Chapter 1
HP Blade Server bh7800 Overview
Network Blade
17
Network Blade
The network blade is a 24-port 10/100 switch with a gigabit uplink connection. The blade provides 16 of the
24 ports to the backplane, and 8 remaining ports out to the bulkhead. In addition, the network blade comes in
three uplink options: Tx (copper), Sx (short-wave optical), or Lx (long-wave optical).
The bh7800 system must contain one network blade, but can optionally contain two. The backplane actually
contains two separate LANs, LAN-A and LAN-B, so that a second blade provides backup protection for the
LAN segment.
The uplink connection aggregates all communications in the bh7800. This gigabit connection aggregates the
traffic from all 16 ports.
The blade may be hot swapped without taking down a live system. Of course, if only one switch is in the
cabinet, all external communications cease while the blade is being swapped. With a second switch in the
chassis, external communications are only interrupted on the LAN connected to the corresponding switch
being hot swapped. The switch in front slot 12 corresponds to LAN-A and the switch in rear slot 13
corresponds to LAN-B.
Figure 1-5 Network Blade
