Discover DMX4 from HP Blade Virtual Connect passthru

On the HP blade chassis you do not zone the VC module parent WWN.  There should be WWN's assigned to the blade itself.  if you are using the HP default WWN range they should start like this 50:06:0B: .  The chassis uses FCoE from the blade to the virtual connect module, module 1 always comes up first.  There is an internal cross so in my setup module 1 has two SAN connections to the odd fabric and module 2 has two SAN connections to the even fabric.

Okay, so I can undo the zone to the VC parent WWN.  However, on the switch, should I be seeing the virtual passthru WWNs (i.e. 50:06:0B..) sitting in VSAN 01?  If so, I do not.

NPIV was not enabled on the switches (MDS 922i).  As soon as I enabled it, I can see the WWNs from the enclosure and the blade itself. 

Both were in the default VSAN on each switch.  Now I can create the zone/fabric using the virtual WWNs.

Thank you!

Thanks for the feedback good to know I was able to help you.

So I hate to revive a dead thread, but now we're presented with another problem.  I got the first Blade connected to the SAN via the HP VC and the Cisco 9222i router, but now we're launching another Blade using the VC, and I cannot see it in either switch.  NPIV is enabled.

One thing I'm not sure about though, which might be a configuration error on my part.. but the VC is also sitting in the same VSAN as the first blade.  I think it's a result of when originally configuring, I moved the entire FC into that vsan.. i.e.

1. VC physically wired to fc1/13. New Blade installed.

2. "show fcns database" correctly shows the WWN for the VC and the first blade sitting in VSAN 1.

3. In attempting to create the fabric, I moved the entire FC to vsan 202 (where everything else is).. "vsan 202 interface fc1/13".  This moved the original Blade's HBA into VSAN 202 AND the VC's WWN.  I think this is where I messed up, because based on what you said earlier, the VC should always be in VSAN 1.  Yet, I'm not sure how to just move the Blade's HBAs into VSAN 202, leaving the VC in VSAN 1, and not the entire port (which would include the VC).

If I'm being confusing, let me know and I'll try to break it down.  Basically, I don't see the second Blade's HBA cards (either in VSAN 1 or VSAN 202), which is also going through the HP Virtual Connect.

thanks.

-mark

while i don't have VC in my C7000 C-Class HP enclosures, we use Cisco 9124e in NPV mode and 9513 as the core switch with NPIV enabled. I always put my connections from the enclosure switches to be in the same VSAN as my production fabric, you will see your switch login first and then you see your blade servers login as well after they have been powered on.

I'm sorry.  I should have updated this thread.  The Emulex Bios was disabled on the boards themselves.  I temporarily turned them by entering the Emulex bios during the post, and I was able to see the cards in the switch.  I disabled them again, and let the OS (RHEL) enable them and I was able to see the cards in the switch and subsequently create the fabric for them.  My solution to this problem is to first install the OS before checking to see if the cards are logged into the switch.  I had assumed that once power was given to the box, the cards should automatically light up and connect to the switch, but this time I had to install the OS first (or enable the Emulex bios during post).

Thanks for your suggestions!

How many SAN connections do you have per VC module?  We have 2 per module (4 total per chassis) so the chassis does an automatic round robin balance; first blade is on 1st connection, second on #2, third blade back to 1st connection etc.  If you have more than 1 FC connection per module the second one will come out on fiber connection 2.  Just pointing this out in case you are looking at the wrong switch port for the login.

If you only have 1 then it should be logging in on the same port as the first connection.