Network Planning; Pci Slot Locations - HP NetServer AA 4000 Reference Manual

HP NetServer AA

Network Planning

PCI Slot locations

4-2
Before installing and configuring network adapters it is important to
plan the networking environment in order to determine the number
of network cards needed, the PCI slots they are installed in, which
subnet they will be connected to and the necessary networking
protocols.
Most of the network planning and configurations of the network
cards may have been done as part of the initial order of the system.
At a minimum, the HPAA system will arrive with one public rail
configured and ready to start networking (the TCP/IP settings may
need to be changed).
The AA 4000 based HPAA system supports the HP NetServer LH 3
or LH 4 as the IOP. All of the network cards are installed in the
IOPs. The LH 3 and LH 4 have the same I/O structure, so slot
recommendations are the same for both NetServers. The easy
recommendation to remember is the Marathon Interface Card (MIC),
it should be in PCI slot 7 or 8.
The network cards should be placed in different PCI slots depending
on their roles. The optimum PCI slots for performance in order are
PCI slots 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6. PCI slot can be used, however it is a
shared ISA slot and they may impact the NetServer configuration in
other areas. PCI slots 4, 5, and 6 are behind the i960 processor used
for the NetRAID operations as well as providing a PCI bridge. For
that reason, PCI slots 2 and 3 perform slightly better than slots 4 – 6.
Keep in mind for the ease of upgrading in the future; the network
cards are supported in any PCI slot.
Given the choice of PCI slots based on performance, the following
are some general recommendations for using the PCI slots for
networking:
PCI Slot 1 Backup/Management LAN for IOP
PCI Slot 2 Public Rail #1
PCI Slot 3 Public Rail #2
PCI Slot 4 Public Rail #3
PCI Slot 5 Public Rail #4
PCI Slot 6 IOP "Private"Link
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