Scenario: Configuring Shared Ethernet Adapter failover with load sharing

Use this scenario to help you to configure primary and backup Shared Ethernet Adapters for load sharing in the Virtual I/O Server (VIOS) logical partitions.

Situation

You are the system administrator responsible for planning and configuring the network in an environment with the VIOS running. You want to provide load sharing in addition to Shared Ethernet Adapter failover to improve the bandwidth of the VIOS logical partition without impact to higher network availability.

Objective

The objective of this scenario is to configure primary and backup Shared Ethernet Adapters for load sharing so that you can use both the Shared Ethernet Adapters by sharing the bridging workload between them.

Prerequisites and assumptions

  • The Hardware Management Console (HMC) was set up. For more information about Installing and configuring the Hardware Management Console , see Installing and configuring the Hardware Management Console.
  • You understand the partitioning concepts as described in the Logical partitioning. For more information about Logical partitioning, see Logical partitioning.
  • You have configured primary and backup Shared Ethernet Adapters in the VIOS logical partitions. See Scenario: Configuring Shared Ethernet Adapter failover.
  • You understand what Shared Ethernet Adapter load sharing is and how it works. See Shared Ethernet adapters for load sharing.
  • The VIOS must be at Version 2.2.1.0, or later.
  • The VIOS servers with the primary and backup Shared Ethernet Adapter support load sharing.
  • Two or more trunk adapters are configured for the primary and backup Shared Ethernet Adapter pair.
  • The virtual local area network (VLAN) definitions of the trunk adapters are identical between the primary and backup Shared Ethernet Adapter pair.
  • You cannot use the Integrated Virtualization Manager with multiple VIOS logical partitions on the same server.
Note: Enable load sharing mode on the primary Shared Ethernet Adapter (the Shared Ethernet Adapter with higher priority) before you enable load sharing mode on the backup Shared Ethernet Adapter (the Shared Ethernet Adapter with lesser priority).
To configure Shared Ethernet Adapters for load sharing, use the VIOS command line and run the following command. Run this command on both Shared Ethernet Adapters.
mkvdev -sea physical_adapter -vadapter virtual_adapter1, virtual_adapter2 -default 
virtual_adapter1\
-defaultid PVID_of_virtual_adapter1 -attr ha_mode=sharing 
ctl_chan=control_channel_adapter
For example, in this scenario, run the following command on both Shared Ethernet Adapters:
mkvdev -sea ent0 -vadapter ent1,ent2 -default ent1 -defaultid 60 -attr ha_mode=sharing 
ctl_chan=ent3
You can restart load sharing by using the chdev command on the backup Shared Ethernet Adapter. To restart load sharing, ensure that the ha_mode attribute is set to sharing on both the primary and backup Shared Ethernet Adapter. By using the VIOS command line, run the chdev command on the backup Shared Ethernet Adapter. If the load sharing criteria are met, load sharing restarts.
Parent topic: Scenarios: Configuring the Virtual I/O Server


Last updated: Thu, October 15, 2020