"Brian" == Brian Tao taob@risc.org writes:
Brian> Since this is all theoretical (to me, anyway), I have some Brian> questions. :)
Brian> What characters are allowed in a VIF name?
A vif name may be composed of any non-blank characters and should begin with a letter. The name may be at most 15 characters long.
Brian> Is anyone using single-mode VIF's across two different switches like Brian> this?
Yes. We have a number of customers who use single-mode vifs composed of links attached to two different switches to protect against switch failure.
Brian> How does the Netapp know which VIF to use with the "vif favor" Brian> command? I assume this means a physical interface can only Brian> participate in one VIF at a time.
Yes, an interface (physical or virtual) can only participate in one vif at a time.
Brian> Is it possible to prioritize interfaces in a VIF with more than two Brian> ports trunked together?
If you're asking "can you favor a link in a single-mode VIF composed of more than 2 links", the answer is yes. If you're asking "can I specify secondary, tertiary (and so on) priority for links in a single-mode VIF", the answer is no: only one link may be favored; all others are equally "non-favored".
Brian> Can VIF's be shared in a cluster? Can they share ports as above? Brian> Special mention is only made about super VIF's and clustering in the Brian> 5.3.2 SAG.
vifs can't be shared across a cluster. However, the surviving node may takeover for a vif just like it may takeover for other interfaces. Which interface takes over is specified using the "ifconfig" "partner" clause. Please note that vif partners MUST be specified using the interface name (e.g. vif0), not the interface address (e.g. 172.27.5.50). This was not clearly spelled out in the documentation, and it has tripped up a number of people.
Brian> Can super VIF's be created from single-mode VIF's, or only Brian> multi-mode VIF's? Again, the manual only mentions the latter, but Brian> does not prohibit the former.
Super vifs may be created from single-mode vifs or multi-mode vifs. I'm not sure why you would want to create a super-vif from single-mode vifs, though.
Brian> Can super VIF's themselves be multi-mode, or single-mode only?
Single mode only.
Sam
On Mon, 25 Oct 1999, Sam Cramer wrote:
Brian> Is it possible to prioritize interfaces in a VIF with more than two Brian> ports trunked together?
If you're asking "can you favor a link in a single-mode VIF composed of more than 2 links", the answer is yes. If you're asking "can I specify secondary, tertiary (and so on) priority for links in a single-mode VIF", the answer is no: only one link may be favored; all others are equally "non-favored".
Yeah, I was wondering about the second configuration, e.g.: "vif favor e1a e2a e1b e2b" to denote priority order.
Brian> Can VIF's be shared in a cluster? Can they share ports as above? Brian> Special mention is only made about super VIF's and clustering in the Brian> 5.3.2 SAG.
vifs can't be shared across a cluster. However, the surviving node may takeover for a vif just like it may takeover for other interfaces.
It would be neat to have trunks that span multiple filers, but I don't need that yet. ;-)
Which interface takes over is specified using the "ifconfig" "partner" clause. Please note that vif partners MUST be specified using the interface name (e.g. vif0), not the interface address (e.g. 172.27.5.50). This was not clearly spelled out in the documentation, and it has tripped up a number of people.
Hrm, I'm not sure what you mean by using the interface address instead of the IP address. If I just give the partner the VIF name, how does it know what IP to use? Is that stored on the mailbox disk?
nfs1> ifconfig VIF_Subnet1 10.35.8.1 netmask 255.255.255.128 partner VIF_Subnet1 nfs1> ifconfig VIF_Subnet2 10.35.8.129 netmask 255.255.255.128 partner VIF_Subnet2
... like that?
Brian> Can super VIF's be created from single-mode VIF's, or only Brian> multi-mode VIF's? Again, the manual only mentions the latter, but Brian> does not prohibit the former.
Super vifs may be created from single-mode vifs or multi-mode vifs. I'm not sure why you would want to create a super-vif from single-mode vifs, though.
To have predictable failover, I suppose. Instead of a four-port trunk, define two two-port single-mode trunks, then trunk those together as a single-mode super VIF.
Brian> Can super VIF's themselves be multi-mode, or single-mode only?
Single mode only.
Thanks for the feedback.
-
Brian Tao -
Sam Cramer