How to Administer IP Network Multipathing Groups in a Cluster

Before performing IP Network Multipathing procedures on a cluster, consider the guidelines below.

• Each public network adapter must belong to a multipathing group.

• The local-mac-address? variable must have a value of true for Ethernet adapters.

• You must configure a test IP address for each adapter in the following kinds of multipathing groups:

  • All multipathing groups in a cluster that runs on the Solaris 8 OS.

  • All multiple-adapter multipathing groups in a cluster that runs on the Solaris 9 or Solaris 10 OS. Single-adapter multipathing groups on the Solaris 9 or Solaris 10 OS do not require test IP addresses.

• Test IP addresses for all adapters in the same multipathing group must belong to a single IP subnet.

• Test IP addresses must not be used by normal applications because they are not highly available.

• There are no restrictions on multipathing group naming. However, when configuring a resource group, the netiflist naming convention is any multipathing name followed by either the nodeID number or the node name. For example, given a multipathing group named sc_ipmp0 , the netiflist naming could be either sc_ipmp0@1 or sc_ipmp0@phys-schost-1, where the adapter is on the node phys-schost-1 which has the nodeID of 1.

• Avoid unconfiguring (unplumbing) or bringing down an adapter of an IP Network Multipathing group without first switching over the IP addresses from the adapter to be removed to an alternate adapter in the group, using the if_mpadm(1M) command.

• Avoid rewiring adapters to different subnets without first removing them from their respective multipathing groups.

• Logical adapter operations can be done on an adapter even if monitoring is on for the multipathing group.

• You must maintain at least one public network connection for each node in the cluster. The cluster is inaccessible without a public network connection.

• To view the status of IP Network Multipathing groups on a cluster, use the command scstat(1M) with the -i option.

For more information about IP Network Multipathing, see the appropriate documentation in the Solaris system administration documentation set.

For cluster software installation procedures, see the Sun Cluster Software Installation Guide for Solaris OS. For procedures about servicing public networking hardware components, see the Sun Cluster 3.0-3.1 Hardware Administration Manual for Solaris OS.