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Implicit Assignment of vNICs in a Mixed Adapter Environment
The implicit assignment of vNICs functions differently for a server that has mixed adapters, as follows:
• A dual slot server that has one VIC adapter and one non-VIC adapter, which have different capabilities.
For example, a server that contains a Cisco UCS M81KR Virtual Interface Card and a Cisco UCS CNA
M71KR-E adapter.
• A configuration that includes both dynamic vNICs and static vNICs.
When you assign vNICs implicitly for a dual slot server that has one VIC adapter and non-VIC adapter, Cisco
UCS Manager typically assigns one vNIC to each adapter. The remaining vNICs are assigned according to
the relative capabilities of the adapters. The following are examples of the relative capabilities of some of the
supported adapters:
• Cisco UCS M81KR Virtual Interface Card (128 vNICs) and Cisco UCS CNA M71KR-E Adapter (2
vNICs) have a 64:1 capability ratio
• Cisco UCS M81KR Virtual Interface Card and Cisco UCS CNA M72KR-E have a 64:1 capability ratio
• Cisco UCS CNA M72KR-E and Cisco UCS CNA M72KR-E have a 1:1 capability ratio
• Cisco UCS M82-8P Virtual Interface Card and Cisco UCS CNA M71KR-E adapter have a 128:1
capability ratio
• Cisco UCS M82-8P Virtual Interface Card and Cisco UCS M81KR Virtual Interface Card have a 2:1
capability ratio.
For example, a Cisco UCS M81KR Virtual Interface Card can handle up to 128 vNICs, while a Cisco UCS
CNA M71KR-E can only handle 2 vNICs. This difference gives those adapters a 64:1 ratio. If a dual slot
blade server has one of each and you choose to allow implicit assignment of vNICs by Cisco UCS Manager,
the load balancing ratio assigns the majority of the vNICs to the Cisco UCS M81KR Virtual Interface Card,
as follows:
vNICs Assigned to Cisco UCS CNA
M71KR-E Adapter
vNICs Assigned to Cisco UCS M81KR
Virtual Interface Card
Total Number of vNICs
11920
2128130
Exceptions to this implicit assignment occur if you configure the vNICs for fabric failover and if you
configure dynamic vNICs for the server.
Note
For a configuration that includes vNIC fabric failover where one adapter does not support vNIC failover,
Cisco UCS Manager implicitly assigns all vNICs which have fabric failover enabled to the adapter that supports
them. If the configuration only includes vNICs that are configured for fabric failover, no vNICs are implicitly
assigned to the adapter which does not support them. If some vNICs are configured for fabric failover and
some are not, Cisco UCS Manager assigns all failover vNICs to the adapter which supports them and a
minimum of one non-failover vNIC to the adapter which does not support them, according to the ratio above.
For a configuration that includes dynamic vNICs, the same implicit assignment would occur. Cisco UCS
Manager assigns all dynamic vNICs to the adapter that supports them. However, with a combination of
Cisco UCS Manager GUI Configuration Guide, Release 2.0
432 OL-25712-04
Configuring vNIC/vHBA Placement Policies