How many vNIC on B200 M3 with VIC 1240 + extender ?

[jakub.dworniczak]

Hi,

Asking to confirm my resoning/understanding of B200 M3 with VIC 1240 + expander architecture.

I'm going to implement vSphere 5.1 on running UCS B200 M3 blades equiped with VIC 1240 + mezzanine expanders.

As I understood documentation, all physical links per fabric between host and IOM are automatically agregated by UCS, so if I create only one UCS vNIC per fabric, ESXi should 'see' vmnic with 40 Gbps capability (with 10Gbps limitation for single 'flow').

Saying this other way - there is no need to create 8 vNICs to utilize all 8 physical links?

Have a good day!

[kedevara]

Hello Jakub,

Please find the below likes, Hope this will help you.

1) http://www.cisco.com/en/US/prod/collateral/ps10277/ps11551/data_sheet_c78-677682.html

2) http://www.cisco.com/en/US/prod/collateral/ps10265/ps10280/ps12288/data_sheet_c78-700625.htmlhttp://www.cisco.com/en/US/prod/collateral/ps10265/ps10280/ps12288/data_sheet_c78-700625.html

3) http://www.cisco.com/en/US/docs/unified_computing/ucs/sw/configuration_limits/2.1/b_UCS_Configuration_Limits_2_1.html#reference_6A3C0158393549E5A3E3F87002234145

Regards

keshav

[jakub.dworniczak]

Hi Keshava,

Thank you - I saw the documentation you provided - I can see that there is a 'hardware port-channel' on figures, but I still can't find confirmation that hypervisor will be able to see aggregate speed of physical links (for example table for VIC 1280 shows: 'performance: 10-Gbps line rate per port' - but is it physical port or vNIC ?

Regards,

Jakub

[Eric Rose · Accepted solution]

With the VIC 1240 and port expander and 2208 the ESX hypervisor will be able to see a total link aggregation of 40G NIC.

[jakub.dworniczak]

Thanks Eric, this answers my question - I'll confirm it soon when HW arrives.

Have a great day

[sychisht]

Hi Eric, but with how many vNICs. You didn't mention here. Please advise?

[Walter Dey]

The specification of the VIC1240

http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/products/collateral/interfaces-modules/ucs-virtual-interface-card-1240/data_sheet_c78-699459.pdf

Number of interfaces: 256 virtual interfaces (approximately 8 are reserved for internal use; other factors such as the OS and hypervisor may limit this number further)

The number of vifs depend on FI model (61xx or 62xx) AND the number of links between IOM and FI (see attachment)