Chapter 5. IP Multipathing

Terms you'll need to understand:

• /etc/default/mpathd file

• /etc/release file

• Fat Network Pipe

• if_mpadm command

• in.mpathd daemon

• Internet Protocol MultiPathing (IPMP)

• Multicast Group

• Trunking

• Trunking Policies

Concepts you'll need to master:

• Explain the purpose, benefits, and limitations of multipathing.

• Explain how to configure multipathing by using configuration files and command-line parameters.

• Describe the purpose and limitations of trunking, and explain how the four supported trunking policies impact how trunking is implemented.

With the demand for greater bandwidth and higher availability increasing all the time, Sun provides two products that satisfy these demands: IP Multipathing (IPMP), which provides a failover detection and repair facility for network interfaces, and Sun Trunking, which provides increased bandwidth by allowing the aggregation of multiple network interfaces.