Scenario: Configuring Network Interface Backup in AIX client logical partitions without VLAN tagging
Use this scenario to become familiar with using a Network Interface Backup (NIB) configuration in Virtual I/O clients that are running AIX® logical partitions and are not configured for VLAN tagging.
In
this scenario, you want to configure a highly available virtual environment
for your bridged network using the NIB approach to access external
networks from your Virtual I/O clients. You do not plan to use VLAN
tagging in your network setup. This approach requires you to configure
a second Ethernet adapter on a different VLAN for each client and
requires a Link Aggregation adapter
with NIB features. This configuration is available for AIX logical partitions.
Note: You
can also configure Ethernet bonding on Linux logical partitions.
For more information, see the documentation for the Linux operating system.
Typically, a Shared Ethernet Adapter failover configuration is
the recommended configuration for most environments because it supports environments with or without
VLAN tagging. Also, the NIB configuration is more complex than a Shared Ethernet Adapter failover configuration because it must be
implemented on each of the clients.
Note: In an NIB configuration, support for VLAN tagging is
available only in the case where adapters that are configured under the NIB configuration, are
configured under separate virtual switches. For example, when there are multiple virtual switches in
an NIB configuration, you can add the primary adapter that is configured on
vswitch1 on VLAN 20, and the backup adapter that is configured
on vswitch2 also on VLAN 20.
However, Shared Ethernet Adapter failover was not available prior to Version 1.2 of
Virtual I/O Server, and NIB was the only approach to a highly available virtual environment. Also,
you might consider that in an NIB configuration you can distribute clients over both Shared Ethernet
Adapters in such a way that half of them will use the first Shared Ethernet Adapter and the other half will use the second Shared Ethernet Adapter as primary adapter.Create a virtual Ethernet environment using a Network Interface Backup configuration as depicted in the following figure.
Before completing the configuration tasks, review the following prerequisites and assumptions.
- The Hardware Management Console (HMC) is already set up. For more information about Installing and configuring the Hardware Management Console , see Installing and configuring the Hardware Management Console.
- Two separate Virtual I/O Server logical partitions have been created and the Virtual I/O Server has been installed in each logical partition. See the instructions in Installing the Virtual I/O Server and client logical partitions.
- You have created the remaining logical partitions that you want added to the network configuration.
- Each Virtual I/O Server logical partition has an available physical Ethernet adapter assigned to it.
- You have IP addresses for all logical partitions and systems that will be added to the configuration.
Using the figure as a guide, complete the following tasks to configure the NIB virtual environment.
Note: Keep in mind, when you configure NIB with two virtual
Ethernet adapters, the internal networks used must stay separated
in the hypervisor. You must use different PVIDs for the two adapters
in the client and cannot use additional VIDs on them.