Configuring IPMP in Oracle Solaris 11

IPMP works differently in Oracle Solaris 11 than in Oracle Solaris 10. One significant change is that IP interfaces are now grouped into a virtual IP interface, for example, ipmp0. The virtual IP interface serves all of the data IP addresses, while test addresses that are used for probe-based failure detection are assigned to an underlying interface such as net0. For more information, see How IPMP Works in Managing Oracle Solaris 11.1 Network Performance.

Oracle Solaris 11 also uses different commands for managing IPMP configuration. As a result, some configuration tasks are also performed differently. Refer to the following general work flow when transitioning from your existing IPMP configuration to the new IPMP model:

1. Make sure you are using fixed network configuration and that the DefaultFixed NCP is enabled on your system prior to configuring IPMP. See How to Change the Active NCP On the System in Connecting Systems Using Fixed Network Configuration in Oracle Solaris 11.1.

2. Ensure that MAC addresses on SPARC based systems are unique. See How to Ensure That the MAC Address of Each Interface Is Unique in Connecting Systems Using Fixed Network Configuration in Oracle Solaris 11.1.

3. Use the dladm command to configure datalinks. To use the same physical network devices within your IPMP configuration, you will need to first identify the datalinks that are associated with each device instance:

   # dladm show-phys
   LINK              MEDIA                STATE      SPEED  DUPLEX    DEVICE
   net1              Ethernet             unknown    0      unknown   bge1
   net0              Ethernet             up         1000   full      bge0
   net2              Ethernet             unknown    1000   full      e1000g0
   net3              Ethernet             unknown    1000   full      e1000g1

   If you previously used e1000g0 and e1000g1 for your IPMP configuration, you now use net2 and net3. Note that datalinks can be based not only on physical links but also on aggregations, VLANs, VNICs, and so on. For more information, see Displaying a System’s Datalinks (dladm show-link) in Connecting Systems Using Fixed Network Configuration in Oracle Solaris 11.1.

4. Use the ipadm to perform the following tasks:

   • Configure the network layer

   • Create IP interfaces

   • Add IP interfaces to the IPMP group

   • Add data IP addresses to the IPMP group

For detailed instructions, see Configuring IPMP Groups in Managing Oracle Solaris 11.1 Network Performance.

To learn more about how Oracle Solaris 11 network configuration commands map to Oracle Solaris 10 network configuration commands, see Appendix A, Comparison Map: ifconfig and ipadm Commands, in Connecting Systems Using Fixed Network Configuration in Oracle Solaris 11.1.