Introduction

IP network multipathing provides your system with the following capabilities:

• Recovery from single-point failures with network adapters

• Increased traffic throughput

To use IP network multipathing, you must have an alternate adapter connected to the same IP link. Consequently, if a failure occurs in the network adapter, the system switches all the network accesses automatically from the failed adapter to the alternate adapter. This process ensures uninterrupted access to the network. Also, when you have multiple network adapters that are connected to the same IP link, you achieve increased traffic throughput. The traffic is spread across multiple network adapters.

Other IP-related documents, such as RFC 2460, use the term link instead of IP link. This document uses the term IP link to avoid confusion with IEEE 802. In IEEE 802, link refers to a single wire from an Ethernet NIC to an Ethernet switch.

See IP link definition in the Glossary. Also, you can refer to Table 1–1.