General

Screen component

Description

Name

Optional label for a connection configured in a server profile template.

Function type

Specifies the network technology: Ethernet, Fibre Channel or iSCSI.

When configuring an FCoE network connection in a server profile template, select Fibre Channel. FCoE networks are annotated in create, edit, and details views.

When configuring a software initiator iSCSI connection, select Ethernet as the Function type. Use the iSCSI function type for configuring a hardware-offload iSCSI initiator. Then assign primary or secondary boot devices using the Boot selector, and then supply the requested information for iSCSI Initiator, Boot Target, and iSCSI Authentication.

Default value: Ethernet

Network

The connection contains either an unassigned network (that reserves the associated port) or a valid Ethernet network, network set, Fibre Channel, or FCoE network.

Rack servers do not support unassigned connections. Blade servers support unassigned connections.

An Ethernet network or network set can be accessed by an Ethernet device; a Fibre Channel or FCoE network can be accessed by a Fibre Channel device. To access an iSCSI device with an Ethernet connection, you must select UEFI or UEFI optimized as the boot mode in the Boot Settings pane. Networks are filtered to both Fibre Channel and FCoE when Type is set to Fibre Channel.
NOTE:

Network sets are not allowed on an iSCSI connection.

NOTE:

Rack servers do not support an iSCSI connection.

Typically, you assign each connection in a server profile template to a single network. Network sets enable you to select multiple networks for a single connection defined in a server profile template. Network sets are useful with hypervisors, where server profile templates need the ability to define multiple networks.

You can select a Large network set for rack servers allowing you to deploy up to a maximum of 4,000 networks at a time.

For blade servers, duplicate networks are not allowed on the same port. This restriction also applies to networks that belong to a network set. For example, if Network_A is part of NetworkSet_A, the individual network and the network set containing it cannot be assigned to FlexibleLOM 1.

Port

You can place a connection on:
  • A specific FlexNIC

    NOTE:

    In an active/active configuration, you must specify the FlexNIC on the interconnect where the uplink ports correspond to the network(s) in the connection. Traffic will pass if the connection is assigned to a port that is not connected to the interconnect; however, this is not a true active/active configuration and does not provide the desired functionality.

  • Any FlexNIC of a specific adapter port

  • An automatically selected FlexNIC

    NOTE:

    In an active/active configuration, Hewlett Packard Enterprise does not recommend using this option.

You specify FlexNICs by adapter, physical port number, and FlexNIC identifier. Adapter identifiers include LOM, FlexibleLOM 1, FlexibleLOM 2, Mezzanine 1, Mezzanine 2, and Mezzanine 3. FlexNIC identifiers are a, b, c, and d. For example, selecting Mezzanine 1:2-c configures the connection on the third FlexNIC (c) on the second physical port of the adapter in Mezzanine slot 1.

Some physical ports are identified by adapter, physical port number, and the suffix (Auto). For example, selecting FlexibleLOM 1:1 (Auto) places the connection on the first available FlexNIC on the first physical port of the first FlexibleLOM. These connections are assigned in order of connection ID. If both connection 5 and connection 8 specify FlexibleLOM 2:1 (Auto), and no other connections are assigned to FlexibleLOM 2, connection 5 is assigned to the first FlexNIC, and connection 8 is assigned to the second FlexNIC.

Selecting Auto assigns the connection to a FlexNIC in a predetermined order. Connections with Auto specified are assigned (in connection ID order) to FlexNICs after connections with specific FlexNICs or ports are assigned. All Fibre Channel connections are assigned to FlexNICs before Ethernet connections are assigned. In general, you must assign a connection to the first FlexNIC on every physical port before a connection is assigned automatically to the second, third, or fourth FlexNIC of any port. The order of physical ports on HPE ProLiant Gen8 server blades is FlexibleLOM 1:1, FlexibleLOM 1:2, FlexibleLOM 2:1, FlexibleLOM 2:2, Mezzanine 1:1, Mezzanine 1:2, and so on. For HPE ProLiant G7 server blades, the FlexibleLOM entries are replaced with LOM:1, LOM:2, LOM:3, and LOM:4. Exceptions include the following:

  • If the predetermined order causes a connection to be configured on the same physical port as another connection with the same network, the FlexNIC is skipped.

  • If a FlexFabric converged network adapter (CNA) is connected to a Virtual Connect FlexFabric module, an Ethernet connection is not assigned to the FCoE-capable FlexNIC unless all other FlexNICs on the port are used.

Before you assign a connection to a FlexNIC, the following conditions must be met:
  • You cannot configure the same network on multiple FlexNICs of a single physical port. This includes networks in a network set.

  • The number of networks you configure on a single physical port cannot exceed 162.

  • The sum of the requested bandwidth values cannot exceed the capacity of the port, which is determined by the adapter.

In general, connections with an Auto FlexNIC setting are assigned to FlexNICs in a predetermined order; however, this can result in the required conditions not being met. In these cases, selecting specific FlexNICs or specific adapter ports enables you to specify a valid configuration.

Requested bandwidth (Gb/s)

Specify the bandwidth for the connection. When you select a network, the appliance automatically populates this box with the preferred bandwidth.

You can specify a bandwidth value between 100 Mb/s and the maximum bandwidth of the selected network, in 100 Mb/s increments. The sum of the requested bandwidth values for all connections configured on a physical port cannot exceed the capacity of the port, which is determined by the adapter.

For Virtual Connect Fibre Channel connections, the available discrete values are based on the adapter and the Fibre Channel interconnect module. With FCoE connections, you can select from a full range of speeds.

Boot

You can select a connection as a primary or secondary boot device. A template can contain bootable Ethernet, Fibre Channel, and iSCSI connections.

  • Ethernet: Not bootable, PXE primary, PXE secondary, iSCSI primary, or iSCSI secondary

    NOTE:

    If you select iSCSI primary or iSCSI secondary, you must also select UEFI or UEFI optimized as the boot mode in the Boot Settings pane.

  • Fibre Channel: Not bootable, FC primary, or FC secondary

  • iSCSI: Not bootable, iSCSI primary, or iSCSI secondary

   

Boot from

(Fibre Channel and iSCSI)

Select a boot target option:

Managed volume

Specify the boot volume by setting the boot attribute on a volume in the SAN Storage section of the server profile.

For iSCSI, the iSCSI initiator used in boot is defined in the Advanced panel of the server profile.

Specify boot target

Specify the Fibre Channel or iSCSI boot target.

Use Adapter BIOS

Select to enable the BIOS on the server hardware to specify the boot target.

Add connection button

Click the Add connection button to add or edit the network connections you want this server profile template to apply to the profiles created from template. When the connections appear in the details pane, you can edit or delete them by clicking the appropriate link.