BNT 1-10Gb Uplink Ethernet Switch Module for IBM BladeCenter

The BNT 1/10Gb Uplink Ethernet Switch Module offers the following benefits:

• All 1 Gb and 10 Gb uplink ports can be active at the same time.
• The switch consumes only 40 Watts, which is ideal for clients with power limitations or for those who simply want to reduce operating cost and be more environmentally friendly.
• It has a large L2 forwarding table (16K), which allows the switch to accommodate a larger flat network with minimum aging activity.
• Advanced L3 functions, such as OSPF and BGP, allow the switch to integrate seamlessly into a large routed network environment.
• L3 functions allow the switch to segregate traffic into segments to improve latency and security within each segment of the network.
• SmartConnect helps dramatically reduce total cost of ownership (TCO) that is associated with blade servers by delivering VMready network virtualization (NMotion), stacking, and simplifying administrative tasks such as deployment, control, and policy administration.

Modes of operation

The switch module supports two unique operational modes that are determined by the firmware edition that is loaded onto the switch:

• Standard shipped Layer 2/3 mode
• SmartConnect mode or Virtual Switch Extension (VSE) mode

The Standard Layer 2/3 mode provides full implementation of networking services and technologies supported by the switch. SmartConnect mode provides a preconfigured subset of functions to enable basic Layer 2 connectivity only.

SmartConnect mode is used for less complex environments where only basic network connectivity is required and there is no need for advanced networking services. SmartConnect mode’s reduced set of features and easy-to-use GUI help to minimize administrative efforts and skills that are required to deploy this solution while providing enough flexibility in configuring virtualization features. Its features and GUI also help to minimize the impact (both from management and functional point of views) on upstream network devices.

Note: SmartConnect is a firmware upgrade to this switch module and is different from the BladeCenter Open Fabric Manager offering from IBM. The SmartConnect license comes standard with the purchase of the switch and supported with the switch warranty.

The following virtualization features are included in the SmartConnect mode:

• VMready

  The switch’s VMready feature makes it virtualization aware. The switch automatically discovers the virtual machines of hypervisors that are connected to internal ports on the switch. It monitors the creation and movement of virtual machines, whether they are moved for maintenance reasons or replicated to enable application scaling. It takes action to ensure that network settings are migrated along with the virtual machine to help prevent the possibility of virtual machines being moved to servers with the wrong virtual local area network (VLAN) or other network settings. SmartConnect accepts up to 1024 virtual machines.

• Virtual aggregation

  Switch resources can be pooled together, combining their capacity while simplifying their management. This can be accomplished on a number of levels:

  • Grouping multiple internal and external switch ports into a single, logical switching entity with shared bandwidth capacity. Multiple switches located in multiple blade server chassis, even across racks, operate as one large virtual switch. Up to 32 such Virtual Switch Groups (VSGs) can be configured on the switch or stack.
  • Trunking multiple switch ports into a single, high-bandwidth link to other networking devices. Each VSG supports up to two external trunks that can be used either independently or as a primary and backup.
  • Stacking multiple switches from the same or different chassis into a single superswitch. SmartConnect supports one stack with up to eight switches. Stacking also permits the use of up to 56 internal port trunks. Multiple switches in the stack can be managed from a single node.
• Virtual segmentation

  VSGs act as independent logical units. Traffic assigned to different VSGs is thoroughly separated within the switch, essentially dividing the switch into smaller switch entities. VSG segmentation occurs internally within the switch, requiring no support changes to the broader network configuration (such as VLANs). Internal and external switch ports, as well as any attached VMs, can be independently assigned to VSGs.

• ServerMobility

  The ServerMobility feature is a network mobility capability that allows server blades to be added, removed, or replaced without the need of any address re-assignment. It allows server IP addresses to be assigned based on their physical location in a blade server chassis. Then, if a server fails, a replacement server (in the same or different slot) can assume the identity (and configuration) of the failed unit. A Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) server is required for ServerMobility operations.
  

By combining virtualization features, SmartConnect provides a highly-flexible framework for allocating and managing switch resources.

Specifically, the following functions are supported in SmartConnect mode:

• Port groups
• VLAN and VLAN tagging
• Trunking (link aggregation)
• Layer 2 Failover (Switch Failover)
• IGMP snooping
• Web-based or command-line interface (CLI)-based management interface
• Support for SSH/SCP
• RADIUS/TACACS+ access control to the switch
• Port monitoring
• Access control lists (ACLs)
• Quality of Service 802.1p/DSCP
• ServerMobility
• VMready
• Stacking

Notes:

• When the switch operates in SmartConnect mode, do not connect the host devices, such as workstations or servers, to the external ports because this leads to problems with network traffic flow.
• The Spanning Tree Protocol (STP) is not supported in SmartConnect mode. By using the color-based BNT configuration tool, it is simple to build a loop-free layer 2 topology. The software also avoids basic mistakes that lead to these events .

 

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