IBM BladeCenter T 8720 Installation And User Manual page 24

v System-management capabilities
v Network environment support
10
BladeCenter T Types 8720 and 8730: Installation and User's Guide
configuring a pair of switch modules in I/O-module bays 3 and 4 provides support
for the failover configured on the I/O expansion options.
Note: A system configuration with I/O expansion options in I/O-module bays 3
and 4 requires a unit configuration with power supplies in power-module
bays 3 and 4.
Other network-interface I/O expansion options, such as the IBM BladeCenter
Fibre Channel Expansion Card, can have similar capability for redundant network
connections. See the documentation that comes with the I/O expansion module
and I/O module for more information about configuring for redundant network
connections.
The BladeCenter T unit comes with a service processor in the management
module. The service processor in the management module, the
system-management firmware that is provided with your BladeCenter T unit, and
the service processor in each blade server, enable you to remotely manage the
BladeCenter T unit, its components, and the blade servers. The management
module also multiplexes the keyboard, mouse, and video ports and the USB port
across the multiple blade servers.
The service processor in each blade server provides blade server system
monitoring, event recording, and alert capability.
See Chapter 5, "Configuring the BladeCenter T unit," on page 61 for more
information.
This BladeCenter T unit supports up to two Ethernet-compatible I/O modules
(switch modules or pass-thru modules), for blade server integrated Ethernet
controller communication with the network. Each I/O module provides one
internal connection to each blade server, up to eight internal connections per I/O
module.
The BladeCenter T unit also supports two additional I/O modules, for a total of
four I/O modules. The two additional I/O modules support the network interface
on the optional I/O expansion card installed on one or more blade servers in the
BladeCenter T unit.
Note: The two additional I/O modules must be compatible with the network
interface on the optional I/O expansion cards in the blade servers.
Each of these two additional I/O modules provides one internal connection to the
optional I/O expansion card, up to eight internal connections per I/O module.