The out-of-band (OOB) management network is an isolated network for remote management of hardware. This hardware includes servers, switches, storage arrays, and rack power distribution units (PDUs) using their dedicated management ports.
The OOB management network is also for connections to the PowerSwitch SFS UI and for OpenManage Network Integration (OMNI) to communicate with the SmartFabric. The OOB management network enables switch console access using SSH, and Dell PowerEdge server console access using their iDRACs. This network is also used to carry heartbeat messages between switches configured as VLT peers.
For OOB management network connections, one N3248TE-ON switch is typically installed in each rack, as shown.
Four 10 GbE SFP+ ports are available on each N3248TE-ON for use as uplinks to the OOB management network core.
1 GbE BASE-T ports on each N3248TE-ON are connected downstream to hardware management ports on each device in the rack. These ports include the switch management ports and PowerEdge server iDRAC ports. Management ports on other devices that may be in the rack, such as storage array management ports, and rack PDU management ports, are also connected to this network.
For this deployment, the services host, esx-svcs01, has two connections on the OOB management network: an iDRAC and an additional NIC for OMNI communication with the SmartFabric switches. The remaining ESXi hosts, including the witness host, only have an iDRAC connection to the OOB network. Connection details are shown in the next section.
OOB management switch configuration is not detailed in this guide. The N3248TE-ON can function as an OOB management switch with its OS10 factory default configuration. By default, all ports are in switchport mode, in VLAN 1, administratively up, and rapid per-VLAN spanning tree plus (RPVST+) is enabled. Optionally, it can be configured as needed to suit your environment.