IP Network Multipathing

IP network multipathing provides your system with recovery from single-point failures with network adapters and increased traffic throughput. As of the Solaris 8 10/00 release, the system switches all the network accesses automatically from a failed adapter to an alternate adapter. The alternate adapter must be connected to the same IP link. This process ensures uninterrupted access to the network. When you have multiple network adapters connected to the same IP link, you achieve increased traffic throughput by spreading the traffic across multiple network adapters.

In the Solaris 8 4/01 release, dynamic reconfiguration (DR) uses IP network multipathing to decommission a specific network device. This process has no impact on existing IP users.

The Solaris 8 7/01 release introduced the new IP network multipathing Reboot Safe feature, which saves the IP address in the following conditions. A failed NIC is removed from the system by using dynamic reconfiguration. A reboot occurs prior to reinsertion of a functioning NIC. In these circumstances, the system attempts, but fails, to plumb an interface for the missing NIC. Rather than lose the IP address, the IP network multipathing Reboot Safe feature transfers the IP address to another NIC in the IP network multipathing interface group.

For more information, see “IP Network Multipathing Topics” in System Administration Guide: IP Services.