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Configuring the Gigabit Ethernet controllers
Two Ethernet controllers are integrated on the blade server system board. Each
controller provides a 1000-Mbps full-duplex interface for connecting to one of the
Ethernet-compatible I/O modules in I/O-module bays 1 and 2, which enables
simultaneous transmission and reception of data on the Ethernet local area network
(LAN). Each Ethernet controller on the system board is routed to a different I/O
module in I/O-module bay 1 or bay 2. The routing from an Ethernet controller to
I/O-module bay will vary based on blade server type and the operating system that
is installed. See "Blade server Ethernet controller enumeration" for information
about how to determine the routing from an Ethernet controller to an I/O-module
bay for the blade server.
Note: Other types of blade servers, such as the BladeCenter HS20 Type 8678
You do not have to set any jumpers or configure the controllers for the blade server
operating system. However, you must install a device driver to enable the blade
server operating system to address the Ethernet controllers. For device drivers and
information about configuring the Ethernet controllers, see the Broadcom NetXtreme
Gigabit Ethernet Software CD that comes with the blade server. For updated
information about configuring the controllers, see http://www.ibm.com/pc/support/.
The Ethernet controllers in your blade server support failover, which provides
automatic redundancy for the Ethernet controllers. Without failover, you can have
only one Ethernet controller from each server attached to each virtual LAN or
subnet. With failover, you can configure more than one Ethernet controller from
each server to attach to the same virtual LAN or subnet. Either one of the
integrated Ethernet controllers can be configured as the primary Ethernet controller.
If you have configured the controllers for failover and the primary link fails, the
secondary controller takes over. When the primary link is restored, the Ethernet
traffic switches back to the primary Ethernet controller. (See the operating-system
device-driver documentation for information about configuring for failover.)
Important: To support failover on the blade server Ethernet controllers, the Ethernet
switch modules in the BladeCenter unit must have identical configurations.
Blade server Ethernet controller enumeration
The enumeration of the Ethernet controllers in a blade server is operating-system
dependent. You can verify the Ethernet controller designations that a blade server
uses through the operating-system settings.
The routing of an Ethernet controller to a particular I/O-module bay depends on the
type of blade server. You can verify which Ethernet controller is routed to which
I/O-module bay by using the following test:
1. Install only one Ethernet switch module or pass-thru module in I/O-module bay
2. Make sure that the ports on the switch module or pass-thru module are enabled
blade server, that are installed in the same BladeCenter unit as the
BladeCenter HS20 Type 8843 blade server might have different Ethernet
controller routing. See the documentation that comes with the other blade
servers for information.
1.
(click I/O Module Tasks ⇒ Management ⇒ Advanced Management in the
management module Web-based user interface).
Chapter 4. Configuring the blade server
49
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