Virtual Connect architecture

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Virtual Connect architecture

Hardware for virtualization

Gold Award:

Virtual Connect architecture

Virtual Connect architecture

Server virtualization simplifies server and operating system management in countless ways, but one area that has remained stubbornly resistant to improvement is managing a server's physical hardware -- specifically its network and storage connections. With its Virtual Connect technology, Hewlett-Packard Co. made serious inroads toward alleviating the problem of managing network and storage connections in a virtual architecture and has garnered our judges' vote for Gold.

In a nutshell, Virtual Connect is a novel approach to connecting and adapting server, local area network (LAN) and storage area network (SAN) domains with the aim of reducing cables and minimizing the number of switches IT administrators need to manage.

Available for HP BladeSystem servers, Virtual Connect consists of Ethernet and Fibre Channel virtualization modules that define server connection profiles for each server bay. This profile establishes and maintains Media Access Control (MAC) addresses for all Network Interface Controllers, the World Wide Names (WWNs) for all host bus adapters (HBAs), and SAN boot parameters. When a server is changed, its configuration and connection profile stay constant. When a new server takes its place, the same profile is assigned.

In this way, Virtual Connect decouples servers and the network so infrastructure changes don't require an administrator to make manual changes to LAN and SAN configurations, reducing the time it takes to reconfigure a server from hours or days to a matter of minutes.

HP Virtual Connect architecture components
HP Virtual Connect Fibre Channel module	HP Virtual Connect Ethernet module
HP Virtual Connect Enterprise Manager

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