Gbe Interconnect Kit; Modular Hot-Swappable Design; Support For Copper And Fiber-Based Networks; Interconnect Switch Architecture - HP 279720-B21 - ProLiant BL p-Class F-GbE Interconnect Overview

GbE Interconnect Kit

The GbE Interconnect Kit contains two redundant, hot-swappable GbE Interconnect Switches and two
4-port LAN interconnect modules. Users first insert the LAN interconnect modules into the top-left and
top-right interconnect bays at the rear of the server blade enclosure and then install the interconnect
switches into the interconnect bays from the front of the enclosure (Figure 1). The GbE Interconnect
Switches consolidate the 32 Ethernet ports from the server blades into one to twelve external ports:
four Gigabit Ethernet uplink ports (uplinks) and four 10/100T uplinks on the two LAN interconnect
modules and four 10/100T ports on the front of the switches. If desired, users can configure the GbE
Interconnect Kit to concentrate the 32 Ethernet signals into a single external Ethernet port (see the
section titled "Maximizing network cable reduction").
Figure 1. Installation of LAN interconnect modules and GbE Interconnect Switches

Modular hot-swappable design

To enhance the system serviceability and simply upgrades, both the GbE Interconnect Switch and the
LAN interconnect modules are hot swappable. This modular design provides two key benefits:
The GbE Interconnect Switches can be quickly and easily removed and replaced from the front of
the rack without the need for re-cabling.
Each GbE Interconnect Switch can support copper or fiber Ethernet network uplinks by using
different LAN interconnect modules.

Support for copper and fiber-based networks

Two interconnect kit options are available: the C-GbE Interconnect Kit for copper-based networks and
the F-GbE Interconnect Kit for fiber-based networks. These kits are identical with exception of the
interconnect modules, which are described in the "Interconnect switch architecture" section.

Interconnect switch architecture

Each GbE Interconnect Kit provides an end-to-end, fully redundant architecture that maximizes
network availability (Figure 2). Redundant network adapters are routed from each server blade bay to
each hot-swappable interconnect switch (four NICs total per server bay) creating a fully meshed
topology to the external Ethernet network. The interconnect switches are cooled by on-board
redundant fans and they are powered by two independent feeds via the redundant, N+N hot-plug
ProLiant BL p-Class power enclosure.
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