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Each controller provides two 1 Gb full-duplex interfaces for connecting to one of the Ethernet-compatible
I/O modules in I/O-module bays 1 and 2, which enables simultaneous transmission and reception of
data on the Ethernet local area network (LAN).
The routing from an Ethernet controller to an I/O-module bay varies, depending on the type of
BladeCenter that the blade is installed in. For example, each Ethernet controller on the system board is
routed to a different I/O module in I/O module bay 1 or module bay 2 of the BladeCenter H or HT.
See "Blade server Ethernet controller enumeration" for information about how to determine the routing
from an Ethernet controller to an I/O-module bay for the blade server.
Note: Other types of blade servers, such as the BladeCenter HS20 Type 8678 blade server, in the same
BladeCenter unit as the PS703 and PS704 blade servers might have different Ethernet controller routing.
See the documentation for a blade server for information.
You must install a device driver for the blade server operating system to address the Ethernet controllers.
For device drivers and information about configuring Ethernet controllers, see the Broadcom NetXtreme
Gigabit Ethernet Software CD that comes with the blade server. For updated information about configuring
the controllers, see http://www.ibm.com/systems/support/.
The Ethernet controllers in your blade server support failover, which provides automatic redundancy for
the Ethernet controllers. Failover capabilities vary per BladeCenter unit.
Without failover, only one Ethernet controller can be connected from each server to each virtual LAN or
subnet. With failover, you can configure more than one Ethernet controller from each server to attach to
the same virtual LAN or subnet. Either one of the integrated Ethernet controllers can be configured as the
primary Ethernet controller. If you have configured the controllers for failover and the primary link fails,
the secondary controller takes over. When the primary link is restored, the Ethernet traffic switches back
to the primary Ethernet controller. See the operating-system device-driver documentation for information
about configuring for failover.
Important: To support failover on the blade server Ethernet controllers, the Ethernet switch modules in
the BladeCenter unit must have identical configurations.
Blade server Ethernet controller enumeration
The enumeration of the Ethernet controllers in a blade server is operating-system dependent. You can
verify the Ethernet controller designations that a blade server uses through the operating-system settings.
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Chapter 5. Configuring
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