Configuring IP Network Multipathing (IPMP)

For general information about IPMP, see the IP Network Multipathing Administration Guide.

The default mode for IP multipathing in Solaris 8 or later environments is automatic failback. To change this mode, edit the /etc/default/mpathd file.

You can only set up an IPMP group with pairs of interfaces in one of the following configurations:

• active-standby failover — Set ipmp mode = s, and specify one logical hostname/ip address pair.

• failover with outbound load spreading — Set ipmp mode = l, and specify one logical hostname/ip address pair.

• active-active with outbound load spreading — Set ipmp mode = l, specify a second logical hostname/ip address pair for the second interface.

The ipmp_networkifs_base_config variable defines a list of interfaces to be defined under IPMP control. For each interface, a set of variables must be included to defined additional interface parameters. The following lists the parameters that you need to define:

• netgroup — identifies the IPMP interface group name; for example, database-net

• mode — specifies the IPMP mode; Valid values include:

  • s — standby mode; used for failover only; In this mode, test addresses are allocated last. The first test address is on the first virtual interface of the first physical adapter. The second test address is on the second physical adapter.

  • l — load spreading; used for active/active mode. In this mode, test addresses are allocated on the first virtual interfaces on both the first and second physical adapters.

  To force the test addresses onto the physical adapters, add the suffix “p” to either mode parameter.

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  Caution –

  Be careful forcing the test addresses onto the physical adapter, as this might break some applications.

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• test1 — IPMP test address 1

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  Note –

  This address must not be in the hosts file or otherwise used.

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• test2 — IPMP test address 2

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  Note –

  This address must not be in the hosts file or otherwise used.

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• netmask — Netmask for IPMP pair

• hostname — Unique hostname for logical IP

• log-ip — Logical IP for first i/f of pair

• hostname 2 — For active-active configurations only, unique hostname for logical IP

• log-ip2 — For active-active configurations only, local IP for second i/f of pair

The following example shows the content of the ipmp_networkifs_base_config variable to define one IPMP interface.

qfe0_qfe1 database-net:l:10.0.0.1:10.0.0.2:24:oracle-db:10.0.0.3:apache:10.0.0.4