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Defining address pools

An address pool is a defined set of address ranges. Lenovo XClarity Administrator uses address pools to assign IP and I/O addresses to individual servers when the server patterns are deployed to those servers.

About this task

XClarity Administrator supports IP and I/O address pools.
IP address pools
IP address pools define ranges of IP addresses for use when configuring the baseboard management controller network interface of your servers. You can use or customize predefined address pools or you can create new pools as needed. When creating server patterns, you can choose which IP address pool to use during deployment. When the server pattern is deployed, IP addresses are allocated from the selected pool and assigned to individual management controllers.
Note
If you are satisfied with your management-controller network configuration, do not use this option.
Attention
  • Ensure that you select an IP address subrange that does not conflict with existing I/O addresses in your data center.
  • Ensure that the IP addresses in the specified ranges are part of the same subnetwork and are reachable by XClarity Administrator.
  • Ensure that the IP addresses in the specified ranges are unique for each XClarity Administrator domain and existing IP management tools to prevent address conflicts.

The overall address pool range is derived from the specified routing prefix length and the gateway or initial range. You can create pools of different sizes based on the specific routing prefix length, but overall pool ranges must be unique within the XClarity Administrator domain. Ranges are then created from the overall pool range.

Address ranges can be used to separate hosts (for example, by operating system type, workload types, and business type). Address ranges can also be tied to organizational network rules.

Ethernet address pools
Ethernet address pools are collections of unique MAC addresses that can be assigned to network adapters when configuring servers. You can use or customize predefined address pools as needed, or you can create new pools. When creating server patterns, you can choose which Ethernet address pool is to be used during deployment. When the server pattern is deployed, addresses are allocated from the selected pool and assigned to individual adapter ports.
The following predefined MAC addresses pool is available:
  • Lenovo MAC address pool

For a list of MAC address ranges in this pool, see Ethernet address (MAC) pools.

Fibre Channel address pools
Fibre Channel address pools are collections of unique WWNN and WWPN addresses that can be assigned to Fibre Channel adapters when configuring servers. You can use or customize predefined address pools as needed, or you can create new pools. When creating server patterns, you can choose which Fibre Channel address pool is to be used during deployment. When the server pattern is deployed, addresses are allocated from the selected pool and assigned to individual adapter ports.
The following predefined Fibre Channel addresses pools are available:
  • Lenovo WWN addresses
  • Brocade WWN addresses
  • Emulex WWN addresses
  • QLogic WWN addresses

For a list of WWN address ranges in these pools, see Fibre Channel address (WWN) pools.

The range of addresses in the address pools must be unique within the XClarity Administrator domain. XClarity Administrator ensures that the defined ranges and assigned addresses are unique within its management domain.

Important
In large environments with multiple XClarity Administrator instances, ensure that unique address ranges are used by each XClarity Administrator to prevent address duplication.

Ethernet and Fibre Channel address pools are used with I/O adapter virtual addressing to assign organizationally unique I/O addresses. When you create a server pattern for a compute node, you can enable virtual addressing as part of the devices and I/O adapter configuration. When virtual addressing is enabled, addresses are assigned from the Ethernet and Fibre Channel address pools to prevent address conflicts.

Restriction: Virtual addressing is supported for only Flex System compute nodes. Standalone rack and tower servers are not supported.

For information about creating server patterns, see Creating a server pattern.

  • Creating an IP address pool
    An IP address pool defines a range of IP addresses for use when configuring the baseboard-management-controller network interface of your servers. When the associated server pattern is deployed, IP addresses are allocated from the specified pool and assigned to individual servers.
  • Creating an Ethernet address pool
    Ethernet address pools are collections of unique media access control (MAC) addresses that can be assigned to network adapters. You can use or customize predefined address pools as needed, or you can create new address pools. When you create a server pattern, if you enable virtual addressing for Ethernet adapters, you can choose which Ethernet address pool is to be used when the pattern is deployed. When the associated server pattern is deployed, MAC addresses are allocated from the selected address pool and assigned to individual network adapters in the servers.
  • Creating a Fibre Channel address pool
    Fibre Channel address pools are collections of unique World Wide Node Name (WWNN) and World Wide Port Name (WWPN) addresses that can be assigned to Fibre Channel adapters. You can use or customize predefined address pools as needed, or you can create new pools. When creating server patterns, if you enable virtual addressing for Ethernet adapters, you can choose which Fibre Channel address pool is to be used when the pattern is deployed. When the associated server pattern is deployed, WWNN and WWPN addresses are allocated from the pool and assigned to individual servers.