Contents

1 Safety information· 1-1

1.1 General operating safety· 1-1

1.2 Electrical safety· 1-1

1.3 ESD prevention· 1-1

2 About the NIC·· 2-1

2.1 Overview· 2-1

2.2 Appearance· 2-1

2.3 Specifications· 2-1

2.3.1 Product Specifications· 2-2

2.3.2 Specifications· 2-2

3 Feature Introduction· 3-1

3.1 Supported Features· 3-1

3.2 Function Introduction· 3-1

4 Software and Hardware Compatibility Relationship· 4-1

4.1 Supported Operating Systems· 4-1

4.2 Blade Servers Supported by the NIC· 4-1

4.3 ICMs Supported by NIC· 4-3

4.3.1 Compatibility between the NIC and ICM·· 4-3

4.3.2 Connection Between the NIC and ICM·· 4-4

4.4 Network Application Logic Diagram·· 4-6

5 Configuring the NIC·· 5-1

5.1 Port Correspondence between the NIC and ICM·· 5-1

5.2 Identifying NIC Ports under OS· 5-1

5.2.1 Linux Operating Systems· 5-1

5.2.2 Windows Operating Systems· 5-2

5.3 Installing and Uninstalling the NIC Driver under OS· 5-2

5.3.1 Linux Operating Systems· 5-3

5.3.2 Windows Operating Systems· 5-4

5.4 Configuring FC SAN· 5-7

5.4.1 Linux Operating Systems· 5-7

5.4.2 Windows Operating Systems· 5-8

5.4.3 Installing a Linux OS· 5-14

5.5 Configuring NPIV· 5-18

5.5.1 Installing the elxocm Tool 5-18

5.5.2 NPIV Configuration Steps· 5-20

6 Acronyms and Abbreviations· 6-1

 

1 Safety information

To avoid bodily injury or device damage, read the following information carefully before you operate the network adapter.

1.1  General operating safety

To avoid bodily injury or damage to the device, follow these guidelines when you operate the network adapter:

·     Only H3C authorized or professional engineers are allowed to install or replace the network adapter.

·     Before installing or replacing the network adapter, stop all services, power off the blade server, and then remove the blade server.

·     When disassembling, transporting, or placing the blade server, do not use excessive force. Make sure you use even force and move the device slowly.

·     Place the blade server on a clean, stable workbench or floor for servicing.

·     To avoid being burnt, allow the blade server and its internal modules to cool before touching them.

1.2  Electrical safety

Clear the work area of possible electricity hazards, such as ungrounded chassis, missing safety grounds, and wet work area.

1.3  ESD prevention

Electrostatic charges that build up on people and other conductors might damage or shorten the lifespan of the network adapter.

1. Preventing electrostatic discharge

To prevent electrostatic damage, follow these guidelines:

·     Transport or store the network adapter in an antistatic bag.

·     Keep the network adapters in antistatic bags until they arrive at an ESD-protected area.

·     Place the network adapter on an antistatic workbench before removing it from its antistatic bag.

·     Install the network adapter immediately after you remove it from its antistatic bag.

·     Avoid touching pins, leads, or circuitry.

·     Put away the removed network adapter in an antistatic bag immediately and keep it secure for future use.

2. Grounding methods to prevent electrostatic discharge

The following are grounding methods that you can use to prevent electrostatic discharge:

·     Wear an ESD wrist strap and make sure it makes good skin contact and is reliably grounded.

·     Take adequate personal grounding measures, including wearing antistatic clothing and static dissipative shoes.

·     Use conductive field service tools.

Use a portable field service kit with a folding static-dissipating work mat

2 About the NIC

 

2.1  Overview

NIC-FC730i-Mb-2*32G (hereinafter referred to as FC730i) is an FC NIC with two 32G FC ports. It provides network interfaces for blade servers to connect to ICM slots, and is applicable to B16000 blade enclosure. FC730i exchanges data with blade servers via x8 bandwidth PCIe lanes and connects to the ICM through two 32G FC ports via the mid-backplane. It supports applications such as FC SAN, FC Boot and NPIV.

2.2  Appearance

Figure 2-1 shows the appearance of FC730i. It applies to B16000 blade servers. For the specific installation position, see 4.2  Blade Servers Supported by the NIC.

Figure 2-1 Appearance of FC730i

 

2.3  Specifications

This section introduces the product specifications and technical parameters of the NIC.

2.3.1  Product Specifications

Table 2-1 Product Specifications

Properties	Description
Basic properties
NIC type	FC NIC
Chip model	LPe32002
Max. power consumption	20 W
Input voltage	12 V DC
Data channel bus	PCIe3.0 x8
Network properties
Number and type of user ports	2*32G
User port transfer rate	32 Gb/s
Full duplex/Half duplex	Full duplex
Compatible standards	FC-PI-4, FC-PI-5, FC-PI-6, FC-FS-3, FC-LS-2, FC-GS-6, FC-DA, FC-DA-2, FC-SP-2, FCP-4, SPC-4, SBC-3, SSC-4, FC-PH, FC-PH-2, FC-PH-3, FC-PI, FC-PI-2, FC-PI-3, FC-FS, FC-GS-2/3/4/5, FCP-2/3, FC-HBA, FC-TAPE, FC-MI, SPC-3, SBC-2, SSC-2, SSC-3

 

2.3.2  Specifications

Table 2-2 Specifications

Category	Item	Description
Physical specifications	Dimensions (H × W × D)	25.05 mm x 61.60 mm x 95.00 mm
Environmental specifications	Temperature	Operating temperature: 5°C to 45°C
		Storage temperature: -40°C to 70°C
	Humidity	·     Operating humidity: 8% to 90%RH (non-condensing) ·     Storage humidity: 5% to 95%RH (non-condensing)
	Altitude	·     Operating altitude: -60 m to +5000 m (The allowed maximum temperature decreases by 0.33°C as the altitude increases by 100 m from 900 m.) ·     Storage altitude: -60 m to +5000 m

 

 

3 Feature Introduction

3.1  Supported Features

This section introduces the features supported by the FC730i NIC.

Table 3-1 NIC features

Feature	Supported
FC SAN	√
FC Boot	√
N_Port_ID Virtualization (NPIV)	√

 

3.2  Function Introduction

1. FC SAN

The FC730i NIC supports FC SANs.

FC SAN is a remote high-speed storage technology. An FC SAN usually consists of a RAID connected to a fiber channel. It uses a scalable network topology to provide multiple selectable data switches between any nodes within the SAN by adopting direct connection of an optical channel with high transmission rate. It centralizes data storage management within a relatively independent storage area network. It is actually a technology that integrates storage devices, connection devices and interfaces in a high-speed network. It undertakes data storage tasks and isolates them from LAN services. Storage data streams do not occupy the service network bandwidth.

2. FC Boot

The FC730i NIC supports FC Boot.

FC Boot technology is an extension based on FC SAN technology. It is used to boot operating systems from remote storage devices through FC NICs and SANs. The premise is that the operating system has been installed into the storage device through the FC SAN. FC Boot enables local diskless boot of the operating system, achieve secure, high-speed and reliable unified management by using storage devices.

3. NPIV

The FC730i NIC supports NPIV.

When working in FCoE mode, its ports support NPIV. Each port supports a maximum of 31 N_Port_IDs for NPIV. In addition to the physical port's own N_Port_ID, each port supports a maximum of 32 N_Port_IDs.

The main function of NPIV is to virtualize multiple interface N_Port IDs on one physical port N of the FC NIC, and to associate any F_Port on the FC switch to these multiple N_Port IDs. In this way, systems in different partitions on the virtualization platform can share one FC NIC physical port.

 

4 Software and Hardware Compatibility Relationship

4.1  Supported Operating Systems

For the compatibility relationship between the NIC and OS, see OS compatibility query tool.

4.2  Blade Servers Supported by the NIC

Table 4-1 describes the blade server models supported by the NIC and their installation positions.

Table 4-1 Blade servers supported by FC730i

Model of Blade Server	Model of Blade Server	Number of Mezz NIC Slots	Installation Position	Diagram
H3C UniServer B5700 G3	2-way half-width blade server	3	Mezz 1, Mezz 2 and Mezz 3	NIC installation position on a 2-way half-width blade server
H3C UniServer B5800 G3	2-way full-width blade server	3	Mezz 1, Mezz 2 and Mezz 3	NIC installation position on a 2-way full-width blade server
H3C UniServer B7800 G3	4-way full-width blade server	6	Mezz 1, Mezz 2, Mezz 3, Mezz 4, Mezz 5 and Mezz 6	NIC installation position on a 4-way full-width blade server
H3C UniServer B5700 G5	2-way half-width blade server	3	Mezz 1, Mezz 2 and Mezz 3	NIC installation position on a 2-way half-width blade server

 

Figure 4-1 NIC installation position on a 2-way half-width blade server

 

Figure 4-2 NIC installation position on a 2-way full-width blade server

 

Figure 4-3 NIC installation position on a 4-way full-width blade server

 

4.3  ICMs Supported by NIC

4.3.1  Compatibility between the NIC and ICM

 

The FC730i NIC supports the following ICMs:

·     H3C UniServer BT716F

·     H3C UniServer BX608FE

4.3.2  Connection Between the NIC and ICM

 

For the detailed connection between the Mezz NIC and ICM, you can query with Networking query tool.

FC730i NIC is connected to the ICM through the mid-backplane. When it is installed on the 2-way half-width or 2-way full-width blade server, the connection between it and the ICM slots is shown in Figure 4-4. Figure 4-6 shows the ICM slots.

·     The NIC in Mezz 1 position is connected to the ICMs in slots 1 and 4.

·     The NIC in Mezz 2 position is connected to the ICMs in slots 2 and 5.

·     The NIC in Mezz 3 position is connected to the ICMs in slots 3 and 6.

Figure 4-4 Logical diagram of the connection relationship between the Mezz NIC slots and ICMs for 2-way half-width and 2-way full-width blade servers

 

When the FC730i is installed on a 4-way full-width blade server, the connection between it and the ICM slots is shown in Figure 4-5. Figure 4-6 shows the ICM slots.

·     NICs in Mezz 1 and Mezz 4 positions are connected to the ICMs in slots 1 and 4.

·     NICs in Mezz 2 and Mezz 5 positions are connected to the ICMs in slots 2 and 5.

·     NICs in Mezz 3 and Mezz 6 positions are connected to the ICMs in slots 3 and 6.

Figure 4-5 Logical diagram of the connection relationship between the Mezz NIC slots and ICMs for 4-way full-width blade servers

 

Figure 4-6 ICM slot

 

4.4  Network Application Logic Diagram

FC730i can be connected to the internal ports of the ICM, and each port provides 32G FC service applications. The external port of the ICM connects to the FC SAN, enabling blade servers with Mezz NICs to communicate with the storage network.

Figure 4-7 Connection between the Mezz NIC and ICM

 

5 Configuring the NIC

 

5.1  Port Correspondence between the NIC and ICM

For the port correspondence between the Mezz NIC and ICM, check it at ICM Management > Port Mapping in the OM web UI, or query with Networking query tool.

5.2  Identifying NIC Ports under OS

This section describes how to confirm the port of FC730i is identified under OS.

CentOS 7.4 and Windows Server 2012 R2 are used as examples.

5.2.1  Linux Operating Systems

(1)     Run the lspci | grep LPe32000 command to check the PCI information of the FC730i NIC. The two PCI devices correspond to the two ports of the NIC, as shown in Figure 5-1.

Figure 5-1 Viewing the PCI information

 

(2)     Run the ls /sys/class/fc_host/ command to check if there are two host folders created under the fc_host directory.

Figure 5-2 Checking the host folder under the fc_host directory

 

(3)     Run the cat /sys/class/fc_host/host*/symbolic_name command to check symbolic_name of each host folder. If there are two host folder with symbolic_name prefix of Emulex Lpm32002, it means the ports of FC730i NIC are identified correctly, as shown in Figure 5-3. If the corresponding two host folders cannot be found, then update the driver and identify them again.

Figure 5-3 Identifying ports

 

5.2.2  Windows Operating Systems

(1)     Click the Windows button to enter the Start menu.

(2)     Choose Control Panel > Hardware > Device Manager to access Device Manager.

(3)     Check if Emulex LightPulse HBA-Storport Miniport Driver is available in Storage controllers, as shown in Figure 5-4. If it is available, then it means that the FC730i NIC is identified correctly. Otherwise, install the latest driver by referring to 5.3  and Uninstalling the NIC Driver under OS and then identify it again.

Figure 5-4 Viewing device management

 

5.3  Installing and Uninstalling the NIC Driver under OS

FC730i NIC uses different drivers on different systems, and the installation method also varies. The following takes CentOS 7.4 and Windows Server 2012 R2 as an example.

5.3.1  Linux Operating Systems

1. Checking the Current NIC Driver

Run the modinfo lpfc command to check the current driver version of the system, as shown in Figure 5-5.

Figure 5-5 Checking the driver version

 

2. Installing the Driver

·     Installing the source package in .tar.gz format

If the obtained driver is a source code zip package, you need to compile and install it. Follow the steps below:

(1)     Run the tar -zxvf elx-lpfc-dd-rhel7--<ver>.tar.gz command to decompress the source package.

(2)     Run the cd elx-lpfc-dd-rhel7-<ver>/ command to go to the source code package directory.

(3)     Run the ./elx_lpfc_install.sh command to compile and install the driver, as shown in Figure 5-5.

Figure 5-6 Installing the driver

 

(4)     After the driver installation is finished, reboot the system to make the new driver take effect.

a.     Run the modinfo lpfc command again to check the driver version and make sure the new driver has taken effect.

3. Uninstalling the Driver

To uninstall the driver installed with the source package, go to the elx-lpfc-dd-rhel7-<ver> directory of the source package again, and then run the ./extra/build.sh remove command to uninstall the driver.

5.3.2  Windows Operating Systems

1. Checking the Current NIC Driver

(1)     Click the Windows button to enter the Start menu.

(2)     Click Control Panel > Hardware > Device Manager to access Device Manager, as shown in Figure 5-7.

Figure 5-7 Accessing Device Manager

 

(3)     In the page shown below, right-click the Fibre Channel Adapter port corresponding to the FC730i NIC and select the Properties/Driver tab to view the driver information of the NIC.

Figure 5-8 Device Manager

 

Figure 5-9 Checking the driver version

 

2. Installing the Driver

(1)     Obtain the relevant driver from H3C website.

(2)     Double-click to run the driver in .exe format. Follow the prompts to execute the next step to start installing the driver, as shown in Figure 5-10.

Figure 5-10 Installing the driver

 

After the installation is complete, reboot the system to make the driver take effect.

3. Uninstalling the Driver

(1)     Click the Windows button to enter the Start menu.

(2)     Choose Control Panel > Hardware > Device Manager to access Device Manager.

(3)     Right-click the NIC from which you want to uninstall the driver, select the Properties/Driver tab, and click the Uninstall button, as shown in Figure 5-11.

Figure 5-11 Uninstalling the Driver

 

5.4  Configuring FC SAN

5.4.1  Linux Operating Systems

(1)     Configure the FC function on the FC storage device and ICM to ensure that the FC links are available and that the relevant port WWPN can be registered correctly. For the method of configuring FC on the ICM, see the related configuration command manual.

(2)     Run the lsmod|grep lpfc command to confirm whether the NIC driver has been loaded. If lpfc is available, it indicates that the NIC driver has been loaded, as shown in Figure 5-12.

Figure 5-12 Confirming the NIC driver

 

(3)     Run the ls /sys/class/fc_host command to check if the port of FC730i NIC has been initialized correctly. Run the cat /sys/class/fc_host/host*/port_state command to check if the port status is "Link Up", as shown in Figure 5-13.

Figure 5-13 Checking the port status

 

(4)     After linking the storage host and the FC port of FC730i on the storage server, you can run the lsblk command under the system to check if there is a new disk. If there is a new disk, it means FC SAN has been identified and can be used normally. If not, run the echo 1 > /sys/class/fc_host/hostnum/issue_lip command to refresh fc_host manually (where hostnum means FC port number), and then run the lsblk command, as shown in Figure 5-14.

Figure 5-14 Identifying a new disk

 

5.4.2  Windows Operating Systems

Configure the FC function on the FC storage device and ICM to ensure that the FC links are available and that the relevant port WWPN can be registered correctly. For the method of configuring FC on the ICM, see the related configuration command manual.

(1)     Choose Control Panel > Hardware > Device Manager, right-click the FC adapter under Storage controllers, and select Scan for hardware changes, as shown in Figure 5-15.

(1)

Figure 5-15 Scanning for FCoE network storage

 

(2)     Right-click the Windows icon at the bottom left corner of the system, and open Disk Management. You can see a new disk with "Unknown" status, as shown in Figure 5-16.

Figure 5-16 Disk Management interface

 

(3)     As shown in Figure 5-17, right-click the disk name and select Online to bring the disk online.

Figure 5-17 Bringing the disk online

 

(4)     As shown in Figure 5-18, right-click the disk name again and select Initialize Disk to initialize the disk.

Figure 5-18 Initializing the disk

 

(5)     As shown in Figure 5-19_Ref535942655, right-click the Unallocated area of the disk and split the disk as prompted.

Figure 5-19 Splitting a disk

 

(6)     When volume-splitting is complete, the disk status is as shown Figure 5-20.

Figure 5-20 Volume-splitting is completed

 

(7)     As shown in Figure 5-21, open My Computer, and you can see the new partition. FC SAN configuration is complete.

Figure 5-21 Identifying the network disk

 

(8)     Configuring the NIC under BIOS

(9)     Configure the FC function on the connected FC storage device and ICM separately to ensure that the FC links are available and that the relevant port WWPN can be registered correctly. Only FC function configuration on the NIC is described here. For the method of configuring FC on the ICM, see the related configuration command manual.

During the server boot process, press Delete or Esc when prompted to enter the BIOS Setup interface.

a.     As shown in Figure 5-22, choose Advanced > H3C LPm32002-H3C 2-Port 32Gb Fibre Channe Mezz Ca – FC. Select one of the ports and press Enter to display the FC730i NIC configuration page.

Figure 5-22 Entering the FC730i NIC configuration page

 

(10)     Select Configure HBA and Boot Parameters and press Enter to display the parameter configuration page, as shown in Figure 5-23. Select the Boot Target Scan Method column and select Boot Path Discovered Targets, as shown in Figure 5-24. Then, save the settings and reboot the system.

Figure 5-23 Configuring HBA

 

Figure 5-24 Configuring Boot Target Scan Method

 

(11)     After reboot, go to the BIOS page again and select Scan for Fibre Devices. Check if the storage device has been scanned. If not scanned, check if the links are available.

Figure 5-25 Scanning the storage device

 

Figure 5-26 Identified storage device

 

(12)     After scanning the storage device, go back to the NIC configuration page. Select Add BootDevice to add the device, and press Enter. The device will be automatically added after 30 seconds.

Figure 5-27 Adding the scanned storage device

 

(13)     Press F4 to save the settings and reboot the system.

5.4.3  Installing a Linux OS

Mount the Linux system image (such as Red Hat). Boot from the CDROM and go to the system installation configuration page. Generally, Linux systems come with drivers for the FC730i NIC by default. Therefore, you can find that the network disks on the FC SAN storage server have been identified by the system. Select the SAN disk and continue to complete the system installation.

Figure 5-28 Installing a Linux OS

 

(2)     Installing a Windows OS

(3)     Mount the system image to install the OS (for example, Windows Server 2012 R2).

a.     Go to the page shown in Figure 5-29. Configure the installation type as Custom to install a new OS.

Figure 5-29 Installing a new OS

 

If the OS comes with the FC730i NIC driver ( such as Windows Server 2016), then the SAN disk assigned by the storage server will be displayed in the disk list, as shown in Figure 5-30. Select the disk, and click Next to continue the installation.

Figure 5-30 Selecting the disk

 

(4)     If the OS lacks the FC730i NIC driver, the SAN disk assigned by the storage server cannot be identified. Follow the steps below to load the driver.

a.     Mount the NIC driver file to the host.

b.     Click Load driver on the page shown in Figure 5-30. Click Browse, and select the folder where the NIC driver is located, as shown in Figure 5-31.

Figure 5-31 Loading the driver

 

c.     Select the identified driver file and click Next to install the driver.

Figure 5-32 Installing the Driver

 

(5)     After driver installation is complete, the SAN storage disk will be identified. Continue to install the OS.

5.5  Configuring NPIV

5.5.1  Installing the elxocm Tool

(1)     Obtain the elxocm tool from the H3C website.

(2)     Copy the elxocm tool to the OS and install it.

·     Linux Operating Systems

a.     Copy the elxocm toolkit to the installation directory and run the tar -zxvf elxocm-rhel7-<version>.x86_64.tgz command to decompress it.

b.     Go to the tool directory and run the ./install.sh command to install the tool. Select default installation.

Figure 5-33 Installing the elxocm tool under Linux

 

Figure 5-34 Selecting default installation

 

c.     After installation, run the /usr/sbin/ocmanager/ocmanager command to start the tool.

Figure 5-35 Starting the elxocm tool

 

2. Windows Operating Systems

a.     Double-click the .exe program to install the elxocm tool, as shown in the following figure.

Figure 5-36 Installing the elxocm tool on Windows

 

b.     After the installation is complete, go to the installation directory to start the OneCommandManager startup tool, as shown in Figure 5-37.

Figure 5-37 Starting the OneCommandManager startup tool

 

5.5.2  NPIV Configuration Steps

 

(1)     Select Group Adapters by Virtual Port in the View column.

Figure 5-38 Selecting Group Adapters by Virtual Port

 

(2)     After option selection, the page shown in Figure 5-39 is displayed. You can create a virtual port in the right pane and choose to set wwpn automatically or manually. Click Create Virtual Port to create a virtual port.

Figure 5-39 Creating a virtual port

 

(3)     After creation, you can see the newly created virtual port in the left pane.

Figure 5-40 Created virtual port

 

(4)     To delete a virtual port, select it in the left pane, and then click Remove Virtual Port in the right pane.

Figure 5-41 Deleting a virtual port

 

 

6 Acronyms and Abbreviations

Table 6-1 Acronyms and Abbreviations

Acronyms and Abbreviations	Explanation
F
FC	Fiber Channel
FCoE	Fiber Channel Over Ethernet
N
NPIV	N_Port_ID Virtualization
OS	Operating System
P
PCIe	Peripheral Component Interconnect Express
R
RAID	Redundant Arrays of Independent Drives
S
SAN	Storage Area Network