Link Aggregations and IPMP: Feature Comparison

Appendix B

IPMP and link aggregation are different technologies that achieve improved network performance as well as maintain network availability.

The following table presents a general comparison between link aggregation and IPMP.

Feature	IPMP	Link Aggregation
Network technology type	Layer 3 (IP layer)	Layer 2 (link layer)
Configuration tool	`ipadm`	`dladm`
Link-based failure detection	Supported	Supported
Probe-based failure detection	ICMP-based, targeting any defined system in the same IP subnet as test addresses, across multiple levels of intervening Layer 2 switches	Based on LACP, targeting the immediate peer host or switch Not supported in DLMP aggregations.
Use of standby interfaces	Supported	Not supported in trunk aggregations Supported in DLMP aggregations
Span multiple switches	Supported	Not supported in trunk aggregations. Some vendors provide proprietary and non-interoperable solutions to span multiple switches. Supported in DLMP aggregations
Hardware support	Not required	Required for trunk aggregations. For example, a trunk aggregation on an Oracle Solaris system requires that corresponding ports on the switches also be aggregated. Not required in DLMP aggregations
Link layer requirements	Broadcast-capable	Ethernet-specific
Driver framework requirements	None	Must use GLDv3 framework
Load-spreading support	Supported, controlled by the kernel. Inbound load spreading is indirectly affected by source address selection.	Supported in trunk aggregations only, and controlled by the administrator by using the `dladm` command. Inbound load spreading is supported. Load spreading by individual interfaces over the aggregation is not supported in DLMP aggregations.
Level of support when integrating with VNICs	Poor support	Excellent support
User defined flows for resource management	Not supported	Supported
Link protection	Not supported	Supported
Protocol requirements	None	None

In link aggregations, incoming traffic is spread over the multiple links that comprise the aggregation in standard mode. Thus, networking performance is enhanced as more NICs are installed to add links to the aggregation.

DLMP aggregations span multiple switches. As a Layer 2 technology, aggregations integrate well with other Oracle Solaris virtualization technologies.

IPMP's traffic uses the IPMP interface's data addresses as they are bound to the available active interfaces. If, for example, all the data traffic is flowing between only two IP addresses but not necessarily over the same connection, then adding more NICs will not improve performance with IPMP because only two IP addresses remain usable.

Trunk aggregations and IPMP can complement each other and can be deployed together to provide the combined benefits of network performance and availability.

Skip Navigation Links
Exit Print View
	Managing Oracle Solaris 11.1 Network Performance Oracle Solaris 11.1 Information Library