IBM BladeCenter 1

[chieftan999]

I have an IBM BladeCenter with 2 ESM Modules installed.

Could someone tell me how the ESMs communicate Spanning Tree to each other once set up as an EtherChannel?

This is important for ensuring no routing loops occur within the layer 2 network.

Thanks

 

[catorze]

What do you mean? Are you looking for something beyond the industry standard Spanning Tree Protocol implementation or an explanation of how Spanning Tree Protocol works in general? Specifically, what switches do you have installed (part number)? How are they connected to each other?

 

[chieftan999]

Apologies...I should have included that information.

The installed modules are Cisco IGEMPs 4 port gigabit switches.

I guess I am wondering on how STP is used across the two switches on the blade center....as an example, do they compliment each other or are they considered seperate entities?
From a security point of view what is the best way to configure them.

I know how Spanning tree itself works, but I am unsure how it works in the dual IGEMP topology.
Thanks

 

[catorze]

Actually, the switches have 20-ports - 4 external, 16 internal (1 for each Blade, and one for each Management Module). If you install 2, they are separate entities, but they support redundancy. Each switch has a port that connects to one of the Ethernet controllers on the Blades, thus enabling both Ethernet interfaces on the Blades.

The configuration for STP is probably more complex than I can describe here, but wouldn't want to leave you hanging. I recommend taking a look at the Cisco Software Configuration Guide, available from: ftp://ftp.software.ibm.com/pc/pccbbs/pc_servers_pdf/25k8411b.pdf

Chapters 3, 5, and 10 are probably what you are seeking.

 

[chieftan999]

Thats an awesome document. Thanks catorze

 

[chieftan999]

If we have redundancy built into the BladeCenter but the current set up is as follows:-

2 catalysts - 1 connects to 1 esm and the other connects to the other esm.

All ESM ports and Blade Server ports are set to VLAN 1 default and the catalyst set to VLAN 908.

If we enable Trunking on the catalyst port for different VLANs do we

1: Have to change all ports on the Blade servers and ESMs to show this change (IE - change them to 908 from 1)?

2: Will we lose connectivity or is there a way to achieve this without losing it?

Thanks

 

[Bernard74]

Hi

All Switch settings aside......

To enable network redundancy for each blade, you enable teaming on the network cards within each blade.

Yes, ceertain teaming modes have to have certain switch configurations, but this is no different in the IBM Bladecenter.
You have servers with a couple of NIC's in each (Blade)
Each NIC from each Server connected to a different switch (ESM)

Understand?

Bernard

 

[chieftan999]

Thanks Bernard,

I guess I may have worded that a little wrong.

If I turn trunking on at the Cisco switch (Cat 6000 series) to allow VLAN 908 as well as VLAN 1, to enable trunking mode at the IGESM BladeCenter end do I have to simply enable tagging, because I cannot see any other option than that.

Thanks in advance