Hp Bladesystem P-Class Interconnect Switch Management - HP 279720-B21 - ProLiant BL p-Class F-GbE Interconnect Overview

HP BladeSystem p-Class Interconnect Switch Management

The HP BladeSystem p-Class GbE and GbE2 Interconnect Switches are industry-standard managed
Ethernet switches that customers configure and manage in the same manner as other industry-standard
Ethernet switches. To aid users during initial deployment, the interconnect switch includes a default
configuration that is fully operational at initial boot.
A web browser-based interface and a command line interface with scripting capability are pre-
installed in the switch firmware to configure, manage, and monitor the interconnect switches. Telnet
access is also supported. Any combination of the switch ports can be disabled, enabled, configured,
and monitored on a per port basis. Out-of-band and in-band access to the switch management
interfaces is supported locally and remotely from anywhere on the network. Administration of the pair
of interconnect switches in the server blade enclosure is possible through any uplink port, the serial
port, or the two Ethernet ports conveniently located on the front panel of each switch.
The interconnect switch supports industry-standard SNMP management information bases (MIBs),
HP enterprise switch MIBs, and environmental traps. The SNMP agents are pre-installed in the
interconnect switch firmware. This capability allows the interconnect switch to be monitored remotely
from an SNMP network management station such as HP SIM and HP OpenView. The interconnect
switch may also be configured through the HP OpenView Network Node Manager.
For rapid deployment from one-to-many interconnect switches, RDP for Windows includes server-side
scripting. With server-side scripting, interconnect switch scripts can be integrated in an RDP for
Windows job for deployment of both server blade and switches. This is ideal for using RDP for
Windows to deploy a server blade and then configure associated switch VLANs, although any
scriptable interconnect switch parameter can be integrated.
The interconnect switch supports trivial file transfer protocol (TFTP) allowing a copy of the interconnect
switch configuration file to be saved and downloaded either to the original switch or to a different
interconnect switch. This provides another method to rapidly deploy multiple systems with similar
configurations and to provide backup and restore capabilities. Configuration settings may be
modified through the user interfaces or directly within the configuration file. The configuration file has
a text-based format, which allows it to be directly viewed, printed, and edited.
Users with Windows or Linux-based deployment stations can perform interconnect switch firmware
upgrades by using TFTP through the Ethernet port after boot-up, and by using ZModem (for GbE
Interconnect Switch) or XModem (for GbE2 Interconnect Switch) through the serial interface during
boot-up. The interconnect switch simplifies system upgrades by retaining its configuration after a
firmware upgrade and by supporting the HP Support Paq automated firmware upgrade process for
Windows deployment stations.
For more information about HP BladeSystem p-Class Interconnect Switches, refer to
http://h18000.www1.hp.com/products/servers/proliant-bl/p-class/bl-p-interconnect-switch.html
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