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BLADEOS 6.5.2 Application Guide
BMD00220, October 2010 Chapter 12: Virtual NICs 157
vNIC Groups
vNICs can be grouped together, along with uplink ports and trunks, as well as other ports that were
defined as server ports but not connected to vNICs. Each vNIC group is essentially a separate
virtual network within the switch. Elements within a vNIC group have a common logical function
and can communicate with each other, while elements in different vNIC groups are separated.
BLADEOS 6.5 supports up to 32 independent vNIC groups.
To enforce group boundaries, each vNIC group is assigned its own unique VLAN. The vNIC group
VLAN ID is placed on all vNIC group packets as an “outer” tag. As shown in Figure 18, the outer
vNIC group VLAN ID is placed on the packet in addition to any regular VLAN tag assigned by the
network, server, or hypervisor. The outer vNIC group VLAN is used only between the G8124 and
the NIC.
Figure 18 Outer and Inner VLAN Tags
Within the G8124, all Layer 2 switching for packets within a vNIC group is based on the outer
vNIC group VLAN. The G8124 does not consider the regular, inner VLAN ID (if any) for any
VLAN-specific operation.
The outer vNIC group VLAN is removed by the NIC before the packet reaches the server OS or
hypervisor, or by the switch before the packet egresses any switch port which does not need it for
vNIC processing.
The VLAN configured for the vNIC group will be automatically assigned to member vNICs, ports,
and trunks and should not be manually configured for those elements.
Note – Once a VLAN is assigned to a vNIC group, that VLAN is used only for vNIC purposes and
is no longer available for configuration. Likewise, any VLAN configured for regular purposes
cannot be configured as a vNIC group VLAN.
Outbound
Packet
Inbound
Packet
Regular
VLAN ID
NIC attached outer
vNIC group VLAN ID
Switch adds outer
vNIC group VLAN ID
Outer tag sets vNIC;
NIC strips outer tag
Switching uses outer tag;
Ignores regular VLAN
Switching uses outer tag;
Ignores regular VLAN
Switch strips
outer tag
vNIC-Capable Server BLADE Switch
Ports without
vNICs
Ports with
vNICs
OS/Hypervisor NIC