Cable Direct-Attached Blade Servers (QDR)

In a blade server configuration, you can direct-connect each Oracle Fabric Interconnect through one or more links to each controller in each of the blade servers.

You can connect two cables to each blade-server controller. However, using two cables reduces the number of available ports, which reduces the total number of blade servers that can be connected. There is no restriction on which ports on the Oracle Fabric Interconnect connect to which ports on the controller.

Each Oracle Fabric Interconnect has a connection to each blade server controller, and the Oracle Fabric Interconnects are connected in a merged fabric through those blade servers.

1. Make sure the subnet manager is shut down and the LID table is removed.

   See Preparing to Merge an IB Fabric (QDR).

2. Connect one or more QDR ports on the first Oracle Fabric Interconnect (1) to a blade server controller.

   You will need one IB connection to each Oracle Fabric Interconnect for each controller.

3. Connect one or more QDR ports on the second Oracle Fabric Interconnect (2) to the same blade server controller.

   At the completion of this step, each Oracle Fabric Interconnect is connected to the same blade server through one of the controllers. The cross-connection between the IB switches creates the merged fabric.

4. Connect one or more of the QDR ports on the first Oracle Fabric Interconnect (1) to the second blade server controller.
5. Connect one or more of the QDR ports on the first Oracle Fabric Interconnect (2) to the second blade server controller.
6. Repeat this procedure as needed to connect Oracle Fabric Interconnects to each blade-server controller.

   At the completion of this step, each Oracle Fabric Interconnect has one or more connections to each controller in each blade server as shown in the following figure.

   
   

   No. Description 1, 2 Oracle Fabric Interconnect F1-15s (or F1-4s). 3 QDR speed connections indirectly connect the Oracle Fabric Interconnects together through each blade-server controllers. 4, 5, 6, 7 QDR speed blade servers. 8 Blade-server controllers connect to Oracle Fabric Interconnects to provide QDR links to individual blades (host servers). 9 Individual blades (host servers) that are internally connected to the blade-server controllers.

   When the Oracle Fabric Interconnects are correctly connected, at least two connections exist between the Oracle Fabric Interconnects. These connections provide the merged IB fabric that the two Oracle Fabric Interconnects share. All other IB ports on each Oracle Fabric Interconnect can be used to provide connections to host servers in the fabric.

7. Complete merging the fabric.

   See Complete the Merged Fabric (QDR).

Related Information

• Shut Down the IB Subnet Manager (QDR)

• Remove the LID Table (QDR)

• Cable Direct-Attached Rack Servers (QDR)