Basically a machine with 2 x NICs with different IP addresses, that are configured as one "virtual" IP address, so that if one fails, there is still a path to the other. Applications/users connect to the machine via the virtual IP address, or alias, and the 2 NICs behind it are invisible.

Similar idea to a virtual disk (e.g. mirror)

Edited to say I have seen this used for the heartbeat connection in cluster configurations, so that even the hearbeat network is highly available.

Dave

[Edited by druddle - 8/6/2002 12:17:07 PM]

 

Yes you can do it on solaris 8 what you need to do is have a valid hostname and IP Address in /etc/hosts and then:

ifconfig hme0:1 etc and set the parameters
then create in /etc/hostname.hme0:1 and add the second hostname etc

then you will have a virtual host on the system.

not sure how many times you can do it though

or just get multiple nic cards.

regards

Steve

[Edited by Wurzel - 8/6/2002 3:56:38 PM]

 

Is there such a thing as IP Aliasing as part of Sol8 or 9 ? I dont think that there is, as any IP aliasing functionality i have ever seen has been part of clustering software (Primecluster, Sun Cluster, VCS, Observe) but i was wondering if it has been added to Solaris so it can run at a lower level.

Dave

 

Sorry, I may be having a thick moment, but what are you trying to do ? Get the machine to answer on multiple i/p addresses ?

Steve

 

Sol 8/9
ifconfig hme0 addip 192.168.1.10 up

< Sol 7
ifconfig hme0:1 192.168.1.10 up

to make it through a reboot

echo 192.168.1.10 > /etc/hostsname.hme0:1

 

Whoops wrong thing. You want Sun traffic manager or whatever its called today. (ipmp).

Description

IP Network Multipathing provides interface failover and load spreading when you have multiple interface cards connected to the same IP link (e. g. Ethernet). IP Multipathing is bundled with Solaris 8.

 

SunCluster has pnmd (public network managment demon) but thats no good on a standalone machine and it does not load share.

 

More details on Sun IPMP here.

Dave

 

Depending on what you are doing you need to get Mutipathing working (IMHO a crock of cack) or better use Sun Trunking software... in fact just received a copy today... however its a cost item of $999 !!! per server

Plus you will need a decent switch to connect to.... Were using Cisco 6509's so no issues here !

Ids