HP NC522SFP 10GbE card and 'virtual nics'

[localzuk]

We have a server which has one of these cards in it, to give it 10GbE connectivity to our core. However, it has presented itself as 4 x 2.5Gbps virtual NICs in Windows. How on Earth do I get this thing to work how I want it? ie. 1 10GbE card? Its a storage server, so iSCSI will go across this link.

[localzuk]

Edit: Not the NC522SFP, its the NC552SFP (Using Emulex tech, not QLogic).

[CyberNerd]

We've got some 10GB NICs that have virtual interfaces. They are great for things like iscsi where you want jumboframes going over the iscsi link, but not over the regular network.

You should be able to tun off the virtual nics in the bios (I can on ours) but I think you should persevere and setup resilient links if your switch is able to take virtual fabric.

 

edit. IIRC our cards are emulex too, and the switch is BNT.

Edited November 13, 2012 by CyberNerd

[localzuk]

We've got some 10GB NICs that have virtual interfaces. They are great for things like iscsi where you want jumboframes going over the iscsi link, but not over the regular network.

You should be able to tun off the virtual nics in the bios (I can on ours) but I think you should persevere and setup resilient links if your switch is able to take virtual fabric.

 

edit. IIRC our cards are emulex too, and the switch is BNT.

 

It doesn't make any sense for us. Our server has 4x 1Gbps ports already, which we can use for admin connectivity etc... The 10GbE is purely for hyper-v machines to connect via.

[CyberNerd]

It doesn't make any sense for us. Our server has 4x 1Gbps ports already, which we can use for admin connectivity etc... The 10GbE is purely for hyper-v machines to connect via.

 

look in the BIOS/UEFI - you should be able to turn off the virtual nic functionality.

[localzuk]

look in the BIOS/UEFI - you should be able to turn off the virtual nic functionality.

 

Can't find a way to get to something like that. The only option the card presents on power-on is 'Ctrl+P' to load the PXESelect utility, allowing me to turn PXE on or off. That's all the options I get basically!

[CyberNerd]

Can't find a way to get to something like that. The only option the card presents on power-on is 'Ctrl+P' to load the PXESelect utility, allowing me to turn PXE on or off. That's all the options I get basically!

 

on our bladecentre it is done in the UEFI interface - the bios/software of the emulex device is integrated into the UEFI.

IIRC the setting is 'switch independant mode'.

Failing that why not just bond the nics?

[localzuk]

Sadly, when I go into the Setup, there's no mention of it. The only options the server provide me with are F9 - Setup (where I've looked) F10 - Smart Provisioning and F11 - Boot Menu.

 

I'll have a look in Smart Provisioning tomorrow, but I'm pretty sure that's for installing an OS.

[localzuk]

After a thorough search, I couldn't find anything in relation to changing the settings on the card - only changing PXE on or off, or viewing the settings for the card.

 

I downloaded the latest ROM for the card from the HP site, and installed it, and it seems to have changed it to 10GbE!

 

So, I'm where I want to be, but didn't get there in the way I wanted to.