Configuring IP Network Multipathing on Solaris

IPMP has the following features:

1. It eliminates a single network adapter as a single point of failure in these cases, ( a. Network adapter failure b. Network link failure)
2. It enables interfaces to fail over within approximately 10 seconds when using the default configuration.
3. It can be configured by adjusting the parameters in the ”/etc/default/mpathd” file.
4. It can be configured for use with both IPv4 and IPv6.
5. It enables interfaces to be configured as standby interfaces.

{IPMP failure detection:
Probe­-based failure detection
-detects network error by sending ICMP ECHO_REQUEST messages
Link based failure detection
-detects network error by checking the IFF_RUNING

How to Configure IPMP on Solaris

*PROBE-BASED IPMP*

{Probe-­Based IPMP Requirements:

* The Solaris 8 10/00 OS, as a minimum, must be installed.
* Unique MAC addresses must be configured on each network interface.
* Multiple network adapter interfaces must be connected on each subnet.
* An IPMP group name must be assigned to the group of interfaces.
* A test address is assigned to an interface.
* Additional hosts or devices must exist on the same subnet.

{Configuring Probe­-Based IPMP:

1. # cat /etc/release
2. # eeprom ”local-­mac-­address?=true”
3. # ifconfig e1000g0 10.5.0.11 netmask + broadcast + up
4. # ifconfig e1000g0 group
5. # ifconfig e1000g0 addif 10.5.0.61 netmask + broadcast + ­failover deprecated up
6. # ifconfig e1000g1 10.5.0.21 netmask + broadcast + group up
7. # ifconfig e1000g1 addif 10.5.0.71 netmask + broadcast + ­failover deprecated up
8. # ifconfig ­-a

{Configuring Probe-­Based IPMP using configuration files
1. # cat /etc/hostname.eri0
10.10.0.11 netmask + broadcast + group mptest1 up \
addif 10.5.0.61 netmask + broadcast + -failover \
deprecated up

2. # cat /etc/hostname.qfe2
10.10.0.21 netmask + broadcast + group mptest1 up \
addif 10.5.0.71 netmask + broadcast + -failover \
deprecated up

3. # init 6

*LINK-BASED IPMP*

{Link­-Based IPMP Requirements:

* Solaris 9 12/02 OS, at a minimum, must be installed.
* Network interfaces must use any of the following drivers: hme, eri, ce, ge, bge, qfe, dmfe, e1000g, ixgb, nge, nxge, rge, xge
* Unique MAC addresses must be configured on each of the interfaces.
* An IPMP group name must be assigned to interfaces

{Configuring Link­-Based IPMP

1. # cat /etc/release
2. # eeprom ”local­mac­address=true”
3. # ifconfig eri0 10.10.0.11 netmask + broadcast + group up
4. # ifconfig hme0 10.10.0.21 netmask + broadcast + group up
5. # ifconfig ­a

{Configuring Link­-IPMP – Administration Guide – IP ServicesBased IPMP using configuration files
1. # cat /etc/hostname.eri0
10.10.0.11 netmask + broadcast + group up

2. # cat /etc/hostname.hme0
10.10.0.21 netmask + broadcast + group up

3. # init 6

Reference:

IPMP – Administration Guide – IP Services

man ifconfig
man in.mpathd
docs.sun.com