One of the benefits of using HP Virtual Connect in C-class blade Chassis is the ability to have MAC Addresses and WWNs set on a server bay as opposed to the physical server.  I’m sure you’re aware that each device that has a network card has a Media Access Control (MAC) address which is a burned in identifier that makes that NIC unique.

HP decided that it might be nice to control those MAC Addresses in their blade chassis.  Before you setup any server profiles, you have the option to choose “Virtual Connect Assigned MAC Addresses”.  These are addresses that are assigned to each server bay so that no matter what blade is put into the bay, the MAC addresses will stay the same.  You might find this very useful in the case of a failed blade.  If you receive a new blade from HP and throw it into the same bay, it will retain all of the same MAC Addresses and thus look the same to your switches.

In the screenshot below you can see that I’ve chosen the static factory default MAC Addresses and have deployed server profiles already so I’m not allowed to change the setting.

VCMAC1

If you choose the “Virtual Connect Assigned MAC Addresses” option you will need to make sure that no other blade chasses are using the same range.  Obviously network switches will not like having multiple devices on their network with the same MAC Addresses.  To handle this, HP requires that you pic a range of addresses.  You have 64 pre-defined ranges to choose from and they are listed below. (from the HP Support Docs) HP Pre-Defined MAC RangesMAC StartMAC EndHP Defined 100-17-A4-77-00-0000-17-A4-77-03-FFHP Defined 200-17-A4-77-04-0000-17-A4-77-07-FFHP Defined 300-17-A4-77-08-0000-17-A4-77-0B-FFHP Defined 400-17-A4-77-0C-0000-17-A4-77-0F-FFHP Defined 500-17-A4-77-10-0000-17-A4-77-13-FFHP Defined 600-17-A4-77-14-0000-17-A4-77-17-FFHP Defined 700-17-A4-77-18-0000-17-A4-77-1B-FFHP Defined 800-17-A4-77-1C-0000-17-A4-77-1F-FFHP Defined 900-17-A4-77-20-0000-17-A4-77-23-FFHP Defined 1000-17-A4-77-24-0000-17-A4-77-27-FFHP Defined 1100-17-A4-77-28-0000-17-A4-77-2B-FFHP Defined 1200-17-A4-77-2C-0000-17-A4-77-2F-FFHP Defined 1300-17-A4-77-30-0000-17-A4-77-33-FFHP Defined 1400-17-A4-77-34-0000-17-A4-77-37-FFHP Defined 1500-17-A4-77-38-0000-17-A4-77-3B-FFHP Defined 1600-17-A4-77-3C-0000-17-A4-77-3F-FFHP Defined 1700-17-A4-77-40-0000-17-A4-77-43-FFHP Defined 1800-17-A4-77-44-0000-17-A4-77-47-FFHP Defined 1900-17-A4-77-48-0000-17-A4-77-4B-FFHP Defined 2000-17-A4-77-4C-0000-17-A4-77-4F-FFHP Defined 2100-17-A4-77-50-0000-17-A4-77-53-FFHP Defined 2200-17-A4-77-54-0000-17-A4-77-57-FFHP Defined 2300-17-A4-77-58-0000-17-A4-77-5B-FFHP Defined 2400-17-A4-77-5C-0000-17-A4-77-5F-FFHP Defined 2500-17-A4-77-60-0000-17-A4-77-63-FFHP Defined 2600-17-A4-77-64-0000-17-A4-77-67-FFHP Defined 2700-17-A4-77-68-0000-17-A4-77-6B-FFHP Defined 2800-17-A4-77-6C-0000-17-A4-77-6F-FFHP Defined 2900-17-A4-77-70-0000-17-A4-77-73-FFHP Defined 3000-17-A4-77-74-0000-17-A4-77-77-FFHP Defined 3100-17-A4-77-78-0000-17-A4-77-7B-FFHP Defined 3200-17-A4-77-7C-0000-17-A4-77-7F-FFHP Defined 3300-17-A4-77-80-0000-17-A4-77-83-FFHP Defined 3400-17-A4-77-84-0000-17-A4-77-87-FFHP Defined 3500-17-A4-77-88-0000-17-A4-77-88-FFHP Defined 3600-17-A4-77-8C-0000-17-A4-77-8F-FFHP Defined 3700-17-A4-77-90-0000-17-A4-77-93-FFHP Defined 3800-17-A4-77-94-0000-17-A4-77-97-FFHP Defined 3900-17-A4-77-98-0000-17-A4-77-9B-FFHP Defined 4000-17-A4-77-9C-0000-17-A4-77-9F-FFHP Defined 4100-17-A4-77-A0-0000-17-A4-77-A3-FFHP Defined 4200-17-A4-77-A4-0000-17-A4-77-A7-FFHP Defined 4300-17-A4-77-A8-0000-17-A4-77-AB-FFHP Defined 4400-17-A4-77-AC-0000-17-A4-77-AF-FFHP Defined 4500-17-A4-77-B0-0000-17-A4-77-B3-FFHP Defined 4600-17-A4-77-B4-0000-17-A4-77-B7-FFHP Defined 4700-17-A4-77-B8-0000-17-A4-77-BB-FFHP Defined 4800-17-A4-77-BC-0000-17-A4-77-BF-FFHP Defined 4900-17-A4-77-C0-0000-17-A4-77-C3-FFHP Defined 5000-17-A4-77-C4-0000-17-A4-77-C7-FFHP Defined 5100-17-A4-77-C8-0000-17-A4-77-CB-FFHP Defined 5200-17-A4-77-CC-0000-17-A4-77-CF-FFHP Defined 5300-17-A4-77-D0-0000-17-A4-77-D3-FFHP Defined 5400-17-A4-77-D4-0000-17-A4-77-D7-FFHP Defined 5500-17-A4-77-D8-0000-17-A4-77-DB-FFHP Defined 5600-17-A4-77-DC-0000-17-A4-77-DF-FFHP Defined 5700-17-A4-77-E0-0000-17-A4-77-E3-FFHP Defined 5800-17-A4-77-E4-0000-17-A4-77-E7-FFHP Defined 5900-17-A4-77-E8-0000-17-A4-77-EB-FFHP Defined 6000-17-A4-77-EC-0000-17-A4-77-EF-FFHP Defined 6100-17-A4-77-F0-0000-17-A4-77-F3-FFHP Defined 6200-17-A4-77-F4-0000-17-A4-77-F7-FFHP Defined 6300-17-A4-77-F8-0000-17-A4-77-FB-FFHP Defined 6400-17-A4-77-FC-0000-17-A4-77-FF-FF

More useful (in my opinion) than being able to set MAC Addresses is the ability to set your WWNs from pre-defined ranges.  This is great if you’re a consultant because you can have your zoning script ready to go before you even show up.  See the example at the bottom of this post.

In the same manner, HP has pre-defined WWN ranges for your fibre channel connections.  Those are also listed below.  (from the HP Support Docs) HP Pre-Defined WWN RangesWWN StartWWN EndHP Defined 150:06:0B:00:00:C2:62:0050:06:0B:00:00:C2:65:FFHP Defined 250:06:0B:00:00:C2:66:0050:06:0B:00:00:C2:69:FFHP Defined 350:06:0B:00:00:C2:6A:0050:06:0B:00:00:C2:6D:FFHP Defined 450:06:0B:00:00:C2:6E:0050:06:0B:00:00:C2:71:FFHP Defined 550:06:0B:00:00:C2:72:0050:06:0B:00:00:C2:75:FFHP Defined 650:06:0B:00:00:C2:76:0050:06:0B:00:00:C2:79:FFHP Defined 750:06:0B:00:00:C2:7A:0050:06:0B:00:00:C2:7D:FFHP Defined 850:06:0B:00:00:C2:7E:0050:06:0B:00:00:C2:81:FFHP Defined 950:06:0B:00:00:C2:82:0050:06:0B:00:00:C2:85:FFHP Defined 1050:06:0B:00:00:C2:86:0050:06:0B:00:00:C2:89:FFHP Defined 1150:06:0B:00:00:C2:8A:0050:06:0B:00:00:C2:8D:FFHP Defined 1250:06:0B:00:00:C2:8E:0050:06:0B:00:00:C2:91:FFHP Defined 1350:06:0B:00:00:C2:92:0050:06:0B:00:00:C2:95:FFHP Defined 1450:06:0B:00:00:C2:96:0050:06:0B:00:00:C2:99:FFHP Defined 1550:06:0B:00:00:C2:9A:0050:06:0B:00:00:C2:9D:FFHP Defined 1650:06:0B:00:00:C2:9E:0050:06:0B:00:00:C2:A1:FFHP Defined 1750:06:0B:00:00:C2:A2:0050:06:0B:00:00:C2:A5:FFHP Defined 1850:06:0B:00:00:C2:A6:0050:06:0B:00:00:C2:A9:FFHP Defined 1950:06:0B:00:00:C2:AA:0050:06:0B:00:00:C2:AD:FFHP Defined 2050:06:0B:00:00:C2:AE:0050:06:0B:00:00:C2:B1:FFHP Defined 2150:06:0B:00:00:C2:B2:0050:06:0B:00:00:C2:B5:FFHP Defined 2250:06:0B:00:00:C2:B6:0050:06:0B:00:00:C2:B9:FFHP Defined 2350:06:0B:00:00:C2:BA:0050:06:0B:00:00:C2:BD:FFHP Defined 2450:06:0B:00:00:C2:BE:0050:06:0B:00:00:C2:C1:FFHP Defined 2550:06:0B:00:00:C2:C2:0050:06:0B:00:00:C2:C5:FFHP Defined 2650:06:0B:00:00:C2:C6:0050:06:0B:00:00:C2:C9:FFHP Defined 2750:06:0B:00:00:C2:CA:0050:06:0B:00:00:C2:CD:FFHP Defined 2850:06:0B:00:00:C2:CE:0050:06:0B:00:00:C2:D1:FFHP Defined 2950:06:0B:00:00:C2:D2:0050:06:0B:00:00:C2:D5:FFHP Defined 3050:06:0B:00:00:C2:D6:0050:06:0B:00:00:C2:D9:FFHP Defined 3150:06:0B:00:00:C2:DA:0050:06:0B:00:00:C2:DD:FFHP Defined 3250:06:0B:00:00:C2:DE:0050:06:0B:00:00:C2:E1:FFHP Defined 3350:06:0B:00:00:C2:E2:0050:06:0B:00:00:C2:E5:FFHP Defined 3450:06:0B:00:00:C2:E6:0050:06:0B:00:00:C2:E9:FFHP Defined 3550:06:0B:00:00:C2:EA:0050:06:0B:00:00:C2:ED:FFHP Defined 3650:06:0B:00:00:C2:EE:0050:06:0B:00:00:C2:F1:FFHP Defined 3750:06:0B:00:00:C2:F2:0050:06:0B:00:00:C2:F5:FFHP Defined 3850:06:0B:00:00:C2:F6:0050:06:0B:00:00:C2:F9:FFHP Defined 3950:06:0B:00:00:C2:FA:0050:06:0B:00:00:C2:FD:FFHP Defined 4050:06:0B:00:00:C2:FE:0050:06:0B:00:00:C3:01:FFHP Defined 4150:06:0B:00:00:C3:02:0050:06:0B:00:00:C3:05:FFHP Defined 4250:06:0B:00:00:C3:06:0050:06:0B:00:00:C3:09:FFHP Defined 4350:06:0B:00:00:C3:0A:0050:06:0B:00:00:C3:0D:FFHP Defined 4450:06:0B:00:00:C3:0E:0050:06:0B:00:00:C3:11:FFHP Defined 4550:06:0B:00:00:C3:12:0050:06:0B:00:00:C3:15:FFHP Defined 4650:06:0B:00:00:C3:16:0050:06:0B:00:00:C3:19:FFHP Defined 4750:06:0B:00:00:C3:1A:0050:06:0B:00:00:C3:1D:FFHP Defined 4850:06:0B:00:00:C3:1E:0050:06:0B:00:00:C3:21:FFHP Defined 4950:06:0B:00:00:C3:22:0050:06:0B:00:00:C3:25:FFHP Defined 5050:06:0B:00:00:C3:26:0050:06:0B:00:00:C3:29:FFHP Defined 5150:06:0B:00:00:C3:2A:0050:06:0B:00:00:C3:2D:FFHP Defined 5250:06:0B:00:00:C3:2E:0050:06:0B:00:00:C3:31:FFHP Defined 5350:06:0B:00:00:C3:32:0050:06:0B:00:00:C3:35:FFHP Defined 5450:06:0B:00:00:C3:36:0050:06:0B:00:00:C3:39:FFHP Defined 5550:06:0B:00:00:C3:3A:0050:06:0B:00:00:C3:3D:FFHP Defined 5650:06:0B:00:00:C3:3E:0050:06:0B:00:00:C3:41:FFHP Defined 5750:06:0B:00:00:C3:42:0050:06:0B:00:00:C3:45:FFHP Defined 5850:06:0B:00:00:C3:46:0050:06:0B:00:00:C3:49:FFHP Defined 5950:06:0B:00:00:C3:4A:0050:06:0B:00:00:C3:4D:FFHP Defined 6050:06:0B:00:00:C3:4E:0050:06:0B:00:00:C3:51:FFHP Defined 6150:06:0B:00:00:C3:52:0050:06:0B:00:00:C3:55:FFHP Defined 6250:06:0B:00:00:C3:56:0050:06:0B:00:00:C3:59:FFHP Defined 6350:06:0B:00:00:C3:5A:0050:06:0B:00:00:C3:5D:FFHP Defined 6450:06:0B:00:00:C3:5E:0050:06:0B:00:00:C3:61:FF

Virtual Connect Enterprise Manager uses a different set of MAC Addresses and WWNs.  It has the ability to hand out over 131,000 addresses and manages more than one Virtual Connect Domain.  (from the HP Support Docs) VCEM Defined MAC RangeMAC StartMAC EndVCEM Defined00-21-5A-9B-00-0000-21-5A-9C-FF-FF

VCEM Defined WWN RangeWWN StartWWN EndVCEM Defined50:01:43:80:02:A3:00:0050:01:43:80:02:A4:FF:FF

Example Zoning config (Cisco)

switch(config)#fcalias name Blade1 vsan 100 switch(config-fcalias)# member wwnn 50:06:0B:00:00:C2:62:00 switch(config-fclias)# exit

switch(config)#fcalias name Blade2 vsan 100 switch(config-fcalias)# member wwnn 50:06:0B:00:00:C2:62:02 switch(config-fclias)# exit

switch(config)# zone name Bay1-SP1 vsan 100 switch(config-zone)# member fcalias Blade1 switch(config-zone)# member fcalias StorageProcessor1 switch(config-zone)# exit switch(config)#

switch(config)# zoneset BladeSet vsan 100 switch(config-zoneset)# member Bay1-SP1 switch(config-zoneset)# member Bay2-SP1 switch(config-zoneset)# exit

switch(config)# zoneset activate name BladeSet vsan 100

switch(config)# write mem