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Oracle VM Server for SPARC 2.2 Administration Guide     Oracle VM Server for SPARC
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Document Information

Preface

Part I Oracle VM Server for SPARC 2.2 Software

1.  Overview of the Oracle VM Server for SPARC Software

2.  Installing and Enabling Software

3.  Oracle VM Server for SPARC Security

4.  Setting Up Services and the Control Domain

5.  Setting Up Guest Domains

6.  Setting Up I/O Domains

7.  Using Virtual Disks

8.  Using Virtual Networks

Introduction to a Virtual Network

Oracle Solaris 10 Networking Overview

Oracle Solaris 11 Networking Overview

Virtual Switch

Virtual Network Device

Inter-Vnet LDC Channels

Virtual Device Identifier and Network Interface Name

How to Find Oracle Solaris OS Network Interface Name

Assigning MAC Addresses Automatically or Manually

Range of MAC Addresses Assigned to Logical Domains

Automatic Assignment Algorithm

Duplicate MAC Address Detection

Freed MAC Addresses

Using Network Adapters With Logical Domains

How to Determine If a Network Adapter Is GLDv3-Compliant (Oracle Solaris 10)

Configuring a Virtual Switch and the Service Domain for NAT and Routing

Configuring NAT on an Oracle Solaris 10 System

How to Set Up a Virtual Switch to Provide External Connectivity to Domains (Oracle Solaris 10)

Configuring NAT on an Oracle Solaris 11 System

How to Set Up a Virtual Switch to Provide External Connectivity to Domains (Oracle Solaris 11)

Configuring IPMP in a Logical Domains Environment

Configuring Virtual Network Devices Into an IPMP Group in a Domain

Configuring and Using IPMP in the Service Domain

Using Link-Based IPMP in Logical Domains Virtual Networking

How to Configure Physical Link Status Updates

Configuring and Using IPMP in Releases Prior to Logical Domains 1.3

Configuring IPMP in the Guest Domain

Configuring IPMP in the Service Domain

Using VLAN Tagging

Port VLAN ID (PVID)

VLAN ID (VID)

How to Assign VLANs to a Virtual Switch and Virtual Network Device

How to Install a Guest Domain When the Install Server Is in a VLAN

Using NIU Hybrid I/O

How to Configure a Virtual Switch With an NIU Network Device

How to Enable Hybrid Mode

How to Disable Hybrid Mode

Using Link Aggregation With a Virtual Switch

Configuring Jumbo Frames

How to Configure Virtual Network and Virtual Switch Devices to Use Jumbo Frames

Compatibility With Older (Jumbo-Unaware) Versions of the vnet and vsw Drivers (Oracle Solaris 10)

Oracle Solaris 11 Networking-Specific Feature Differences

9.  Migrating Domains

10.  Managing Resources

11.  Managing Domain Configurations

12.  Performing Other Administration Tasks

Part II Optional Oracle VM Server for SPARC Software

13.  Oracle VM Server for SPARC Physical-to-Virtual Conversion Tool

14.  Oracle VM Server for SPARC Configuration Assistant (Oracle Solaris 10)

15.  Using the Oracle VM Server for SPARC Management Information Base Software

16.  Logical Domains Manager Discovery

17.  Using the XML Interface With the Logical Domains Manager

Glossary

Index

Configuring Jumbo Frames

The Logical Domains virtual switch (vsw) and virtual network (vnet) devices can now support Ethernet frames with payload sizes larger than 1500 bytes. This change results in these drivers being able to increase network throughput.

How to Configure Virtual Network and Virtual Switch Devices to Use Jumbo Frames

You enable jumbo frames by specifying the maximum transmission unit (MTU) for the virtual switch device. In such cases, the virtual switch device and all virtual network devices that are bound to the virtual switch device use the specified MTU value.

In certain circumstances, you can specify an MTU value directly on a virtual network device. You might do this if the required MTU value for the virtual network device should be less than that supported by the virtual switch.


Note - On the Oracle Solaris 10 5/09 OS, the MTU of a physical device must be configured to match the MTU of the virtual switch. For information about configuring particular drivers, see the man page that corresponds to that driver in Section 7D of the Oracle Solaris reference manual. For example, to obtain information about the Oracle Solaris 10 nxge driver, see the nxge(7D) man page.


  1. Log in to the control domain.
  2. Become an administrator, superuser, or assume an equivalent role.

    For Oracle Solaris 10, see Configuring RBAC (Task Map) in System Administration Guide: Security Services. For Oracle Solaris 11, see Part III, Roles, Rights Profiles, and Privileges, in Oracle Solaris Administration: Security Services.

  3. Determine the value of MTU that you want to use for the virtual network.

    You can specify an MTU value from 1500 to 16000 bytes. The specified MTU must match the MTU of the physical network device that is assigned to the virtual switch.

  4. Specify the MTU value of a virtual switch device or virtual network device.

    Do one of the following:

    • Enable jumbo frames on a new virtual switch device in the service domain by specifying its MTU as a value of the mtu property.

      # ldm add-vsw mtu=value vswitch-name ldom

      In addition to configuring the virtual switch, this command updates the MTU value of each virtual network device that will be bound to this virtual switch.

    • Enable jumbo frames on an existing virtual switch device in the service domain by specifying its MTU as a value of the mtu property.

      # ldm set-vsw mtu=value vswitch-name

      In addition to configuring the virtual switch, this command updates the MTU value of each virtual network device that will be bound to this virtual switch.

    In rare circumstances, you might need to use the ldm add-vnet or ldm set-vnet command to specify an MTU value for a virtual network device that differs from the MTU value of the virtual switch. For example, you might change the virtual network device's MTU value if you configure VLANs over a virtual network device and the largest VLAN MTU is less than the MTU value on the virtual switch. A vnet driver that supports jumbo frames might not be required for domains where only the default MTU value is used. However, if the domains have virtual network devices bound to a virtual switch that uses jumbo frames, ensure that the vnet driver supports jumbo frames.

    If you use the ldm set-vnet command to specify an mtu value on a virtual network device, future updates to the MTU value of the virtual switch device are not propagated to that virtual network device. To reenable the virtual network device to obtain the MTU value from the virtual switch device, run the following command:

    # ldm set-vnet mtu= vnet-name ldom

    Note that enabling jumbo frames for a virtual network device automatically enables jumbo frames for any HybridIO resource that is assigned to that virtual network device.

    On the control domain, the Logical Domains Manager updates the MTU values that are initiated by the ldm set-vsw and ldm set-vnet commands as delayed reconfiguration operations. To make MTU updates to domains other than the control domain, you must stop a domain prior to running the ldm set-vsw or ldm set-vnet command to modify the MTU value.

Example 8-2 Configuring Jumbo Frames on Virtual Switch and Virtual Network Devices

Compatibility With Older (Jumbo-Unaware) Versions of the vnet and vsw Drivers (Oracle Solaris 10)


Note - This section only applies to the Oracle Solaris 10 OS.


Drivers that support jumbo frames can interoperate with drivers that do not support jumbo frames on the same system. This interoperability is possible as long as jumbo frame support is not enabled when you create the virtual switch.


Note - Do not set the mtu property if any guest or service domains that are associated with the virtual switch do not use Logical Domains drivers that support jumbo frames.


Jumbo frames can be enabled by changing the mtu property of a virtual switch from the default value of 1500. In this instance, older driver versions ignore the mtu setting and continue to use the default value. Note that the ldm list output will show the MTU value you specified and not the default value. Any frames larger than the default MTU are not sent to those devices and are dropped by the new drivers. This situation might result in inconsistent network behavior with those guests that still use the older drivers. This applies to both client guest domains and the service domain.

So, while jumbo frames are enabled, ensure that all virtual devices in the Logical Domains network are upgraded to use the new drivers that support jumbo frames. You must be running at least Logical Domains 1.2 to configure jumbo frames.