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Partitioning
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Mellanox Technologies
Chapter 13.
Partitioning
This chapter provides instructions on network partitioning to enforce isolation among the ports
within the InfiniBand fabric and allow them to communicate within the predefined virtual
networks.
13.1
Overview
Network partitioning is a method of sub-dividing and enforcing isolation among the ports of
systems/nodes/elements within the InfiniBand fabric into predefined virtual networks to allow
inter-communication between the members of the specific network.
A network can be expanded to an Ethernet VLAN (Virtual LAN) via a sRB-20210G enabling
the two networks to communicate internally as one single network. It is currently
recommended to perform this via the GridVision Fabric Manager GUI.
Each port of a node is a member of at least one partition and may be a member of multiple
partitions. Some shared resources such as storage and management servers are typically part of
multiple partitions.
Partitioning is useful for security purposes and/or to create multiple virtual switched networks
and virtual network interfaces in the same infrastructure.
Partitioning is managed by the Subnet Manager (SM).
The GridVision Fabric Manager facilitates a centralized network configuration. The fabric
administrator can utilize the Fabric Manager GUI application to:
Define networks
Assign server ports to one or more networks
Configure sRB-20210G interfaces enabling it to map an InfiniBand partition to an
Ethernet VLAN.
13.2
Brief Functional Description
Networks must first be created. They can be defined by the GridVision Fabric Manager.
Elements are assigned to networks via the GUI and the CLI.
The administrator maps each channel adapter port or gateway port to a network. The ports are
marked with a unique number tag called Partition key (PKey). Ports assigned to different
partitions cannot communicate with one another. A single port can be associated with up to 16
different networks.
The subnet manager supports configuration of fabric partitions. The partitioning feature is
disabled by default and can be enabled via the CLI and configured via the GUI. Partitioning
CLI resides under the “
Switch(config-sm-partition)#
” menu.
The Pkey Table can be altered via the CLI.
The administrator can set up a partition to have a limited or full membership within a partition.
Limited members cannot communicate with other limited members but communication is
allowed between every other combination of membership types. Full members may
communicate with all hosts (members) within the partition; this way in a specific partition,
