User's Manual
Possible changes due to VC profile mapping on the upgraded blade server
Virtual Connect Manager supports assigning a VC server profile to each bladed server. Profiles
can include VC-assigned:
• UUID
• serial number
• Ethernet port MAC addresses with network assignments
• FC HBA connection WWNs with FC SAN assignments.
• FCoE connection WWNs with FC SAN assignments
The VC-assigned MAC addresses, FC WWNs, FCoE WWNs, UUID and Serial Number can come
from blocks of values supplied by VCM or from user-defined blocks of values. Alternatively, the
factory-assigned default values for all of these can be used. The following information pertains to
all of these options.
When performing an upgrade it is critical to understand how the server profile connection entries
will be mapped to ports on the upgraded server as this may impact the OS. What happens for
each of the three I/O assignment categories (Ethernet network assignments, FCoE SAN assignments,
and FC SAN assignments) is different for each category so each is described separately below.
Stated briefly, the list of network and SAN assignments in the original server profile can map
differently to upgraded server ports due to the increased number of blades. The discussion which
follows contains a lot of detail, but the best way to check for and fix any problems with the server
profile applied to the upgraded server may be to open the profile in VCM after it's assigned, see
how the connection entries mapped to the upgraded server, and make adjustments if necessary.
The VC server profile should always be checked after being applied to the upgrade to make sure
that profile connection entries are mapped to ports as expected and to make sure there are no
profile errors or warnings which must be resolved. See the HP Virtual Connect for c-Class
BladeSystem User Guide for more information on VCM server profiles. The only caution is that if
you use the PI tool (more on that follows), then you must let HP-UX boot with the profile untouched
and disable PI before making changes to the profile.
FC SAN connections
The FC SAN connection entries in the VCM server profile should map to the same ports whether
assigned to the original or the upgraded server. VCM will map entries first to all ports on blade
1, then blade 2, etc. So no adjustments to the FC SAN entries in the profile should be necessary.
The FC SAN connection entries in a profile should be thought of as sets of entries. If there are N
Virtual Connect FC Interconnect modules in an enclosure (where N is rounded up to an even
number) then there are N FC SAN connection entries per set. The first N entries are mapped to
the FC HBA ports on the Monarch blade, the second set of N entries are mapped to the FC HBA
ports on the first Auxiliary blade, the next set of N entries to the next Auxiliary blade, until all of
the FC connection entries have been mapped to ports or until there are no more FC HBA ports
available to map entries to. Below are a few examples of upgrading a BL860c i4 to a BL870c i4
in an enclosure with four Virtual Connect FC Interconnect modules where the BL860c i4 becomes
the Monarch blade in the upgraded server.
• If the profile assigned to the BL860c i4 server had four or fewer FC SAN connection entries
then those entries are still mapped to the FC HBA ports on the original BL860c i4 blade (since
it is the Monarch in the new server). There will be no FC SAN connection entries mapped to
any ports on the Auxiliary blade in the upgraded server.
• If the profile assigned to the BL860c i4 server had more than four FC SAN connection entries
then the first four entries are still mapped to the FC HBA ports on the original BL860c i4 blade
(since it is the Monarch in the new server). The additional FC SAN connection entries (up to
four), that had not been mapped to any ports prior to the upgrade, will be mapped to FC
HBA ports on the Auxiliary blade in the upgraded server.
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