asr.tech.notes

Shared Ethernet Adapters on VIO server can be configured in two different modes while accessing the external network. 1.  Simple mode 2. Trunk mode or 802.1Q mode In a Simple mode, the SEA is not aware of any VLAN information and bridges all the network packets to the external switch.  the external switch then determines the target and routes/discards it accordingly.  This is very useful when there is only one VLAN that needs to be serviced through the SEA to the LPARs using these VIO servers.  The configuration on the switch as well as the VIO (SEA) is simple and straight forward.  In a Trunk mode (802.1Q complaint), the SEA is aware of the VLANs and bridges only the packets that is part of the ‘Additional VLANs’ list.  The external switch then determines the target and routes/discards it accordingly.  This is very useful when there is a need to service multiple VLANs through the same SEA adapter.  This will provide the ability to create LPAR...

Setting MPIO parameters at various levels: 1.  At the physical adapter (FC) level on VIOS : For all fscsi devices on VIOS, set dyntrk=yes and fc_err_recvo=fast_fail fc_err_recov will fila any I/Os immediately if the adapter detects a link event, such as a lost link between a storage device and a switch.  The 'fast_fail' setting is recommended only for a dual VIOS configuraiton.   dyntrk attribute allows the VIOS to tolerate cabling changes in the SAN.   * Both VIOS need to be restarted for these changes to take effect.  2.  To all the disks on VIOS : alogrithm=load_balance (round robin - per best practices guide) reserve_policy=no_reserve hcheck_mode=nonactive hcheck_interval=60 3.   At the VIO Client leve l: vscsi devices in the client (virtual adapter) :  vscsi_path_to=30 All the devices in the client:   algorithm=failover reserve_policy=no_reserve hcheck_mode=nonactive - Specifying 'nonactive means that healthcheck commands are se...

Shared Ethernet Adapter (SEA): Shared Ethernet Adapter (SEA) provides the ability to share a physical adapter between multiple client partitions. It provides the connection between the virtual and physical network. The SEA acts like a layer-2 bridge between internal and external network SEA failover: SEA failover can be achieved by having SEA configured on two VIO servers which with the bridging functionality enabled ('Access External network'). They use a control channel to determine who is currently providing the Ethernet service to the client partitions. The client partition gets one virtual Ethernet adapter bridged by two VIO servers. From the client partition it looks like it has one virtual Ethernet adapter bridged by one VIO server - any given point of time. The SEA also support 802.1Q VLAN tagging like a regular SEA. Requirements for implementing SEA failover: VIO servers (on the same physical m...