

Enterprise Manager (VCEM) Profile Failover (failover) feature and how to initiate failover

with HP SIM Automatic Event Handling.

VCEM Profile Failover provides a fast method to recover a SAN-boot server that has

sustained a critical hardware failure. The process of Profile Failover moves the failed server’s

SAN and IP network resources to a spare server. Then the spare server starts the failed

server’s system drive. VCEM allows failover to be initiated manually or automatically through

events.

VCEM Profile Failover is dependent on the ability of an image to run on different systems.

VCEM Profile Failover does some basic checks for compatibility but it is important that an

administrator understand the limitations of Profile mobility.

Key components

A brief description of the key components of failover and their respective roles:

• Virtual Connect (VC) is an interconnect that virtualizes server-attached Ethernet and fiber

channel networks from an individual server blade using a special resource called a server

profile. When a server profile is assigned or moved to a HP BladeSystem c-Class server

bay, any resident server blade will project the MAC and WWN addresses contained by

the profile to the external Ethernet and fibre channel networks, respectively.

• VCEM is management software that allows users to control failover and performs the

Profile Failover operation. VCEM is part of the Central Management System (CMS). It is

installed as a standalone component or as a plug-in to HP Systems Insight Manager (HP

SIM). VCEM aggregates multiple Virtual Connect Domains (one VC Domain per

enclosure) into one or more Virtual Connect Domain Groups, allowing single ranges of

MAC and WWN addresses to be shared across all VC Domain Groups. Further, all

server blades in any VC Domain Group share the same sets of Ethernet and fibre channel

connections.

For more information refer to the HP Virtual Connect Enterprise Manager User Guide

, 1

Introduction.

HP Part Number: 460924-002. Published: April 2008, second edition.