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Introduction to IBP Network Planning
Intelligent Blade Panel Module
28
3 Network Planning
3.1
Introduction
to
IBP
The
Intelligent Blade Panel M
odule
(IBP)
provides
a
simple
Ethernet
interface
option
for
connecting
the PRIMERGY BX600
Blade Server systems
to
the
network
infrastructure.
The
administrative effort
and
network
skills
required
to
connect
to
the
network
are
minimized.
The
number
and type
of
configuration
options
on
the
IBP
are
restricted
to
reduce
the
initial
setup
complexity and
to
minimize
the
impact
on
upstream
networking
devices.
The
IBP
requires
basic
administration
tasks
similar
to
those
required
to
connect
a
single
multi-linked
server
to
the
network.
Connecting
the
Blade Center
with
up
to
ten
server blades
becomes
as
easy
as
connecting
a
single
server
to
the
network.
The
default
network
configuration
of
the
IBP
is
consists
of
a
single,
untagged
Virtual
Local
Area
Network
(VLAN).
All
of
the
uplink
ports
in
each
Port
Group
are
aggregated
together
into a
static
Link
Aggregation
Group
(LAG,
or
trunk
group),
which
is
fully
compatible
with
Cisco Ether
Channel
technology.
This
configuration
eliminates
the
need
for
Spanning
Tree
Protocol to
prevent
network
loops,
since
the
uplink
ports
act
as
a
single
link.
The
IBP
provides
improved
network
reliability.
All
of
the
uplink
ports
in
each
Port
Group
participates
in
a
static
LAG,
so
if
a
link
fails,
the
existing
traffic
is
redirected
to
the
other
links.
The
IBP
software
permits
the
copper
TX
uplink
ports
to
auto-negotiate
the
speed
(10/100/1000
Mbps),
duplex
(full/half)
and
flow-control
settings
of
each
link
(the
default
set- ting).
You
can
also
fix
these
port
characteristics
to
specified
values.
All
of
the
uplink
ports
in each
Port
Group
must
be
configured
to
the
same
port
characteristics.
With
Network
Adaptor
Teaming
configured
on
the
server
blade
Ethernet
NIC,
the
servers
can maintain
redundant
links
to
multiple
IBP
within
the
Blade Sever
chassis
to
provide
enhanced
reliability.
The
L2
Failover
option
allows
the
IBP
to
disable
the
server-blade
ports
when
all
of
its
external
uplinks
are
inactive.
This
causes
the
Network
Adaptor
Teaming
soft-
ware
to
failover
to
the
other
IBP
(s)
in
the
Blade Server Chassis.