Introduction; Key Features And Benefits; Key Features; Key Benefits - HP BL680c - ProLiant - G5 User Manual

1 Introduction

HP Virtual Connect Enterprise Manager (VCEM) centralizes network connectivity and workload mobility for
HP BladeSystem servers that use Virtual Connect to access local area networks (LANs) and Storage Area
Networks (SANs), helping organizations to increase productivity, respond faster to workload and infrastructure
changes, and reduce operating costs.
Built on the Virtual Connect architecture integrated into every HP BladeSystem c-Class enclosure, VCEM
provides a central console to administer LAN and SAN address assignments, perform group-based
configuration management, and initiate the rapid deployment, movement, and failover of server connections
and their workloads for 250 Virtual Connect domains (up to 1,000 enclosures and 16,000 server blades).
Use VCEM in HP BladeSystem environments to complete key data center tasks quickly, reliably, and without
disrupting production LANs and SANs. VCEM enables you to:
Deploy new BladeSystem enclosures, server blades, and Virtual Connect (VC) Domains
Perform fast and cost-effective server recovery
Complete planned systems maintenance with minimal downtime
Rapidly migrate and repurpose server blades to meet changing workload and application priorities
Together, Virtual Connect and VCEM create a change-ready infrastructure that enables system administrators
to add, replace, and recover blade servers across the data center in minutes without impacting LAN and
SAN availability. This flexible, change-ready infrastructure also provides the foundation for logical server
deployment and orchestration capabilities delivered with HP Insight Dynamics software.
For more information on VCEM, see http://www.hp.com/go/vcem.

Key features and benefits

VCEM delivers the following key features and benefits.

Key features

Single intuitive console to control up to 250 VC Domains (1000 BladeSystem enclosures and 16,000
servers when used with Virtual Connect Ethernet multi-enclosure domains).
Central repository supports 128K address ranges for MAC and World Wide Name (WWN) assignments,
for a total of 256K network addresses per VCEM console.
Group-based management of Virtual Connect domains using common configuration profiles.
Scripted and manual movement of server connection profiles and associated workloads between Virtual
Connect domains / BladeSystem enclosures.
Automated failover of server connection profiles and workloads to customer-defined spare servers.
Seamless integration with existing Virtual Connect infrastructures—discovers and aggregates Virtual
Connect resources into a central console.
Licensed for each c-Class enclosure—simplifies deployment and enables support for current and future
BladeSystem and Virtual Connect hardware.

Key benefits

Centrally manage connectivity and workloads for thousands of HP BladeSystem server blades.
The VCEM address repository enables more efficient administration of LAN and SAN assignments
(MAC and WWN) and eliminate the risk of address conflicts.
Group-based management of Virtual Connect domains increases infrastructure consistency and enables
rapid change management across multiple enclosures.
Add, change, and replace servers across the data center in minutes without impacting production LAN
and SAN availability.
Reduce the costs and time to deploy and maintain BladeSystem infrastructures.
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