Public Networks

Public networks communicate outside the cluster. Consider the following points when you plan your public-network configuration:

• Public networks and the private network (cluster interconnect) must use separate adapters, or you must configure tagged VLAN on tagged-VLAN capable adapters and VLAN-capable switches to use the same adapter for both the private interconnect and the public network.

• You must have at least one public network that is connected to all cluster nodes.

• You can have as many additional public-network connections as your hardware configuration allows.

• Sun Cluster software supports IPv4 addresses on the public network.

• Sun Cluster software supports IPv6 addresses on the public network under the following conditions or restrictions:

  • Sun Cluster software does not support IPv6 addresses on the public network if the private interconnect uses SCI adapters.

  • On Solaris 9 OS and Solaris 10 OS, Sun Cluster software supports IPv6 addresses for both failover and scalable data services.

  • On Solaris 8 OS, Sun Cluster software supports IPv6 addresses for failover data services only.

• Each public network adapter must belong to an Internet Protocol (IP) Network Multipathing (IP Network Multipathing) group. See IP Network Multipathing Groups for additional guidelines.

• All public network adapters must use network interface cards (NICs) that support local MAC address assignment. Local MAC address assignment is a requirement of IP Network Multipathing.

• The local-mac-address? variable must use the default value true for Ethernet adapters. Sun Cluster software does not support a local-mac-address? value of false for Ethernet adapters. This requirement is a change from Sun Cluster 3.0, which did require a local-mac-address? value of false.

• During Sun Cluster installation on the Solaris 9 or Solaris 10 OS, the scinstall utility automatically configures a single-adapter IP Network Multipathing group for each public-network adapter. To modify these backup groups after installation, follow the procedures in Administering IPMP (Tasks) in System Administration Guide: IP Services (Solaris 9 or Solaris 10).

• Sun Cluster configurations do not support filtering with Solaris IP Filter.

See IP Network Multipathing Groups for guidelines on planning public-network-adapter backup groups. For more information about public-network interfaces, see Sun Cluster Concepts Guide for Solaris OS.