Link Aggregations and IPMP: Feature Comparison
Link aggregation and IPMP are different technologies that achieve improved network
performance and maintain network availability.
The following table presents a general comparison between link aggregation and
IPMP.
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Network technology type
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Layer 2 (link layer).
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Layer 3 (IP layer).
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Configuration tool
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dladm
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ipadm
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Link-based failure detection
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Supported.
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Supported.
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Probe-based failure detection
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Trunk: Based on LACP, targeting the immediate peer host or
switch.
DLMP: Supported. ICMP-based, targeting any defined systems in the same
subnet as DLMP addresses, across multiple levels of intervening Layer 2
switches.
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ICMP-based, targeting any defined system in the same IP subnet as test
addresses across multiple levels of intervening Layer 2 switches.
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Use of standby interfaces
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Trunk: Not supported.
DLMP: Not supported.
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Supported. Standby interfaces can be configured.
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Span multiple switches
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Trunk: Supported. However, requires switch vendor extensions.
DLMP: Supported.
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Supported.
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Switch configuration
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Trunk: Required.
DLMP: Not required.
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Not required.
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Back-to-back configuration
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Supported.
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Not supported.
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Media types supported
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Ethernet-specific.
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Broadcast-capable.
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Load-spreading support
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Trunk: Supported and controlled by the administrator by using the
dladm command. Inbound load spreading is
supported.
DLMP: Supported across clients and VNICs of the aggregation. However,
load spreading by individual clients and VNICs over the aggregation is
not supported.
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Supported. Controlled by the kernel. Inbound load spreading is
indirectly affected by the source address selection.
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Level of support when integrating with VNICs
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Excellent support. Aggregation is configured in the control domain or
the global zone only and is transparent to the zones.
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Supported. However, VNIC properties such as bandwidth limit, dedicated
Rx or Tx rings, and link protection cannot be enforced on an IPMP
group.
Requires multiple VNICs to be assigned to the zones and needs to be
configured in every zone.
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User defined flows for resource management
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Supported.
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Not supported.
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Link protection
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Supported.
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Not supported.
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Protocol requirements
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None.
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None.
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In link aggregations, incoming traffic is spread over the multiple links that comprise the
aggregation in trunk mode. Therefore, networking performance is enhanced as more NICs are
installed to add links to the aggregation.
DLMP aggregations span multiple switches. As a Layer 2 technology, aggregations integrate
well with other Oracle Solaris virtualization technologies.
IPMP's traffic uses the IPMP interface's data addresses as they are bound to the available
active interfaces. If, for example, all the data traffic is flowing between only two IP
addresses but not necessarily over the same connection, then adding more NICs will not
improve performance with IPMP because only two IP addresses remain usable.