Today you can get nearly everything as a virtual appliance. So even a router. Usually virtual router appliances are used for the same purposes as physical router: Connecting different networks. A router is nothing more then a piece of hardware and software. Due to this fact a router can be easily deployed as a virtual appliance. So where do you find router typically? In you datacenter? Yes, but in a datacenter you will deal typically with layer-3 switches rather than a classical router.

The HP 4Gb Fibre Channel Pass-Thru Module for c-Class BladeSystem (PN 403626-B21) is a interconnect module for the HP BladeSystem c-Class. It’s a simple pass-thru module, which provides a 1:1 non-switched, non-blocking paths between the server blade and a Fibre Channel Fabric. There are several Fibre Channel interconnect modules, like the Virtual Connect 8 Gb Fibre Channel modules (20 or 24 ports) or the Brocade and Cisco 8Gb SAN Switches for HP BladeSystem c-Class.

After nearly 5 months released HP a new version of the HP Service Pack for ProLiant (SPP). The latest release is now 2014.02. What is the HP Service Pack for ProLiant? Back in the days there were two software products to update a ProLiant server with the latest firmware, drivers & agents. HP Smart Update Firmware DVD HP ProLiant Support Pack the first one was bootable for offline firmware, and also contained Online ROM flash components for online firmware updates.

About two weeks after the release of DataCore SANsymphony-V 9.0 PSP4 Update 2, DataCore announces Update 3. This is a really short release cycle… DataCore fixed three issues in Update 3. This is an excerpt from the release notes: Problem: SANsymphony 9.0 PSP4 Update2 failed to update configurations with shared pools on DataCore Servers running SANsymphony 9.0 PSP3, PSP3 U1 or PSP3 U2. Cause: An upgrade script run during installation expected a cmdlet parameter that wasn‟t supported in these versions.

Note This article is a bit Brocade-minded, especially with regard to the terminology. Redundant paths in a network are always a curse. Always? Not always. It depends on the protocol and the kind of network. In a Ethernet network you have Spanning Tree which eliminates redundant paths and builds a loop free network. What about redundant paths in a storage network? When iSCSI and NFS is used, then usually TCP/IP is used on top of Ethernet.

While I was poking around in my Twitter timeline, a tweet from Victor van den Berg (VCDX #121) got my attention. @Mandivs I'm suprised W2K12R2 MSCS doesn't support in guest iSCSI anymore...You have to use vSphere 5.5 RDM's — Viktor van den Berg (@viktoriousss) February 11, 2014 My first though “What a step backwards!”. I have installed a bunch of Microsoft clusters in Virtual Infrastructure and vSphere enviroments and most times it was PITA.

Note I work for a HP partner and a HP fanboy for about 15 years. It’s only a small note in the HP support portal, but this small note has a large impact. Starting February 2014, an active warranty or contract is required to access HP ProLiant Server firmware updates. View your existing contracts & warranties or get help linking contracts or warranties to your HP Support Center user profile. To obtain additional support coverage, please contact your local HP office, HP representative, or visit Contact HP.

Information Beginning with the TS251R004 firmware release, the HP MSA VAAI plug-in is no longer supported as the HP MSA controller firmware now uses T10 compliance in an ESX Environment documented in TS251R004. The HP P2000 G3 and the HP MSA 2040 are two widely used entry-level storage arrays. The P2000 G3 is VAAI capable since firmware version T230. But, contrary to the HP MSA 2040, you have to install the software plug-in for VMware VAAI if you use the P2000 G3.

Today I was onsite at a customer to bring a tiny VMware vSphere cluster to life (HP BladeSystem c7000 with 7 HP ProLiant BL460 Gen8). Normally no big deal, but it started with two unavailable Onboard Administrator (OA) network interfaces. I switched from static ip addresses to DHCP, but I had no luck. I noticed that both interfaces were available if I connect my notebook directly to the interfaces. I even noticed that the Insight Display was unresponsive after connecting one or both OA to the network.

Yesterday I got an e-mail from DataCore in which Update 2 for DataCore SANsymphony-V PSP4 was announced. DataCore found a critical issue in all releases since SANsymphony-V 9.0 PSP3. According to the releases notes a situation can occur, in which storage space reclamation and migration can happen at the same time. This can lead to a situation in which two storage allocation unit (SAU) can point to the same disk offset.