System Administration Guide: Network Interfaces and Network Virtualization

IPv4 Test Addresses

In general, you can use any IPv4 address on your subnet as a test address. IPv4 test addresses do not need to be routeable. Because IPv4 addresses are a limited resource for many sites, you might want to use non-routeable RFC 1918 private addresses as test addresses. Note that the in.mpathd daemon exchanges only ICMP probes with other hosts on the same subnet as the test address. If you do use RFC 1918-style test addresses, be sure to configure other systems, preferably routers, on the network with addresses on the appropriate RFC 1918 subnet. The in.mpathd daemon can then successfully exchange probes with target systems. For more information about RFC 1918 private addresses, refer to RFC 1918, Address Allocation for Private Internets.