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Building the network

Each Lenovo Converged HX Series appliance contains one or two dual-port 10 GbE network interface cards as well as on-board 1 GbE ports. The Nutanix software configures the hypervisors so that all of the network ports on the appliance (both 10 GbE and 1 GbE) are pooled. All of the hypervisor VM management should use the same 10 GbE network.

It is recommended that two TOR switches are used for redundancy. The second network interface card provides both improved performance and an additional level of redundancy in case one of the network interface cards fails.

To network the appliances, do the following:

  1. Install and power both of the 10 GbE TOR switches. The switches must be interconnected using InterSwitch Links (ISLs).

  2. Connect each 10 GbE switch to each 10 GbE network port on the appliance. For n appliances (n represents the quantity), 2n or 4n cables are needed depending on the number of the network interface cards.

  3. Install and power the 1 GbE TOR switch.

  4. Connect the 1 GbE switch to the dedicated IMM port on each appliance, one 1 GbE cable for each.

The following illustrations show how to build network connectivity in various situations:
Figure 1. Networking for four appliances each with one network interface card connected to two 10 GbE TOR switches
Networking for four appliances each with one network interface card connected to two 10 GbE TOR switches

Figure 2. Networking for four appliances each with two network interface cards connected to two 10 GbE TOR switches
Networking for four appliances each with two network interface cards connected to two 10 GbE TOR switches

Figure 3. Networking for the dedicated IMM port connected to the 1 GbE TOR switch
Networking for the dedicated IMM port connected to the 1 GbE TOR switch

Because all of the network ports are pooled, each appliance only needs two network IP addresses: one for the hypervisor and one for the Nutanix CVM. These addresses should be all on the same subnet.

In addition, the IMM port needs a network address. This address could be on the same subnet as the pooled ports or on a completely different subnet depending on customer requirements. One advantage of the IMM ports on the same network is that Lenovo XClarity Administrator hardware management VM can run within the ESXi cluster rather than on a separate server connected to the 1 GbE network switch for the IMM ports.