Hp Bladesystem P-Class Server Blade Enclosure - HP Xw25p - ProLiant - Blade Workstation Overview

FC port aggregation is required to accommodate the increased number of server FC HBA ports and to
maintain compatibility with the available enclosure backplane signals and interconnect ports. The p-
Class sleeve aggregates the four paths from two ProLiant BL30p or ProLiant BL35p Server Blades into
two physical paths. This innovative port aggregation technology enables up to 16 physical FC ports
from the Patch Panel 2, GbE2 Interconnect Switch, or Cisco Gigabit Ethernet Switch Module to
connect directly to the customer external FC SAN switch. ProLiant BL30p and ProLiant BL35p FC
implementations require the FC SAN switch to support FC-AL public loop login. With few exceptions,
notably McData core switches, most FC switches provide this support. All Brocade SAN switches and
most Cisco SAN devices support this feature.
NOTE: The FC LED on the Patch Panel 2 or GbE2 Interconnect Switch does not display a live link
when using the enhanced server blade enclosure. Port activity information can be obtained from the
FC SAN switch or by using QLogic SANsurfer Blade Management software.

HP BladeSystem p-Class Server Blade Enclosure

ProLiant BL p-Class server blades and network interconnects are housed in a 6U server blade
enclosure. The blades slide into the blade enclosure backplanes for power and network connections.
Each blade enclosure has eight server blade bays in the center of the enclosure and two interconnect
bays at each end. The two interconnect bays are populated with either patch panel interconnects (for
direct signal pass-through) or interconnect switches (for network cable reduction). The middle eight
bays support server blades.
The two types of server blade enclosures are: standard server blade enclosures and enhanced server
blade enclosures. Some server blade models are supported only in enhanced server blade enclosures.
For details, refer to the enclosure compatibility matrix at
http://www.hp.com/go/bladesystem/enclosure/compatability
The enhanced server blade enclosure provides the following:
• A server blade management module that simplifies setup and management by:
– A single physical iLO port for all installed server blades that provides up to 16:1 management
cabling consolidation
– Static IP Bay Configuration for automated configuration of iLO addresses
• Support for all ProLiant BL30p and ProLiant BL35p Server Blades, as well as support for all current
and future ProLiant BL20p, ProLiant BL25p, ProLiant BL40p, and ProLiant BL45p series server blades
• Support for all current and future network interconnect options, including the new CGESMs
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