Found this great document on HP A-series networking combined with Virtual Connect… Since I have to implement this soon, this will be my next PDF to read…
Intelligent Resilient Framework (IRF) is an innovative HP switch platform virtualization technology that allows dramatic simplification of the design and operations of data center and campus Ethernet networks. IRF overcomes the limitations of traditional STP (Spanning Tree Protocol) based and legacy competitive designs by delivering new levels of network performance and resiliency.
Virtual Connect is an industry standard-based implementation of server-edge virtualization. It cleanly separates server enclosure administration from LAN and SAN administration and allows you to add, move, or replace servers without impacting production LAN and SAN availability.
Find the white paper here.