| IP multipathing was introduced in Chapter 5, "IP Multipathing." To use multipathing with IPv6, the setup is very similar to that of IPv4, although there are some important differences. The most notable are that the test addresses are created on the same network interface, such as hme0 , without the need for additional logical interfaces, and that the test address can also be used for normal operation. With IPv4 setup, the test address is used only to enable the in.mpathd process to probe its status. Like IPv4, IPv6 multipathing can be set up via a command line or through the use of configuration files.  | Remember that if you set up multipathing on the command line, the configuration will be lost on the next reboot. To make your changes persist across reboots, you must use configuration files so that multipathing is implemented each time the system reboots. |
Using Configuration Files To use IP multipathing with existing IPv6 interfaces, you simply edit the relevant /etc/hostname6.< interface > files for the network interfaces you want to participate in multipathing and then reboot the system. To set up IPv6 multipathing for a system that has two interfaces hme0 and hme1 and uses a multipath group called ip6test , you would edit the files /etc/hostname6.hme0 and /etc/hostname6.hme1 and add the following entry to each: -failover group ip6test up | | Using the configuration files to configure IPv6 multipathing assumes that the IPv6 interfaces already existthat is, they have already been configured for normal use. This process merely modifies the interface's functionality to participate in multipathing. |
When the system is rebooted, view the configuration with the ifconfig -a command: ultra10# ifconfig -a lo0: flags=1000849<UP,LOOPBACK,RUNNING,MULTICAST,IPv4> mtu 8232 index 1 inet 127.0.0.1 netmask ff000000 hme0: flags=1000843<UP,BROADCAST,RUNNING,MULTICAST,IPv4> mtu 1500 index 2 inet 192.168.28.28 netmask ffffff00 broadcast 192.168.28.255 groupname ip6test ether 8:0:20:b3:41:53 lo0: flags=2000849<UP,LOOPBACK,RUNNING,MULTICAST,IPv6> mtu 8252 index 1 inet6 ::1/128 hme0: flags=a000841<UP,RUNNING,MULTICAST,IPv6,NOFAILOVER> mtu 1500 index 2 ether 8:0:20:b3:41:53 inet6 fe80::a00:20ff:feb3:4153/10 groupname ip6test hme1: flags=1000843<UP,BROADCAST,RUNNING,MULTICAST,IPv4> mtu 1500 index 3 inet 192.168.28.29 netmask ffffff00 broadcast 192.168.28.255 groupname ip6test ether 8:0:20:b3:41:52 hme1: flags=a000841<UP,RUNNING,MULTICAST,IPv6,NOFAILOVER> mtu 1500 index 3 ether 8:0:20:b3:41:52 inet6 fe80::a00:20ff:feb3:4152/10 groupname ip6test Notice from this code that -
The multipath group has been applied to the IPv6 interfaces and the IPv4 interfaces. -
The inet6 lines for both hme0 and hme1 are now configured as test addresses for the IP multipathing daemon, in.mpathd , to monitor. Using the Command Line Multipathing with IPv6 can also be set up on the command line manually, but any changes made are lost at the next reboot of the system. Like IPv4, you need to be running at least Solaris 8 10/00, and your system needs to be able to support local ethernet addresses. This was described in Chapter 1, "Local Area Networks," in the section "Assigning a Port-Based Ethernet Address." To set up IPv6 multipathing manually on a system with two network interfaces hme0 and hme1 and a multipath group of ip6test , the following needs to be done: -
Run the ifconfig -a command to view the current interface setup: ultra10# ifconfig -a lo0: flags=1000849<UP,LOOPBACK,RUNNING,MULTICAST,IPv4> mtu 8232 index 1 inet 127.0.0.1 netmask ff000000 hme0: flags=1000843<UP,BROADCAST,RUNNING,MULTICAST,IPv4> mtu 1500 \ index 2 inet 192.168.28.28 netmask ffffff00 broadcast 192.168.28.255 ether 8:0:20:b3:41:53 lo0: flags=2000849<UP,LOOPBACK,RUNNING,MULTICAST,IPv6> mtu 8252 index 1 inet6 ::1/128 hme0: flags=a000841<UP,RUNNING,MULTICAST,IPv6> mtu 1500 index 2 ether 8:0:20:b3:41:53 inet6 fe80::a00:20ff:feb3:4153/10 hme1: flags=1000843<UP,BROADCAST,RUNNING,MULTICAST,IPv4> mtu 1500 \ index 3 inet 192.168.28.29 netmask ffffff00 broadcast 192.168.28.255 ether 8:0:20:b3:41:52 hme1: flags=a000841<UP,RUNNING,MULTICAST,IPv6> mtu 1500 index 3 ether 8:0:20:b3:41:52 inet6 fe80::a00:20ff:feb3:4152/10 The current configuration shows that both hme0 and hme1 have IPv6 addresses assignedthese are the hexadecimal values for the inet6 lines relating to hme0 and hme1 in the code shown in step 1. -
Assign the hme0 interface to the multicast group ip6test . ultra10# ifconfig hme0 group ip6test -
Repeat step 2 for the hme1 interface, so that both interfaces are associated with the multicast group ip6test . -
Configure a test address for both the hme0 and hme1 IPv6 interfaces, so that in.mpathd can monitor their status. ultra10# ifconfig hme0 inet6 -failover ultra10# ifconfig hme1 inet6 -failover -
Start the in.mpathd process (if it is not already running), to start monitoring the network interfaces. Check whether the daemon is running by entering the following command: ultra10# ps -ef grep mpath root 366 354 0 10:41:07 pts/2 0:00 grep mpath root 365 1 0 10:41:03 ? 0:00 /sbin/in.mpathd The result shows that the daemon is running. If the process is not running, you can either reboot the system or start it manually by entering ultra10# /sbin/in.mpathd -
Multipathing is now running.  | A multipathing test address for an IPv6 interface does not have to be marked as deprecated (to prevent normal applications from using the address) as it does when you are implementing IP multipathing in IPv4. |
|
