[gpfsug-discuss] [External] DSS-G sharing IPMI network

[Jonathan Buzzard]

On 24/06/2026 17:37, Ryan Novosielski wrote:

> We use shared networking for everything. Less of a hassle overall, less 
> money spent in switches, etc. I know the support was at one time a bit 
> shoddy for VLANs on the BMCs, but these days I think it’s pretty good. 
> We do use the dedicated ports for our PHI/secure system, but I think if 
> we were speccing it today, we’d have used VLANs instead. Dedicated 
> doesn’t necessarily mean physical.
> 

For us that would require every server to come with a shared port that 
does at least 10Gbps on an SFP+ which even in 2026 is not the case. Even 
then you cannot put the shared port in a bond if it is being shared so 
that is a number of our servers that would be ruled out of using a 
shared port for the IPMI.

Then there is all the PDU's and other "stuff" that is never going to 
come with something suitable for hooking up to the primary network.

Hence a dedicated management network. It's not like 1Gbps Ethernet 
switches are expensive. My primary network switches are five figures a 
pop, so three figure management network switches that last a decade are 
an inconsequential expense :-)


JAB.

-- 
Jonathan A. Buzzard                         Tel: +44141-5483420
HPC System Administrator, ARCHIE-WeSt.
University of Strathclyde, John Anderson Building, Glasgow. G4 0NG