Separate Management, Provisioning, and Data Networks

This section provides reference configuration diagrams and connectivity information that will assist you in designing and connecting your N1 System Manager equipment.

Figure 2–1 Separate Management, Provisioning, and Data Networks

When designing a network, keep the following information in mind:

• Configuring separate management, provisioning, and data networks is the best practice

• Separate networks provide the highest security and the lowest number of points of failure

• The data center DHCP service can be used to assign IP addresses to managed servers

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  Note –

  The management server DHCP service does not provide DHCP services for the data network. If you plan to dynamically configure IP services on the data network, you must provide an external DHCP server for the data network. You must not have another DHCP server on the same provisioning network.

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• You might need to install additional NICs in the management server and some manageable servers to support this configuration

The following list summarizes the connectivity requirements for the separate management, provisioning, and data networks configuration.

• Management Server

  The management server should provide connectivity to the management network, provisioning network, and corporate network as follows:

  • ETH0 connects the management server to the corporate network to provide external access to the management server. The management server ETH0 IP address, netmask, and gateway should be configured to meet your corporate environment connectivity requirements.

  • ETH1 connects the management server to the provisioning network and should be on the same network as the ETH0 connections of the manageable servers. . No devices other than the management server and the manageable servers should reside on the provisioning network. ETH1 should be a 1-Gbit NIC interface.

  • ETH2 connects the management server to the management network and should be on the same network as the management port connections of the manageable servers. The management server ETH2 IP address, netmask, and gateway should be configured to enable connectivity to the manageable server's management port IP addresses. ETH2 should be a 100-megabit NIC interface.

  • The management server DHCP service allocates IP addresses to the manageable servers for loading operating systems.

• Manageable Servers

  Each manageable server should provide connectivity to the management network, provisioning network, and data network as follows:

  • The management port connects the manageable server to the management network and should be on the same network as the ETH2 connection of the management server. The management port should be a 100-megabit connection.

  • ETH0 connects the manageable server to the provisioning network and must be on the same network as the ETH1 connection of the management server. ETH0 should be a 1-Gbyte connection.

  • ETH1 connects the manageable server to the data network through the switch to provide external corporate network access to the manageable server. ETH1 should be a 1-Gbyte connection.

• The RIS server is required only if you plan to provision Microsoft Windows. The RIS server should be connected to the provisioning network using a 1–Gbyte connection.