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2 Virtual-IO Manager - Introduction
This chapter provides a general introduction to the concept of the Virtual-IO
Manager (VIOM).
2.1 Virtual addresses
Physical MAC addresses and WWN addresses are stored on the network
card or in the host bus adapter (HBA) of a server blade or PRIMERGY rack
server. If a server blade or PRIMERGY rack server has to be exchanged or
the operating system and/or the application has to be started on another
server, usually the LAN or SAN network has to be reconfigured. This means
that whilst the MAC address and the WWN addresses identify a physical
server blade, several administrators have to be involved.
To separate the administration areas from each other, it is necessary to keep
the I/O parameters (MAC and WWN) outwardly constant.
Using virtual addresses instead of the MAC addresses or WWN addresses
stored on the NIC (network interface card) or in the HBA, the addressing
remains constant even when a server blade is exchanged at the slot or a
PRIMERGY rack server is replaced by another one.
2.2 Special connection blade for blade server
Up to now, blade servers have been used essentially to connect the LAN
(Local Area Network) and Fibre Channel ports (FC ports) of individual server
blades to the LAN and SAN networks (SAN - Storage Area Network) using
switch blades or pass-thru blades, which are inserted in the blade chassis. It
is the responsibility of the LAN or SAN administrators to manage these
switches. This leads to an overlap of the different administration areas.
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