In a typical data center environment, switching out a server or modifying the network or SAN connections requires physical cabling changes to ensure continuous connectivity. Creating a virtual infrastructure environment allows changes at either the server or the network side to be transparent to the overall data center operations. The Virtual Connect Modules provide this level of transparency to the HP BladeSystem c-Class operations.

Changes and Cables

In most data center environments individual servers are logically (and sometimes physically) connected to specific resources. A particular Ethernet Network Interface Card (NIC) carries a unique Media Access Control (MAC) address that can be used for identification. The same holds true with Fibre Channel (FC) Host Bus Adapters (HBA) – a unique address, the World Wide Identifier (WWID), is assigned to the physical interface.

VLAN membership, disk volume access, and port access can be based on these unique identifiers. When a server is replaced with a new unit, these IDs change with the new server's NIC and HBA. This requires that the network manager...