Planning I/O Hardware Connections

Planning how you want the Sun Blade 8000 Modular System to integrate with the networking and storage technologies already in your data center is critical. Deploying modular systems such as the Sun Blade 8000 Modular System need not be complex if you have a plan. This topic provides an overview of all the hardware variables that need to be factored into your planning, including:

Note

PCI Express ExpressModules (EMs) are supported only in the Sun Blade 8000 Modular System, which also supports up to four Network Express Modules (NEMs). The Sun Blade 8000 P Modular System supports up to two NEMs.

The high-level variables are summarized below.

I/O Paths

Because I/O paths can be configured for each blade, you have many options:

  • Combined boot and data paths through the NEM: You can configure your blade to boot its operating system from the network in addition to exchanging data over the network. In Scenario-A, a blade (BL0) is configured to exchange data (path

    ) and to boot its operating system (path ) through PORT0 of the GbE NEM. In Scenario-B, an Ethernet switch adds an additional level of management.

    You do not need to install or configure an EM for either of these scenarios.

  • Combined boot and data paths through an EM: Without installing or configuring a NEM, you can configure your blade to boot and to exchange data through one or more EMs. In Scenario-A, a blade (BL0) is configured to exchange data (path

    ) and to boot its operating system (path ) through an EM in EM slot 0.0 (GbE, IB, or FC). In Scenario-B, an Ethernet or IB switch adds an additional level of management.

  • Separate boot and data paths through NEMs and EMs: The most interesting scenarios involve configuring your blade to boot through one path and exchange data through another. In Scenario-A, a blade (BL0) is configured to exchange data (path

    ) through an EM in slot 0.0 (GbE, IB, or FC) and to boot its operating system (path ) through a NEM0 Port0. In Scenario-B, a blade (BL0) boots through the EM (path ) and exchanges data through the NEM (path ).

    Connecting these pathways through an Ethernet or IB switch adds another level of management.

I/O Redundancy

Achieving redundancy involves both hardware and software planning.

Hardware Redundancy

Once you have decided which I/O paths you plan to implement, you must consider how much redundancy is appropriate for each of those paths. Implementing hardware redundancy for the Sun Blade 8000 Modular System is fairly simple, you simply add secondary NEMs and EMs.

  • NEM redundancy: If your blades are exercising one or more I/O paths through, for example, a single GbE NEM (Scenario-A), you can add up to three backup NEMs to provide redundancy should one port on the primary NEM or the entire primary NEM fail.

    In this maximum configuration, NEM ports on each of the secondary NEM modules retain the same assignments to blades. All cables connected to Port0.0 in NEM0, NEM1, NEM2, and NEM3 are connected to the same blade, in this case BL0.

  • EM Redundancy: In a basic configuration (Scenario-A), you can assign one EM to one blade. To provide redundancy and failover (Scenario-B), add a second EM of the same type in the second EM slot associated with the blade.

    Note

    As a best practice, consider assigning the primary EM in a pair to slot EMx.0 and the secondary EM to slot EMx.1.

Software Redundancy

Each operating system offers a different set of utilities and system administration tools to manage I/O redundancy.

Operating System

Redundancy Tools

Solaris 10

Solaris 10 uses the following tools:

  • MPxIO: Manages the configuration and failover of host bus adapters (HBAs)

  • IPMP: Manages the failover of IP addresses

  • luxadm: Manages storage devices on the network

  • cfgadm: Configures PCI Express and other devices

Linux

Red Hat and SUSE use channel bonding drivers to manage redundancy across small-to-medium clusters and storage systems.

For more information about configuring redundancy for EM and NEM hardware, see the appropriate sections in your operating system documentation.

I/O Fabrics

Outside the chassis' internal fabric and VLANs, the Sun Blade 8000 Modular System is fabric agnostic. You can provision the EMs in your Sun Blade 8000 Modular System to support one fabric type for all blades (Scenario-A), a different type of fabric for each blade (Scenario-B), or two fabric types for each blade (Scenario-C).

Hardware Planning Worksheet

The following worksheet will help you in planning I/O hardware connections.

Blades

NEM0

NEM1

NEM2

NEM3

Left EM

Right EM

BL9

PORT9

PORT9

PORT9

PORT9

EM9.0

EM9.1

BL8

PORT8

PORT8

PORT8

PORT8

EM8.1

EM8.0

BL7

PORT7

PORT7

PORT7

PORT7

EM7.0

EM7.1

BL6

PORT6

PORT6

PORT6

PORT6

EM6.1

EM6.0

BL5

PORT5

PORT5

PORT5

PORT5

EM5.0

EM5.1

BL4

PORT4

PORT4

PORT4

PORT4

EM4.1

EM4.0

BL3

PORT3

PORT3

PORT3

PORT3

EM3.0

EM3.1

BL2

PORT2

PORT2

PORT2

PORT2

EM2.1

EM2.0

BL1

PORT1

PORT1

PORT1

PORT1

EM1.0

EM1.1

BL0

PORT0

PORT0

PORT0

PORT0

EM0.1

EM0.0