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.