HP HP-UX Auto Port Aggregation Administrator's Guide

HP Auto Port Aggregation Administrator's Guide

HP-UX 11i v1, 11i v2

HP Part Number: J4240-90046 Published: September 2008 Edition: September 2008, E0908

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About This Document.........................................................................................................9

1 Introduction...................................................................................................................13

Conceptual Overview...........................................................................................................................13

Link Aggregate................................................................................................................................13

Load Balancing...........................................................................................................................14

Failover Group.................................................................................................................................15

Proactive Failover.......................................................................................................................15

TCP Segmentation Offload..............................................................................................................16

VLAN Support.................................................................................................................................16

Interoperability with HP Serviceguard................................................................................................17

Administrative Methods.......................................................................................................................17

HP System Administration Manager..............................................................................................17

lanadmin Command........................................................................................................................18

Manually Editing Configuration Files.............................................................................................18

2 Installing the APA Software.........................................................................................19

Installation Requirements.....................................................................................................................19

Hardware Requirements.................................................................................................................19

Supported Switches....................................................................................................................19

Supported LAN Cards...............................................................................................................19

Operating System Requirements.....................................................................................................20

Software Requirements ...................................................................................................................20

Installing the Software..........................................................................................................................20

Verifying the Installation .....................................................................................................................20

Removing the Software.........................................................................................................................21

3 Configuring APA..........................................................................................................23

HP APA Configuration Examples........................................................................................................23

Enterprise Intranet Client/Server Environment..............................................................................23

Internet or Large Enterprise Environments Using Routers............................................................24

Server-to-Server (Back-to-Back).......................................................................................................26

Hot Standby for High Availability..................................................................................................27

Server-to-Server with Switch (Not Recommended)........................................................................28

Failover Group.................................................................................................................................29

Failover Group Using Link Aggregates .........................................................................................30

Preparing for Configuration.................................................................................................................31

Link Aggregate Advanced Parameters.................................................................................................34

Failover Group Advanced Parameters.................................................................................................35

Configuring a Link Aggregate..............................................................................................................36

Configuring an FEC_AUTO Mode Link Aggregate.......................................................................36

Using SAM to Configure a MANUAL Mode Link Aggregate........................................................41

Configuring a Failover Group..............................................................................................................46

Configuring an IP Address...................................................................................................................47

Configuring the Link Partner................................................................................................................47

Configuring HP Serviceguard..............................................................................................................47

Creating VLANs Over APA..................................................................................................................47

Verifying the Configuration..................................................................................................................47

Table of Contents 3

What Happens During Start Up?..........................................................................................................48

4 Using the lanadmin Command..................................................................................51

Set Options............................................................................................................................................52

Display Options....................................................................................................................................54

Invoking lanadmin from the Command Line.......................................................................................57

Using lanadmin Interactively...............................................................................................................59

5 Administering HP APA.................................................................................................63

Modifying HP APA Global Parameters................................................................................................63

Logging Messages to the syslog.log File...............................................................................................63

Examples..........................................................................................................................................64

Viewing HP APA Statistics...................................................................................................................65

6 Troubleshooting HP APA.............................................................................................67

Operation..............................................................................................................................................67

Getting Started......................................................................................................................................67

Solving HP APA Problems...................................................................................................................67

Solving Link Aggregate Problems (MANUAL Mode)....................................................................70

Solving Link Aggregate Problems (LACP Mode)...........................................................................74

Solving Link Aggregate Problems (FEC Mode)..............................................................................79

Solving Failover Group Problems...................................................................................................83

Troubleshooting Tools Overview and Usage........................................................................................88

Testing Access to Internet Network Hosts......................................................................................89

Scanning the System Hardware......................................................................................................89

nettl Tracing and Logging Tool.............................................................................................................90

Reporting Problems .............................................................................................................................92

Gathering Information.....................................................................................................................92

A Product Specifications.................................................................................................95

B HP APA Configuration Files.........................................................................................97

hp_apaconf File.....................................................................................................................................97

hp_apaportconf File..............................................................................................................................99

lanconfig.ascii File...............................................................................................................................100

lanconfig File.......................................................................................................................................103

C Configuring HP APA by Editing Files......................................................................105

Editing Configuration Files for Link Aggregates...............................................................................105

Editing Files for MANUAL, FEC_AUTO, or LACP_AUTO Mode...............................................105

MANUAL Port Configuration Mode.......................................................................................105

FEC_AUTO Port Configuration Mode.....................................................................................106

LACP_AUTO Port Configuration Mode..................................................................................106

Editing Configuration Files for Failover Groups...........................................................................107

Example: Configuring a Failover Group..................................................................................108

Proactive Failover Examples....................................................................................................110

D VLANs over APA Using HP Procurve Switches.......................................................113

Configuring VLANs over Link Aggregates .......................................................................................113

Configuring VLANs over Failover Groups........................................................................................114

4 Table of Contents

E Switch Configuration Information.............................................................................119

Alteon Switches...................................................................................................................................119

Cisco 6509 Switches.............................................................................................................................119

Configuring a Single Port..............................................................................................................119

Showing a Single Port....................................................................................................................119

Creating an LACP Link Aggregation............................................................................................120

Creating an PAgP Link Aggregation.............................................................................................120

Displaying the Link Aggregation..................................................................................................120

Displaying a Port in a Link Aggregation.......................................................................................121

Displaying More LACP Information.............................................................................................121

Deleting a Link Aggregation.........................................................................................................122

Extreme Switches................................................................................................................................122

Configuring HP APA Link Aggregates.........................................................................................122

Configuring LACP Link Aggregates.............................................................................................123

Procurve Switches...............................................................................................................................123

Procurve 4000/8000........................................................................................................................123

Procurve 4108.................................................................................................................................123

Procurve 9304/8..............................................................................................................................124

Configuring HP APA................................................................................................................125

Glossary.........................................................................................................................127

Index...............................................................................................................................129

Table of Contents 5

List of Figures

3-1 Sample Enterprise Intranet Client/Server Configuration..............................................................24

3-2 Sample Router and Server Configuration (No Switch).................................................................25

3-3 Sample Router and Server Configuration (Switch).......................................................................26

3-4 Sample Server-to-Server Configuration (Back-to-Back)................................................................27

3-5 Sample Hot Standby Configuration for High Availability...........................................................28

3-6 Sample Server-to-Server Configuration with Switch (Not Recommended).................................29

3-7 Sample Failover Group (LAN_MONITOR) Configuration..........................................................30

3-8 Sample Failover Group Using Link Aggregates Configuration...................................................31

3-9 HP APA Configuration Worksheet...............................................................................................32

3-10 Displaying Link Aggregates..........................................................................................................37

3-11 Configuring Link Aggregates.......................................................................................................37

3-12 Link Aggregate Advanced Options .............................................................................................38

3-13 Network Physical Ports Supporting HP APA...............................................................................38

3-14 Modify Network Physical Port Attributes....................................................................................39

3-15 Example of Configured Link Aggregates.....................................................................................39

3-16 Status of Configured Link Aggregate is UP..................................................................................40

3-17 Configuring Link Aggregates.......................................................................................................40

3-18 Link Aggregate with Configured IP Address...............................................................................41

3-19 Link Aggregates Supporting HP APA..........................................................................................42

3-20 Network Physical Ports Supporting APA.....................................................................................42

3-21 Modify Network Physical Port Attributes....................................................................................43

3-22 Display Link Aggregates to Configure.........................................................................................43

3-23 Configuring Link Aggregates.......................................................................................................44

3-24 Link Aggregate Advanced Options .............................................................................................44

3-25 Adding Ports to or Deleting Ports from Link Aggregate..............................................................45

3-26 Adding Ports to or Deleting Ports from Link Aggregate..............................................................45

3-27 Configured Link Aggregates Display...........................................................................................46

3-28 Link Aggregate Displays with Status UP......................................................................................46

D-1 VLAN over a Link Aggregate.....................................................................................................113

D-2 VLAN over a Failover Group......................................................................................................115

6 List of Figures

List of Tables

1-1 Interoperability with HP Serviceguard.........................................................................................17

4-1 Summary of lanadmin -x and -X Options.....................................................................................51

A-1 HP APA and LAN Monitor Capabilities.......................................................................................95

C-1 lan900 Events and Proactive Failover (Equal Network Costs)....................................................111

C-2 lan900 Events and Proactive Failover (Unequal Network Costs)...............................................112

List of Examples

5-1 Sample Link Aggregate 32-Bit Statistics........................................................................................66

5-2 Sample Link Aggregate 64-Bit Statistics........................................................................................66

6-1 Sample ioscan –f Output...............................................................................................................90

B-1 Sample lanconfig.ascii Configuration File...................................................................................101

8 List of Examples

About This Document

This document (formerly titled HP Auto Port Aggregation Support Guide) describes how to install, configure, and troubleshoot HP Auto Port Aggregation (APA) on HP-UX Version 11.0, 11i v1, 11i v2 platforms.

Document updatescan be issued between editions to correct errors or document product changes. To ensure that you receive the updated or new editions, subscribe to the appropriate product support service. See your HP sales representative for details.

This document is not a tutorial.

Intended Audience

This document is intended for system and network administrators responsible for installing, configuring, andmanaging HP APA. Administrators are expected to have knowledgeof operating system concepts, commands, and configuration.

A knowledge of Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) networking concepts and network configuration is also helpful.

New and Changed Information in This Edition

The September 2007 release of HP APA for HP-UX 11i v1 supports Nortel Split Multi-Link Trunking (SMLT) technology and MANUAL mode link aggregate creation from ports with different group capability values.

The September 2007release of HP APA for HP-UX 11i v2 supports HP Serviceguard over failover groups (LAN_MONITOR mode), Nortel Split Multi-Link Trunking (SMLT) technology, and improved HP Integrity virtual machine support.

The document has been reorganized and the troubleshooting section updated.

Document Organization

This document is organized as follows:

Chapter 1 (page 13) Describes HP APA, its concepts, and administrative methods. Chapter 2 (page 19) Describes HP APA installation requirements and how to install HP

APA.

Chapter 3 (page 23) Shows sample HP APA configurations, and describes the

information to gather and the steps to configure HP APA using the System Administration Manager (SAM).

Chapter 4 (page 51)

Chapter 5 (page 63) Describes those tasks that you perform for the day-to-day

Chapter 6 (page 67) Describes how to diagnose and solve HP APA problems, including

Appendix A (page 95) Provides a summary of the HP APA product specifications. Appendix B (page 97) Describes the HP APA configuration files and their fields. Appendix C (page 105) Describes how to configure HP APA by editing the configuration

Appendix D (page 113) Describes the steps to configure VLANs over HP APA using HP

Appendix E (page 119) Provides information on using various switches to configure link

Describes how to administer HP APA using the lanadmin command.

administration of HP APA.

reporting problems to HP.

files.

Procurve switches.

aggregates.

Typographic Conventions

This document uses the following typographical conventions:

%, $, or #

audit(5) A manpage. The manpage name is audit, and it is located in

Command Computer output

Ctrl+x A key sequence. A sequence such as Ctrl+x indicates that you

ENVIRONMENT VARIABLE The name of an environment variable, for example, PATH. [ERROR NAME] Key The name of a keyboard key. Return and Enter both refer to the

Term The defined use of an important word or phrase.

User input

Variable

[] The contents are optional in syntax. If the contents are a list

{} The contents are required in syntax. If the contents are a list

... The preceding element can be repeated an arbitrary number of

A percent sign represents the C shell system prompt. A dollar sign represents the system prompt for the Bourne, Korn, and POSIX shells. A number sign represents the superuser prompt.

Section 5. A command name or qualified command phrase. Text displayed by the computer.

must hold down the key labeled Ctrl while you press another key or mouse button.

The name of an error, usually returned in the errno variable.

same key.

Commands and other text that you type. The name of a placeholder in a command, function, or other

syntax display that you replace with an actual value.

separated by |, you must choose one of the items.

times. Indicates the continuation of a code example.

| Separates items in a list of choices. WARNING A warning calls attention to important information that if not

understood or followed will result in personal injury or nonrecoverable system problems.

CAUTION A caution calls attention to important information that if not

understood or followed will result in data loss, data corruption, or damage to hardware or software.

IMPORTANT This alert provides essential information to explain a concept or

to complete a task

NOTE A note contains additional information to emphasize or

supplement important points of the main text.

Related Information

You can find additional information about HP APA in docs.hp.com in the Internet & Networking topic area, in the I/O Cards and Networking Software collection under Auto Port Aggregation (APA) at:

http://www.docs.hp.com/hpux/netcom/index.html#Auto%20Port%20Aggregation%20%28APA%29

Other documents in this collection include:

• HP Auto Port Aggregation (APA) Release Notes

• Performance and Scalability White Paper

• Using APA to Build a Screaming Fast Network Server Connection

Publishing History

The document printing date and part number indicate the document’s current edition. The printing date will change when a new edition is printed. Minor changes may be made at reprint without changing the printing date. The document part number will change when extensive changes are made. Document updates may be issued between editions to correct errors or document product changes. To ensure that you receive the updated or new editions, you must subscribe to the appropriate product support service. See your HP sales representative for details. You can find the latest version of this document on line at:

http://www.docs.hp.com.

Manufacturing Part Number

J4240–90046

J4240–90041

J4240–90039

Systems

11.0 11i v1 11i v2

11.0 11i v1 11i v2 11i v3

11.0 11i v1 11i v2

B.11.11.30 B.11.23.40 B.11.31.10

B.11.11.30 B.11.23.30

Publication DateEdition NumberSupported VersionsSupported Operating

September 2008E1207B.11.00.xx

September 2008E0908B.11.31.2011i v3J4240–90045

December 2007E1207B.11.00.xx

September 2007E0907B.11.00.xx

February 2007E0207B.11.31.0211i v3J4240–90037

HP Encourages Your Comments

HP encourages your comments concerning this document. We are committed to providing documentation that meets your needs. Send any errors found, suggestions for improvement, or compliments to:

feedback@fc.hp.com

Include the document title, manufacturing part number, and any comment, error found, or suggestion for improvement you have concerning this document.

1 Introduction

HP Auto Port Aggregation (APA) is a software product that creates link aggregates, often called trunks, which provide a logical grouping of two or more physical ports into a single fat pipe. This port arrangement provides more data bandwidth than would otherwise be available and enables you to build large bandwidth logical links into the server that are highly available and completely transparent to the client and server applications. HP APA provides the following features:

• Automatic link failure detection and recovery

• Support for load balancing of network traffic across all of the links in the aggregation.

• Support for the creation of failover groups, providing a failover capability for links. In the event of a link failure, LAN Monitor automatically migrates traffic to a standby link.

• Support for the TCP Segmentation Offload (Large Send) feature, if an aggregate is created with all Ethernet cards capable of TCP Segmentation Offload (TSO).

• Support for Virtual VLANs (VLANs) over APA link aggregates and failover groups. (September 2006 release of HP-UX 11i v2 (B.11.23.20) and later releases)

• Support for 64-bit MIB (RFC 2863) statistics, if all the interfaces within a link aggregate or failover group support 64-bit statistics.

• Support for IPv6 addresses on a link aggregate or failover group. (December 2005 release of APA for HP-UX 11i v2 (B.11.23.10) and later releases)

For release-specific information, see the release notes on the web at:

http://www.docs.hp.com

For a summary of HP APA capabilities, see Appendix A (page 95).

Conceptual Overview

HP APA offers you a comprehensive solution to create fast, highly available network server connections with minimal IT support costs. HP APA enables this with four key benefits:

• Automatic link failure detection and recovery in case of network failures. A link aggregate continues to operate as long as there is at least one port operating.

• Scalable high-performance link aggregates using Fast or Gigabit Ethernet and the HP APA load-balancing algorithms. See “Load Balancing” (page 14) for more information.

• Fault management and isolation with the HP MIB Monitor and nettl logging facilities.

• Lower IT costs with automated configuration and management tools using the IEEE 802.3ad or PAgP standards and the intuitive HP System Management Homepage (SMH) GUI.

This section describes the following features of HP APA:

• Link aggregate

• Failover group

• TCP segmentation offload

• VLAN support

• Interoperability with HP Serviceguard

• Administrative methods

Link Aggregate

HP APA enables you to combine 2 to 4 physical link ports (up to 32 for LACP mode) into one link aggregate. This gives the link aggregation a theoretical bandwidth of 4 times that of a single physical link (32 times for LACP mode). A link aggregate has the following characteristics:

Conceptual Overview 13

NOTE: The December 2005 and later releases of APA for HP-UX 11i v2 (B.11.23.10) enable you to combine 2 to 8 physical link ports into one link aggregate.

• The physical ports in the link aggregation use the same MAC address.

The unique MAC address for a specific link aggregate is determined by using the MAC address of one of the ports in the link aggregate. All ports will use the same MAC address.

When a physical port is removed from a link aggregate, the port's MAC address is reset to its own MAC address.

• HP APA link aggregates can migrate the network traffic from a failed physical link in the aggregate to the remaining operational links in the aggregate.

• HP APA distributes the outbound network traffic across the physical links in the link aggregation using a load balancing algorithm.

Effective APA load balancing requires many simultaneous, active client connections. The connections are distributed across the physical links. One client connection will have its traffic sent on one physical link. The connection is defined by the load-balancing algorithm. See “Load Balancing” (page 14) for more information.

• Each link aggregate can have one or more IP addresses assigned to it in the /etc/ rc.config.d/netconf file.

• The link partner (the switch, router, or server) ports connected to the server ports must be configured for link aggregation (trunking). In addition, the mode on the link partner and the server must be the same. For example, if ports 1, 2, 3, and 4 are connected to a link partner switch's ports C1, C2, C3, and C4, respectively, and the server side is trunked using LACP_AUTO mode, the partner switch must be configured to trunk ports C1, C2, C3, and C4 using LACP_AUTO mode.

NOTE: MANUAL mode link aggregates using HOT_STANDBY load balancing can be connected to different switches. In addition, do not enable trunking on the corresponding switch ports.

• The link partner (the switch, router, or server) connected to the link aggregation can inhibit the usefulness of HP APA in some environments. See “HP APA Configuration Examples”

(page 23) for more information.

• All the devices in the link aggregation must be the same type and must be configured for the same speed, duplex, and MTU. See “Supported LAN Cards” (page 19) for the devices HP APA supports.

Load Balancing

HP APA provides load balancing on outbound data transfers using a load distribution algorithm that you select when you configure a link aggregate. The load distribution algorithms are based on destination MAC address, IP address, or TCP/UDP port number. Inbound load balancing is strictly determined by the link partner (switch, router, or remote server) and has no affect on the outbound algorithms.

Although you can use each of these load distribution algorithms in all supported configurations, they may not all provide the same load on each of the physical ports in the link aggregate. Therefore, HP prefers you use the algorithm that is recommended for each supported configuration. See “Preparing for Configuration” (page 31) for more information.

The load balancing algorithm consists of the following steps:

14 Introduction

1. Data Flow Lookup — The load distribution algorithm determines an index into a hash table that includes the physical port through which the outbound data flow is forwarded.

2. Data Flow Physical Port Assignment — If the hash index for the data flow has not been assigned a physical port (the entry is empty), a physical port in the link aggregate is assigned to that specific hash index. The physical port is selected on a Round Robin basis.

3. Aging Data Flows — Over time, each data flow is checked to determine if it is still active. If the data flow has not been active in the last 30 seconds, its specific hash index is cleared (aged out). If the data flow restarts after being cleared from the hash table, it is reassigned a new physical port on a Round Robin basis.

Each load distribution algorithm guarantees that it will not introduce any severe ordering problems within a specific data flow. This is required to ensure that the performance is not degraded significantly as a result of turning on one of the algorithms.

Also, all packets for a specific data flow always flow out through the same physical port until the data flow is aged out of the distribution table. This means that in order to generate simultaneous load on each of the physical ports in a link aggregate, start multiple data flows over the link aggregate.

Failover Group

HP APA enables you to combine 2 to 32 physical link ports into one failover group. A failover group is a link aggregate in LAN_MONITOR mode, but with the following differences:

• One port is the active link, and the others are standby links. Network traffic is sent and received on the active port.

• LAN Monitor periodically exchanges APA packets between the links making up the failover group. This enables better detection of non-operational links in the failover group.

• If the active port or its link partner fails, LAN Monitor automatically migrates the traffic to one of the standby ports in the failover group. When a port with a higher priority than the current active port recovers, the network traffic is migrated back to the previous active port. Sometimes, it is desirable to have the network traffic remain on the current active port after the failure and recovery of the previous active port. To achieve this, set the HP APA port priorities the same for all ports in the failover group.

• You can use 100BT, Gigabit, or 10 Gigabit Ethernet (10GbE) devices in the failover group. However, all the devices in the failover group must be of one type: 100BT, Gigabit, or 10GbE.

• The failover group can have one or more IP addresses assigned to it.

• The physical ports in the failover group do not share a common MAC address.

• You can include link aggregates in a failover group. This enables increased bandwidth and load balancing in a failover group.

Proactive Failover

By default, the port in a failover group with the highest priority is the active port. This is called priority-based failover. However, the May 2005 and later releases of APA for HP-UX 11i v1 (B.11.11.20) and PHNE_33116 (B.11.11.17) patch release also allow you to configure failover groups with proactive failover.

With proactive failover, the port that is the most efficient at carrying traffic is the active port. Efficiency is determined by assigning a cost to each port in a failover group. This cost is divided by the port's current link speed to yield a normalized port cost; link speed is the number of links in a link aggregate multiplied by the speed of a member link, or in the case of a single link, only the link speed. The lower the normalized port cost, the higher the link's efficiency. If two links have the same normalized cost, the one with the higher priority is preferred.

For each failover group, if you assign a cost value to one link, you must assign a cost value to all other links in the group. If you do not specify a cost value for any of the failover group's links, the failover group uses the default failover behavior based on priority.

Conceptual Overview 15

During certain LAN Monitor events (for example, link failure and link recovery), the normalized port cost might change on the active or standby links. When these events occur, the normalized port cost of the active link and the standby links are compared. If a standby link has a lower normalized port cost than the active link, the standby link becomes the active link even if the current active link is UP.

TCP Segmentation Offload

HP APA supports TCP Segmentation Offload (TSO),also known as LargeSend, on link aggregates and failover groups if all the Ethernet cards are capable of it. TSO is a mechanism by which the host stack offloads certain portions of outbound TCP packet processing to the Network Interface Card (NIC) thereby reducing host CPU utilization. This functionality can significantly reduce the load on the server for certain applications which primarily transmit large amounts of data from the system.

In link aggregates, TSO has the following behavior:

• If TSO is enabled on all of the physical ports in a link aggregate, TSO is enabled for the entire link aggregate. If any of the ports within that link aggregate go DOWN or UP, the TSO status of the link aggregate does not change. After the physical ports are added to the aggregate, the TSO capability of the physical ports cannot be changed.

• If a port is removed from a link aggregate, the following occurs: — If TSO was supported on the link aggregate before removing the port, TSO remains

enabled on the link aggregate.

— If TSO was disabled on the link aggregate before removing the port, TSO of the link

aggregate is based on remaining ports in the link aggregate. If all remaining ports support TSO, TSO is enabled on the link aggregate; otherwise, TSO remains disabled.

• If a port is added to a link aggregate, the TSO settings are recalculated. If the added port has TSO disabled, TSO is disabled on the link aggregate.

In failover groups, the TSO status depends on the TSO status of the current active port. When the active port is changed, the TSO status of the failover group might change. For example, an active port supports TSO and the standby port does not. Therefore, the failover group supports TSO. If the active port goes down, the standby port becomes active and the failover group now no longer supports TSO.

By default, TSO is disabled. To enable TSO on each specific interface, see the Ethernet Support Guide, available in http://www.docs.hp.com, in the Networking and Communication section.

To verify if TSO is supported on an link aggregate or failover group, enter the following command:

# lanadmin -x vmtu linkAggPPA Driver/Hardware does not support TCP Segmentation Offload

If TSO is supported, a message similar to the following is displayed:

Driver/Hardware supports TCP Segmentation Offload, Current VMTU = 32160

VLAN Support

For the September 2006 and later releases of HP APA for HP-UX 11i v2 (B.11.23.20), VLANs over link aggregates and failover groups have the same advantages of VLANs over physical links, but with the following additional features:

• VLANs over link aggregates offer higher bandwidth than VLANs over a single physical link.

• VLANs over failover groups offer improved reliability. The VLANs continue to carry traffic in case the active link failed.

• You can use VLANs over one link aggregate to serve multiple workgroups. This also enables broadcast traffic to be isolated within the same broadcast domain, offering improved security for workgroups.

16 Introduction

• The same link aggregate or failover group can offer different level of service for each user using ToS. You gain more flexibility in how you deploy link aggregates and failover groups.

• You can create, remove,and modify VLANs over link aggregatesand failover groups without rebooting the system. This enables you to configure networking on a server without disrupting other users.

For more information on managing and using VLANs, see HP-UX VLAN Administrator's Guide and your switch documentation.

Appendix D (page 113) describes characteristics of using VLANs over link aggregates and failover

groups and guidelines for each configuration.

Interoperability with HP Serviceguard

Table 1-1 shows the HP APA interoperability with HP Serviceguard. For installation guidelines,

see “Configuring HP Serviceguard” (page 47).

Table 1-1 Interoperability with HP Serviceguard

HP Serviceguard Version

A.11.16

Number of LinksSupported ModesHP APA Version

4 (FEC_AUTO)FEC_AUTO, Hot StandbyB.11.23.10A.11.15,

A.11.17 and PHSS_35427 patch1, A.11.18

1 Supports LACP link aggregations and link aggregations with more than four ports.

2 HP Serviceguard Primary LAN interface only.

B.11.23.10 and PHNE_34774 patch

B.11.23.30 (September 2007)

Standby

Standby, and LAN_MONITOR

Administrative Methods

The following sections provide a brief overview of the methods for administering HP APA. HP recommends that you use the System Administration Manager (SAM) whenever possible.

HP System Administration Manager

The HP System Administration Manager (SAM) enables you to administer your HP-UX system locally via a graphical user interface (GUI) and terminal user interface (TUI). SAM produces fewer errors and saves your configuration data permanently so configuration does not require a reboot to take effect. It is the recommended method for configuring link aggregates.

NOTE: You cannot use SAM to configure failover groups. For more information, see “Editing

Configuration Files for Failover Groups” (page 107) and “Configuring VLANs over Failover Groups” (page 114).

8 (FEC_AUTO), 32 (LACP_AUTO)FEC_AUTO, LACP_AUTO, and Hot

8 (FEC_AUTO), 32 (LACP_AUTO)FEC_AUTO, LACP_AUTO, Hot

In this manual, wherever SAM is mentioned in relation to HP APA configuration tasks, it is presumed that you know how to invoke it.

For more information about the System Administration Manager, see sam(1M) and the online help.

Interoperability with HP Serviceguard 17

lanadmin Command

You can also use the lanadmin command from the HP-UX command line to make changes to HP APA. By default, those changes are not preserved across reboots. For moreinformation about the lanadmin command and using it to administer APA, see lanadmin(1M) and Chapter 4

(page 51), respectively.

Manually Editing Configuration Files

Some sections of this manual describe the system files that are updated or modified when you perform an administrative task. Experienced UNIX administrators might prefer to administer their systems manually by editing these files, as opposed to invoking the documented utility; however, HP strongly recommends that you use SAM to update the system files.

In many cases, the SAM is the best alternative to manually editing system files, thus it is the utility that is most frequently discussed in this manual.

18 Introduction

2 Installing the APA Software

This chapter describes the information required in order to install APA on your system.

Installation Requirements

1. Log in to the HP-UX server as superuser.

2. Confirm that the /usr/bin, /usr/sbin, and/sbin directories are in your PATH by using

the echo $PATH command.

3. Use the uname -a command to determine the HP-UX version of your system.

4. Install the required patches for your system as described in the “Required Patches” section

of the release notes.

Hardware Requirements

Supported Switches

HP APA supports the Cisco FastEtherChannel (PAgP) protocol, the Link Aggregation Control Protocol (LACP) (IEEE 802.3ad), and manual trunking mechanisms. HP has tested switches from the following vendors to work with HP APA:

• 3Com

• Cisco

• HP Procurve

• Foundry

• Alteon

• Nortel

• Extreme

With the September 2007 release of HP APA for HP-UX 11i v1 and HP-UX 11i v2 (B.11.11.30 and B.11.23.30, respectively), HP APA also supports Nortel's Split Multi-Link Trunking (SMLT) technology. Specifically, HP has tested the Passport 8006 and Passport 8010 switches with the version 3.7.13.0 of the software.

Supported LAN Cards

The following network interface cards are supported for HP-UX 11.0 and 11i v1:

• All HP HP-PB, HSC, and PCI 10/100Base cards (both FX and TX)

• All HP HSC and PCI 1000Base cards (both Base-T and SX)

• HP-PB and PCI Token Ring (failover groups only)

• HP-PB and PCI FDDI (failover groups only)

The following network interface cards are supported for HP-UX 11i v2:

• All HP PCI 10/100Base cards (both FX and TX)

NOTE: HP APA does not support the 10/100 BT Standard/Management LAN interface found on some systems and controlled by the intl100 driver, and any other devices controlled by the intl100 driver.

• All HP PCI 1000Base cards (both Base-T and SX)

• PCI-X 10 GbE Fiber cards (failover groups only)

• All HP PCI-X 2-port Combination cards (network ports only)

• PCI Token Ring (failover groups only)

• PCI FDDI (failover groups only)

Installation Requirements 19

Operating System Requirements

HP-UX 11.0, 11i v1, or 11i v2.

Software Requirements

For the December 2005 release of HP APA for HP-UX 11i v2 (B.11.23.10) and later releases, if you want to use 8 ports for trunking HP APA requires the following software:

• Transport Optional Upgrade (TOUR) 3.0

• Streams Advance Release (STAR) 1.0

• IPFilter version A.03.05.12, if you use IP Filter

Installing the Software

Skip this section if you ordered product option 0D1—preinstallation.

1. To install the software from the installation media, enter the following command:

swinstall

2. Choose the appropriate Source Depot Type (for example, Local CD, Local tape, Local Directory, Network Directory/CDROM).

3. Choose Source Host Name.

4. Choose Source Depot Path. If you do not know the exact path, you can click the Source Depot Path button to display a list of valid choices.

5. Highlight the HP APA software:

J4240AA

6. Choose Mark for Install from the Actions menu.

7. Choose Install from the Actions menu to begin product installation and to display the Install Analysis window.

8. Click OK in the Install Analysis window when the Status field displays a Ready message.

9. Click YES at the Confirmation window to confirm that you want to install the software. The swinstall command loads the fileset, runs the control scripts for the filesets, and builds the kernel. The estimated time for processing is 3 to 5 minutes depending on the complexity of your system. When the status field indicates Ready, a Note window opens. Click OK on the Note window to reboot the system.

NOTE: You must reboot the system after the software installation to configure HP APA into the kernel.

After you have installed HP APA, it will be in MANUAL port configuration mode until you configure it to aggregate eligible ports.

See swinstall(1M) for more information.

Verifying the Installation

To verify that the HP APA software (J4240AA) has been successfully installed, complete the following steps:

20 Installing the APA Software

1. Verify that the product was installed by issuing the following command:

# swlist -l product | grep -i HP-APA

Output similar to the following displays:

HP-APA-FMT B.11.23.40 HP Auto-Port Aggregation APA formatter product. HP-APA-KRN B.11.31.20 HP Auto-Port Aggregation kernel products. HP-APA-LM B.11.31.20 HP Auto-Port Aggregation LM commands. HP-APA-NETMOD B.11.31.20 HP Auto-Port Aggregation nwmgr/NCweb libraries. HP-APA-RUN B.11.31.20 HP Auto-Port Aggregation APA command products.

If the sub-products are not displayed, reinstall the software. See “Installing the Software”

(page 20) for more information.

2. Verify that the software is configured in the kernel by issuing the following command:

# what /stand/vmunix | egrep -i hp_apa

Output similar to the following displays:

$Revision: hp_apa: HP Auto-Port Aggregation (APA): B.11.31.20 Aug 20 2008 11:30

If nothing is displayed, rebuild the kernel.

Removing the Software

If you need to remove the HP APA software, complete the following steps:

1. To remove the software from the system, enter the following command:

swremove

2. Highlight the HP APA software:

J4240AA

3. Choose Mark for Remove from the Actions menu.

4. Choose Remove from the Actions menu to begin product removal and to display the Remove Analysis window.

5. Click OK in the Remove Analysis window when the Status field displays a Ready message.

6. Click YES at the Confirmation window to confirm that you want to remove the software. The swremove command unloads the fileset, runs the control scripts for the filesets, and builds the kernel. The estimated time for processing is 3 to 5 minutes depending on the complexity of your system. When the status field indicates Ready, a Note window opens. Click OK on the Note window to reboot the system.

NOTE: You must reboot the system after the software removal to deconfigure HP APA in the kernel.

See swremove(1M) for more information.

Removing the Software 21

3 Configuring APA

This chapter describes how to configure HP APA on your system. This includes:

• Reviewing sample HP APA configurations

• Preparing for the configuration by gathering information

• Configuring systems in sample configurations

• Configuring a link aggregate

• Configuring a failover group

• Configuring the link partner

• Performing post-configuration tasks

HP APA Configuration Examples

This section shows some sample HP APA configurations. Select a configuration that most closely matches the environment into which you want to configure HP APA on your system.

Enterprise Intranet Client/Server Environment

Figure 3-1 shows a sample enterprise client/server environment. This type of environment is a

good candidate for HP APA link aggregations, and has the following characteristics:

• Requires a switch capable of trunking or load balancing.

• Many clients produce many connections. This makes effective use of the HP APA outbound network traffic distribution algorithms. The HP APA MAC address load-balancing algorithm is a good choice. The IP address and TCP/UDP port address load-balancing algorithm also works effectively in this configuration.

• The switch typically provides good inbound traffic distribution. Most switches use the data packet's source MAC address, or a combination of the packet's source and destination MAC addresses, to provide inbound load balancing.

• Depending on the network traffic bandwidth requirements, you can use two to four 100BT interfaces or two to four Gigabit interfaces in an PAgP or MANUAL link aggregation. For the December 2005 release (B.11.23.10), you can use two to eight interfaces. With LACP, you can use up to 32 interfaces in the link aggregation. This enables bandwidth scalability as network loads increase as the organization grows.

HP APA Configuration Examples 23

Figure 3-1 Sample Enterprise Intranet Client/Server Configuration

hp ProCurve

Switch 8000

HP APA 2–4 Port Link Aggregation

HP ProCurve 8000 Switch

Hub Hub

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 0

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 0

Power Run Attn. Fault Remote

Internet or Large Enterprise Environments Using Routers

You can use HP APA link aggregation successfully in certain environments employing routers. You must be careful because a particular router might not have a load balancing capability. Additionally, switches employed between the server employing HP APA and the router inject another level of complexity that you must analyze before determining that the environment is a candidate for HP APA link aggregations.

Figure 3-2 (page 25) shows a sample router and server configuration with no switch. This

configuration makes the following assumptions:

• The router or switching router connected to the server provides trunking or load balancing using an IP address-based load-balancing algorithm.

• There will be many TCP/UDP client connections. The HP APA IP address load-balancing algorithm provides effective outbound network traffic load balancing, as does the TCP/UDP port address algorithm. Do not use the MAC address algorithm because all packets transmitted from theserver would containthe samesource and destination MAC addresses.

24 Configuring APA

Figure 3-2 Sample Router and Server Configuration (No Switch)

HP APA 2–4 Port Link Aggregation

Router or Switching Router

Internet

Intranet

PowerRun Attn. Fault Remote

Figure 3-3 (page 26) shows a sample router and server configuration with a switch. In this

configuration, the switch might present problems because switches typically use a MAC address load-balancing algorithm. This might make the switch a bottleneck point because the packets from the router and from the server will contain the same source and destination MAC addresses, thus defeating the load-balancing algorithm for both inbound and outbound data at the server.

This condition might be acceptable if the load balancing of inbound traffic to the server is not a concern and the link between the switch and the router has greater bandwidth capacity than the server's link aggregation. For example: The server's link aggregation is composed of 100BT links and the link between the switch and the router is a Gigabit link.

HP APA Configuration Examples 25

Figure 3-3 Sample Router and Server Configuration (Switch)

HP APA 2–4 Port Link Aggregation

hp ProCurve

Switch 8000

Router or Switching Router

Switch

Internet

Intranet

PowerRun Attn. Fault Remote

Server-to-Server (Back-to-Back)

Figure 3-4 (page 27) shows a sample server-to-server configuration. You create server-to-server

aggregations by directly connecting the physical ports in one server's link aggregation to the physical ports in the other server's link aggregation. This configuration has the following characteristics:

• It needs many TCP/UDP client connections between the servers in order for load balancing to be effective. Therefore, use the HP APA TCP/UDP port load-balancing algorithm.

• Depending on the network traffic bandwidth requirements, use two to four 100BT interfaces or two to four Gigabit interfaces in an PAgP or MANUAL link aggregation. For the December 2005 release (B.11.23.10), you can use two to eight interfaces. With LACP, you can use up to 32 interfaces in the link aggregation. This enables bandwidth scalability as network loads increase as the organization grows.

26 Configuring APA

Figure 3-4 Sample Server-to-Server Configuration (Back-to-Back)

HP APA 2–4 Port Link Aggregation

PowerRun Attn. Fault Remote

Hot Standby for High Availability

Figure 3-5 (page 28) shows a sample MANUAL (Hot Standby) mode configuration. These link

aggregations provide high availability network access with an active link and a standby link.

NOTE: HP strongly recommends using failover groups (LAN_MONITOR mode) rather than Hot Standby mode. Hot Standby aggregates are deprecated.

This configuration has the following characteristics:

• The Hot Standby active link carries network traffic until it or its link partner fails. In that event, the standby link takes over the responsibility for delivering network traffic. If the previous active link is configured with a higher port priority than the current active link, when it recovers it resumes being the active link delivering the network traffic. If the port priorities are the same, the current active link continues as the active link.

• The active and standby links must both be the same type of device: 100Base-T or Gigabit.

• Hot Standby link aggregations can be connected to any switch or hub. The ports must be cabled to a switch and the switch ports must not be configured for an aggregation.

• Dual switches or hubs (as used in Figure 3-5) are not required. But dual switches and hubs provide a more reliable network environment by removing single points of failure. Both switches or hubs must be on the same subnet.

HP APA Configuration Examples 27

Figure 3-5 Sample Hot Standby Configuration for High Availability

HP APA 2-Port Hot Standby Link Aggregation

Switch or Hub

PowerRun Attn. Fault Remote

Primary

Standby

Server-to-Server with Switch (Not Recommended)

Figure 3-6 (page 29) shows a sample server–to–server HP APA link aggregation configuration

with a switch between the servers. This configuration will not work as intended for the following reasons:

• The switch nullifies any load balancing of network traffic provided by HP APA.

• The switch uses a MAC address load-balancing algorithm. Because the servers' link aggregations have fixed MAC addresses, the switch will not load balance; it will only transmit data on one physical link.

28 Configuring APA

Figure 3-6 Sample Server-to-Server Configuration with Switch (Not Recommended)

HP APA 2–4 Port Link Aggregation

PowerRun Attn. Fault Remote

hp ProCurve

Switch 8000

Switch

Failover Group

Figure 3-7 (page 30) shows a sample failover group (LAN_MONITOR mode) configuration. This

configuration provides high availability network access with an active link and a standby link, and has the following characteristics:

• Dual switches or hubs are not required. However, dual switches and hubs provide a more reliable network environment by removing the switch or hub as a single point of failure. If two switches or hubs are used, there must be a data path between them to allow them to be on the same subnet.

• You can connect failover groups to any switch or hub.

• The link partner does not require trunking to be enabled.

HP APA Configuration Examples 29

Figure 3-7 Sample Failover Group (LAN_MONITOR) Configuration

LAN Monitor 2-Port Failover Group

LAN Monitor 3-Port Failover Group

Switch or Hub

PowerRun Attn. Fault Remote

Active

Standby

Switch or Hub

PowerRun Attn. Fault Remote

Active

2 Standby Links

Failover Group Using Link Aggregates

Figure 3-8 (page 31) shows a failover group that uses link aggregates as the active and standby

devices to increase the network bandwidth through load balancing across the physical links. This configuration has the following characteristics:

• You can use any HP APA link aggregate, except Hot Standby, as a device in the failover group.

• The standby link does not have to be a link aggregation. It can be a single physical link of the same type as used in the link aggregation.

• Dual switches are not required. However, dual switches provide a more reliable network environment by removing the switch as a single point of failure. If two switches are used, there must be a data path between them.

• LAN Monitor failover groups using link aggregates are restricted to switches supported by HP APA link aggregates.

30 Configuring APA

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